Perhaps Selfies aren't as bad as we think they are?

Whether or not you consider my 365 Project to be a year’s worth of selfies depends largely on whether you believe in the point of 365 projects. But I would say the selfie is more like the pictures you see on Facebook. Like others I viewed them with disdain. Then I came across an interesting article.

I know most people hate selfies. They groan and complain about them, from the duck lips to the filters. Why, just the word “selfie” can induce legendary amounts of eyerolling.

A few adjectives usually associated with selfies are vain, narcissistic, cheesy, and basically anything to do with the superficial. For only someone with an inflated sense of self would waste time taking their own picture.

Here is my issue with that type of mindset. I thought we were supposed to be confident in our own skin. Don’t we encourage each other to be ourselves, and love ourselves. Are we not supposed to celebrate and embrace our flaws, or at least run them through a filter that minimizes them.

That is what the selfie is! It marks a time when someone feels beautiful and self assured. When they are having fun and are not worried about the daily personal problems we all have to face. In a time when feelings of insecurity run high and people shy away, the selfie is an instant of boldness.

I never thought of it that way. A selfie is not (necessarily) an expression of vanity, but someone being OK with how they look for once. And we’re always telling people to ignore the magazine covers and be happy with themselves. So why shouldn’t we support them when they actually do that?

What about you, my readers, does this article persuade you to think about them differently?

• Self-Portrait