Selfie: capturing life’s moments

Selfie, a self-portrait photograph, caught people’s attention so much that it was named the Word of the Year by Oxford University Press in 2013.

For young people, selfie is a way to record the status of themselves, which they might share with others or not. On the one hand, the young (especially girls) tend to take photos of themselves with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone, regardless of time, place or whether they are accompanied with partners. They will capture the moments when they are waiting for the bus, sitting in the subway train, dining in a restaurant, or even lying in the bed. It seems they are looking in the mirror and posing with specific angle and expressions to satisfy themselves, and then record it. On the other hand, it is common that young girls are willing to share their experiences with their friends with some pictures or selfie photos on WeChat Moments, renren.com, microblogs or some other social-networking platforms. However, some irrelevant selfie photos are followed by social comments, trivial matters, or some other topics. For example, a message "I have lost my purse today" was accompanied with a selfie. I began to wonder the response of the young guys to the message and the photo as people of both genders react differently. Some of the guys said they are now used to such kinds of message, while others claimed that such messages leave them confused. Well, I want to say that girls are a secret; you need to learn more to know them.

In fact, besides the common people, selfie has penetrated the life of celebrities and politicians. If you have followed some celebrities, such as Zhao Wei and He Jiong, on microblogs you will get to know a lot about their plans or antics as their purpose is to inform their fans and friends about their status. Though what surprises me more is that some politicians, even the president, share their selfie group photos with the public. For instance, President Barack Obama was snapped taking a selfie and sharing a smile with various world leaders, which shows that they have a good rapport, and create a down-to-earth image at the same time. Therefore, a selfie is an efficient tool in modern life to exchange or share private or public information in spite of space, time or other limiting factors.

As far as I'm concerned, a selfie can reveal one's beauty, confidence and attitude towards life, which can be a tool to record our changes as time goes by. Beautiful or not, just let it go. We all cherish and enjoy the experience and moment we have gone through, no matter how crazy we are or what we look. We love selfies just because we are in it.

The original blog is: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1821786-23935.html