Career News 24/7: The Cynical Girl: You take too many selfies.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

The Cynical Girl: You take too many selfies.

Posted: 30 Oct 2013 03:45 AM PDT

A friend of mine said, “I need to create a twelve-step selfie program for the HR blogger community.”

No joke. These bloggers are so insufferable, amirite?!

Oh wait, I can’t criticize because I am the worst abuser. I tell myself that I am doing it for my fans. All two of them.

So what would a 12-step selfie program look like?

Admit that you are powerless over your narcissism and that your online life is obnoxious.
Believe that a power greater than yourself can restore your sanity. That greater power is the off button on your iPhone.
Make a decision to turn your phone over to a more responsible authority figure. Like a spouse or your mom.
Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself and realize that the Sierra filter doesn’t make you look hotter.
Admit to everyone that a specific angle cannot hide the exact nature of your wrongs.
Stop removing all these defects of your character and your skin.
Humbly ask people to accept your shortcomings.
Make a list of all persons you have mocked on Instagram and be willing to make amends to them all.
Make direct amends to such people wherever possible by forgiving their selfies and being kind.
Continue to take a personal inventory, and when you feel compelled to take a picture of yourself, promptly admit it.
Improve your conscious contact with the world by taking pictures of pretty things like nature and cats.
Awaken to life as you know it . . . and apply the principle of self-restraint to your Instagram affairs.

I think many of us take selfies when we travel because we are alone and we want to document the moment. Sometimes we want social proof of our accomplishments. Some of us take selfies because we feel good about ourselves. And some of us are just pervasive narcissists who are wrecking society. We take photos of ourselves to project an image that may or may not exist in reality.

But I think some of us just like to have fun with the camera.

At any give point, I fit all of the above criteria. But I’m on a selfie diet! Join me?