The Truth, Photography & Social Networks (Entry 7)

 We live in a generation in which everyone has a access to a cellphone a similar digital device which he can use to take photographs.Digital photography is now accessible to most and this accessibility has definitively changed the definition of photography over time, in positive and in negative ways. As discussed in Lasen & Gomez-Cruz's article, this modern aspect of photography is redefining the meaning of terms such as privacy and public and the identification of the casi non-existent boundaries between the concepts. It is now a frequent practice to publish self portraits to strangers on the web or images of where we are located at any times, displaying our lives to every stranger who wishes to see.

The selfie phenomenon opens the door to instant gratification. Often, images are posted to serve a purpose such as displaying a certain aspect of the self or to validate it by receiving likes or comments. Only what we want the 'others' to see is shown and a whole new self is projected online. In the article, the author says that teenagers especially often take hundreds of images before selecting a single one that will be posted. I find this particularly interesting and it demonstrates how much individuals are interested in their own image and how photography depicts their lives to others in order to impress them. It is interesting to compare how years ago, the selfie was not even a concept people would have thinking of, I can see no images of me at ten years old holding the camera, pointing to my face.

This whole idea of the perfect self makes me question the role of photography nowadays. Even professional photographers, trying to push further the boundaries are creating amazingly surreal digital photography, which again is not depicting the truth, Or sometimes, images are intentionally manipulated to make the society perceive a reality that has been created. The media are sending these messages of beauty and perfection which is not reflecting the reality to a audience who is self absorbed and who is spending its time taking selfies. Vicious circle!

It is an interesting topic that could generate debates in classroom. I would discuss photo manipulation, the selfie generation and how the media accentuate the desire to show an invented self on the medias with students,