#Selfie -"Freeze the smile forever"

Click! Flash! Smile!

The world around you is changing, people around you are changing. Today an individual is becoming more and more independent with his daily affairs. Independent not in the form of anything major but when have you heard someone saying "Hey! Excuse me can you take a picture of us if you don't mind"? This phrase is gone with the wind and the word "#Selfie" has come into existence.

So what exactly is a Selfie?

A handheld photograph by a digital camera or a camera phone is something what is popularly known as a Selfie. The tribute of this gaining popular culture dates back to the year 1939, when Sir.Robert Cornelius took his first picture also known as a Selfie. I am sure Sir.Robert dint expect that years and years later this culture would have spread far and wide and recently we see the President Mr.Obama, celebrities like Rihanna, Shahrukh Khan all have been constantly posting their Selfies. The term Selfie gained its popularity in the year 2013, when the oxford dictionary announced it to be the "word of the year". As for me this word should be the "word of the century" as for recent study shows that 90% of the people post photos of themselves online.

Taking a Selfie is also an art. You need to know your perfect face angle, that perfect smile and the look you going to capture is not an easy task. Multitasking as you may call it, the human brain here is instructed to do many things at a time and delivering the perfect picture is a no no joke!

Perfect! It is- when you take our own picture. Who needs a photographer, but with the lionisation of #Selfie the mobile companies have got a new marketing strategy to sell phones specifically targeting people about its brilliant camera and its clarity on how good a Selfie can be. Thanks to the invention of Smartphones, destination of a Selfie is easier as it directly takes its place on the social media platform. Uploading a Selfie is one of the most important reason why people take a Selfie. Social websites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google+ have been reported to have 70% and more Selfies uploaded everyday. So its is clear that people feel the social media presence is as important to them as their real life presence. Showing of a new car, new outfit, and all the other drama is shown on the social media and it goes viral. It is a legitimate form of promoting yourself. 

But that time when you taking the photograph have you forgotten to live that moment. It sometimes makes me wonder whats the first thing an individual thinks when he or she is out? 

Lets take photos? 

People of different age groups are the victim of a Selfie, its no disorder. An arm extended or in-the- mirror photos have become a pastime across generations and cultures. I came across a group of friends in the park recently who did their best to take a perfect Selfie. I walked around for 30 minutes and all they did was took Selfies. This practise has become so common of freezing and sharing the thinnest slice of our lives on the social platform that we in todays world are forgetting to live that moment. Funny part is we fail to understad-  "We create a memory of the moment we never lived" .

The evolution of Selfie culture has begun. No date, no dinner or a party goes without a Selfie. It has clearly become an obsession. Who wouldn't agree that in near future people would say -

"Hey lets catch up for a Selfie?

The invasion of Selfie has to stop, peoples self confidence is marked by the likes or dislikes on the social media page, a 19 year old boy Danny brown known as the "Selfie adddict" died because he couldn't get the perfect picture. 

Is you life at a bargain of a perfect Selfie? 

The answer to it is NO by most of the people, so why a Selfie? On asking many people about Selfie they say-

• It makes you feel confident
• Makes you feel glamorous
• Way to control how you are seen

But more than 50% of people say that Selfie is just for fun. They believe in "Live the moment, capture and freeze the smile forever". So finally I come to a conclusion, generation of Selfie has come into existence where a man decides how he wants to be seen by people, they control the eyes of the viewer and freezes the glamour and smile in it forever! 

#Uploading my article- "BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A SELFIE"

Thanks for the beautiful #Selfies- 

• Ashmita Shetty
• Kiran khaleeq
• Neha poddar
• Trupti Harmalkar Ullas