This Is How Selfies And Social Media Has Made Me Very Vain

I never used to pay much notice to my appearance. I was the girl whose head was perpetually buried in a book either reading or writing. Now, the pens in my hand have been replaced with makeup brushes and my eyes no longer scan the pages of a novel, but rather social media sites. The unfortunate consequence of this is the newfound vanity I’ve developed.

Each time you go out with friends, there’s the potential for a photograph. Even the smallest of rendezvous’ such as getting ice cream will most likely warrant a selfie. Every photograph you take lives forever on someone else’s phone, and more often than not, on some sort of social media. Therefore it becomes imperative to be a ten each time you leave your house. Heaven forbid you consciously allow the possibility for unflattering images of yourself to float around on social media when such a trauma could easily be prevented.

Not only this, but I’m forced to view myself all hours of the day because of that lovely app snapchat. With each snapchat I receive, I open the front camera to reply and staring back at me is none other than my very own face. If I’m plagued with a break-out that day or just even just a bad hair day, I’m continually tortured with the ghastly image of myself. Thankfully, snapchat now has filters to alleviate those issues. *cue selfies of girls sporting dog filter* On the other hand, if I look good, it’s a lovely time to snapchat my friends the entire course of my super intriguing day.

Social media also contributes to me constantly obsessing over other females, which ultimately leads to me obsessing over myself. Hell, I don’t even stalk hot guys on Instagram. I stalk hot girls. How is your contour so perfect? Your winged eyeliner so precise? Your curls so bouncy? More importantly, why don’t I look like that and how can I make myself look like that? Your beauty encourages me to work on my own beauty. Inspiring.

I’d say Kim Kardashian, or just the Kardashians in general are prime examples of how social media could lead to a self-image fixation. Kim even published a damn book containing all of her most famous and striking selfies. This brings me to my next point— the phenomenon of the selfie. I’m completely guilty of it myself. I look in the mirror, am impressed with my appearance, and before I even realize it, I’m reaching for my phone and am flipping open the front camera. What exactly is my thought process here? I look so good right now, I need to capture this moment and even more importantly post on social media so everyone could see how attractive I am? Although these thoughts aren’t explicitly running through my mind, I’d imagine if I were to dissect my stream of consciousness in this moment it would resemble something along these lines.

At the end of the day, it’s all a cycle— you see someone else looking good, which compels you to look good, and then subsequently share it on social media. Admittedly, it’s fun to glam yourself up and have your own personal photoshoot. Just don’t let vanity dominate your life. There’s a fine line between confidence and egoism and there’s nothing attractive about falling into the ladder category. As long as you’re focusing on other, more meaningful aspects of your life, a selfie or two won’t damage your humility.