The Pretty Selfie - fallen victim yet?

A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. (urban dictionary.com)

Fascinating how modern technology has reshaped the social sphere and added a new dimension to the everyday tasks of a 21^st century female. Social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have fueled or should I say ignited and created the storm that is the ‘selfie’.

The Pretty Selfie seems to be one of the common ways girls can somewhat get the attention and compliments that they are craving. The 'selfie' gets posted, the number of likes increases exponentially as do the comments whereby  a friend will comment and say e.g., ‘you look stunning’ and the owner of the 'selfie' responds with various thankyou’s.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with people commenting underneath the 'selfie' and giving people compliments. However, the procedure to uploading a 'selfie' and the underlying issues it represents are intriguing. No one ever posts a 'selfie' without following some simple rules first…

1.       Apply Makeup

2.       Hair is perfect & usually straightened

3.       Pick a pose

4.       Hold the camera in position

5.       Take photo

6.       Evaluate

7.       Redo photos if need be-more  than once

8.       Add some filters until you find the perfect one

9.       Upload photo to either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter- feel free to caption

10.   Wait for the flood gates of torrential love, likes and comments to rain down and cue feelings and sensations of satisfaction.

I will admit I too have fallen victim to the 'selfie' and as they say you have to talk the talk and walk the walk. I’m insecure, no doubt. We all have those moments were we look in the mirror and loathe what we see in our reflection.  However the only way to bring you up out of the gutter and have some decent self confidence is to teach yourself to love every little beautiful and ugly feature. It will take your entire life to be comfortable within yourself but with each passing year you grow to be more and more comfortable with the reflection in the mirror as it changes and evolves.

However its extremely hard for girls to have decent self confidence since they are surrounded by images of beauty and perfection and what is termed pretty and hence why the ‘pretty selfie’ is so prevalent and girls feel the need to post one. However not every girl posts a ‘pretty selfie’, maybe because they don’t feel the need or simply because they are comfortable with who they are and aint afraid to be au natural. Also some girls just post the photo because they look good but weren't intending to do a ‘pretty selfie’.

Now to a little social experiment, I will also post a ‘pretty selfie’, follow the bullet proof formula and see if I can crack the 50 likes ceiling, 100 likes and all hell will break loose in FFF central from sheer shock.