{"id":10823,"date":"2014-02-16T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-16T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=10823"},"modified":"2014-02-15T14:45:50","modified_gmt":"2014-02-15T19:45:50","slug":"selfies-theyre-not-just-for-teens-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=10823","title":{"rendered":"Selfies: they’re not just for teens anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

The popularity of the digital self-portrait is skyrocketing<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kelly Hockenberry<\/strong>, Columnist, The Times\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"UTKellyRev2Column\"<\/a>#selfie sunday<\/p>\n

This is a hugely popular hashtag (LIKE 4 MILLION POSTS)!\u00a0 Did you know?<\/p>\n

(Unsure of the lingo? find a teenager to explain)<\/p>\n

What does the explosion in popularity of the selfie really mean to society?\u00a0 Is it the root of all evil (as some choose to believe) or a new way to attempt to control the techie world we live in?<\/p>\n

\"Kelly1\"<\/a>I have a degree in Sociology, so, this stuff fascinates me. \u00a0I think it is interesting that the word \u201cselfie\u201d was the Oxford Dictionary \u201cword of 2013\u201d and is defined as \u201ca photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone from Kim Kardashian (Queen of the infamous Duck Face) to Meryl Streep and Hilary Clinton to THE POPE are doing it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Kelly2\"<\/a>SAY WHAT?<\/p>\n

EyeTrackShop is a market research company that utilizes online eye tracking with traditional questionnaires.\u00a0 They did a study where they compared the visual statistics for Twitter, Facebook and MySpace and found that the Timeline cover photos on Facebook are noticed first. People spend the most time looking at Profile pictures and our own perceived attractiveness rises according to the amount of \u201clikes\u201d one\u2019s Profile receives.<\/p>\n

Text is becoming increasingly irrelevant.\u00a0 Think about the popularity of Snap Chat amongst teens.\u00a0 They spend hours \u201cconversing\u201d through images (often selfies) with very limited words.\u00a0 In fact, the picture is the mode of transmitting the language.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly3\"<\/a>Not surprisingly, women tend to take selfies more than men.\u00a0 Our fixation on body image and self-worth as it relates to the larger population creates a natural attraction to such a concept.\u00a0 Obviously, this dynamic can have negative consequences if our photographs are not well received by our peers.<\/p>\n

Is there ANY redeeming value to the selfie?\u00a0 Some psychologists argue that having control over the image we put out into the world can be empowering.\u00a0 We are a visual society and these pictures invoke dialogue and engagement.<\/p>\n

I find selfies anxiety provoking.\u00a0 In fact, any selfie that I do take (usually to make fun of myself) is often done in profile.\u00a0 And, I won\u2019t lie\u2026filters are my friend.\u00a0 A little soft lighting never hurt anybody.\u00a0 Does this have deep seeded psychological meaning?\u00a0 Am I unsatisfied with my own reflection and identity?\u00a0 Sometimes, I guess. \u00a0But, nothing that \u201cValencia\u201d on Instagram can\u2019t fix.<\/p>\n

What do YOU think of the selfie?\u00a0 Send me one and comment below!<\/p>\n

HAPPY WEEKEND!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The popularity of the digital self-portrait is skyrocketing By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times\u00a0 #selfie sunday This is a hugely popular hashtag (LIKE 4 MILLION POSTS)!\u00a0 Did you know? (Unsure of the lingo? find a teenager to explain) What does the explosion in popularity of the selfie really mean to society?\u00a0 Is it the root […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[302,4035,4036,4034],"class_list":["post-10823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-facebook","tag-hashtag","tag-images","tag-selfies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}