Selfi[dealism]

Self: the self is employed within the meaning of the center of personality.

Synonyms: identity, individuality

Idealism: (derived from the Greek ἰδέα “idea”, “archetype”) a type of behaviour not governed by material interests, rather determined by ideals.

Synonyms: devotion, faith, devoutness, conviction

“When selfies came up I asked myself if people, when photographed, also fray and wear down like the paintings in the Louvre or if I should hang a sign around my neck saying, ‘Please no flash photography.’“ Friedrich von Liechtenstein

A selfie is a self-portrait one takes of oneself with a smartphone. The latter is held in front of one’s face with an outstretched arm or one uses a selfie stick as a means of extension in order to capture the whole body, other persons or the landscape in the background.

As a matter of fact, the selfie is the perfect symbol to describe our present age as well as the society we now live in. Because it is more than just a narcissists’ digital mirror on the wall.

In a matter of just a few years it was able to establish itself as a new form of communication. The selfie is ideal for nonverbal exchange via social media: visual, quickly graspable, gladly funny, maybe a little bit superficial, also a tad vain, sometimes even very vain.

It is a new way to get in touch with the world. We consider the selfie to be something of a visible surface of a world in which we interlink our lives ever more with social networks – if we don’t shift them there altogether.

In our eyes, the selfie is a major phenomenon of our present age; one with which people express their personality and seek contact with others.