Selfies, tweets, instagrams and status posts. We have all seen people post with arrogance and self-centeredness on social media. Although these posts are often not meant to be seemingly “self-centered”, this has lead to the stereotype that our generation is extremely self-centered. Being self- centered, to me, means spending too much time on yourself, not communicating with people around you, and focusing on yourself when it is not necessary. However, these tendencies are often seen as exclusive to our generation, and has this assumption become our reputation?

Social media has been a source of our self-centered reputation because of the popularization of selfies. When asked if our generation is particularly more self-centered than others, Ryan Frommelt ‘17, responded  that “social media has had a big impact on this reputation because it leads us to believe that everything we do should be documented by us.” Robert Cross ‘18  also views our generation to be self- centered because “the selfies and snapchat are leading us to always take pictures of just ourselves, resulting in us obsessing over ourselves.” For me, the question if our generation is viewed as self- centered has made me wonder. I believe that other generations view us as “glued to our phones and the internet” simply because we were continuously exposed to technology growing up.

But is this a bad thing? Technology has many benefits, but also has disadvantages such as being disconnected from the real world. The internet and technology also uncovers the world of  celebrities, and what is occurring in their everyday lives. Celebrities have a self- image of being “perfect” and some famous people can be role models to many kids. Obsessing over seemingly flawless people has led our generation to manipulate ourselves and pick out our flaws. This obsession over unattainable  beauty has resulted in our generation having the desire to be perfect, and correcting our bodies to be just like the celebrities. Hannah Berezovsky ‘17 believes “[Teens] are influenced by celebrities because of their style, their bodies and their luxury life. They aspire to become the famous person, which results in having children become self-conscious and self obsessed, because they are constantly trying to be exactly like this person.” Photoshop also represents a huge role in affecting our lives. Many advertisements portray models and celebrities photoshopped to make them look skinnier, more buff, and have perfect complexions. Children perceive the models as how they should really look, which makes them insecure and torment themselves to make them look the same.

Self-centeredness has shaped our generation, whether we are aware of it or not. Selfies, models, social media, and celebrities have impacted many of our lives, positively and negatively. It is, therefore, increasingly important to put down our phones sometimes and live in the moment instead of just taking another selfie.