The Threat of the Selfie Syndrome
So not so long ago, around the end of last year, there was some news here in Indonesia about a flower garden full of Amaryllis that got wrecked by a mob of selfie-takers. I did see a same kind of ‘selfie mob’ phenomenon a year earlier, at an art exhibition (was it ArtJog or Jogja Biennale? I forgot) - where the selfie mob blatantly broke the rule of ‘no flash photo near artworks’. Both times, I thought it was just a local phenomenon, one that makes me feel shame sharing the same nation with those guys.
But more recently, I’ve heard news about the beached dolphin in Argentina that died because the people who came near it didn’t give aid... but took selfies with it. What’s worse, it was a rare kind of dolphin, endemic only to Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. Then five days ago a peacock at a zoo in China died of fright because people took selfies with it - and took some feathers as souvenirs. I mean, plucking them from the scared bird. Now I wonder if this ‘selfie syndrome’ can be far worse than it looks like.
I mean, come on. Selfies, by their nature, are selfish and narcissistic. It’s bad enough that they invade personal and public spaces to do it - but it’s way worse when they straight up destroy the environment to immortalize their faces in an ephemeral media. I mean come on, your faces aren’t that interesting! Even if your face is considered beautiful and/or handsome, why do you care so much about it that you forsake the environment for it? And there’s better ways of being remembered, like helping your community for instance, or invent something that is beneficial to the world. Or instead of taking pictures of your own face, why not draw paintings of your own face? Instead of being destructive, be creative?
So that’s my grudge against selfies that I wanted to get off my chest. I think that selfies should be more self-conscious, but then again I might as well be pissing towards the blowing wind.
Here’s some links:
Amaryllis incident: http://inet.detik.com/read/2015/11/29/102953/3083116/398/mau-selfie-kenapa-rusak-taman-bunga
Baturaden botanical garden incident: https://www.brilio.net/news/lagi-pengunjung-selfie-rusak-taman-bunga-di-kebun-raya-baturaden-151224m.html
Argentine dolphin incident: http://time.com/4228838/dolphin-selfie-death/
Chinese peacock incident: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/12169938/Peacock-died-of-fright-after-tourists-tried-to-take-selfies-with-it.html
What about you? What do you think of selfies? Should we be more conscious of ourselves, or should we be more conscious of the impact we have on the world?