The rise of selfies is a rather unique cultural phenomenon: it is a form of communication, as well as a method of self-representation. The selfie has become a medium in its own right, where “the self is the message”, as Kate Losse (Alang) suggests. The aggressive spread of this cultural phenomenon can be attributed to the global increase in the number of camera phones, the development of front-facing cameras, and the growing popularity of social networking and photo-sharing sites such such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, among others. The act of taking and sharing selfies is a modern application of Lacan's "mirror scene", the result of a misunderstanding between the realistic image of the selfie taker and the selfie published on social networks. I will argue that, rather than a symbol of narcissism, selfies are necessary tools of self-exploration and self-representation resulting from technological advances and the rise of social networking sites. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The phenomenon of selfies has become an art form – a science, to the extent that people have developed guidelines in order to maximize your selfie. The consensus is that the most flattering angle is to hold the phone just above your eye line and tilt it 45 degrees. Posing is also important: it's essential to have a perfect head tilt, a relaxed smile, perhaps tousled hair to make the photo more relaxed. Once you've taken about 57 photos, it's time to consider your options. If you don't find "the one", you might find yourself taking a few more, learning from your mistakes in order to take the perfect shot. After taking the perfect photo, it's time to apply the right filter, adjust the contrast, play with the brightness, smooth out any imperfections, and with just one click, it's ready to upload to Facebook or Instagram. Now for the hard part: it's time to think about the legend. The inevitable click on the “Share” button is agonizing: you keep reloading the page while waiting to see the likes increase. It is at this stage of the sharing process that cultural anxieties are experienced. Once the photo is posted, the poster will begin a never-ending process of critically examining the image itself, who liked the photo, how many likes the photo receives versus how much time has passed since it was posted , and so on. Cultural and social anxieties related to remaining relevant and current among our peers are a necessary factor in creating our identities on social media. The meaning and significance behind taking selfies is rather peculiar – how did it come about? What factors contributed to its popularity? Why is this still done today? Whatever its past, there's no denying that the selfie phenomenon has spread and taken the world by storm – everyone is doing it, from celebrities to politicians to our own friends and family. It even reached space, with the infamous selfie of Aki Hoshide while conducting extravehicular activity (Day). The idea of ​​taking a photo of yourself has been around for nearly 200 years: Robert Cornelius, a pioneer of daguerreotype photography, took a self-portrait of himself in front of his family's store in Philadelphia in 1839 (Day). Selfies were experimented with by Andy Warhol and others in the 1970s when the Polaroid camera was invented and became popular (Day). Cinema was expensive; therefore, selfies have only becomefamous only in the digital age. Images with the hashtag #selfie began appearing on Flickr as early as 2004. The introduction of the iPhone 4 in 2010, with its front-facing camera, took the selfie to the next level: it was now possible to take them much more easily. Other advancements such as self-timers and selfie sticks have propelled the selfie to a position of popularity that is unprecedented. The act of taking, posting, and sharing selfies has become an integral part of the lives of those born into millennials (Wickel 5). The nature of selfies is the subject of widespread debate, often taken to extremes: some see it as a symbol of youth, pleasure and enthusiasm, while others consider it narcissistic, even psychotic. Selfies encourage superficiality and often inspire a sense of self-centeredness in the viewer. Selfies are seen by many as a way to record our lives and what we do – if this is true, then why do we feel the need to share them? According to John Paul Titlow, selfie enthusiasts “seek some kind of approval from their peers and the community at large, which, thanks to the Internet, is now effectively infinite” (Titlow). As humans, we are genetically programmed to be “motivated by the need for approval and self-affirmation…The desire for a pictorial representation of the self dates back to the earliest paintings of handprints on cave walls more than 4,000 years ago. In a world of rapidly evolving technology, one could argue that the selfie is simply a natural evolution of those paint-dipped hands” (Day). The act of taking and sharing selfies is not done for the individual themselves, but rather for the public who will eventually see it once shared. We have little awareness of the audience on the other side of our selfies. We take the selfie in order to create a representation of ourselves, but why do we feel the need to share it for others to see? Selfies play into Mulvey’s notion of voyeurism; most often, girls take and post selfies, seeking approval from men within their social circle. Berger talks about this in the four-part TV series Ways of Seeing: “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (quoted in Elena, “Ways of Seeing & Ideal Women in Popular Culture”). We will always compare ourselves to others, therefore, can we ever achieve self-satisfaction and self-satisfaction through the existence of social media? There is a lack of awareness of appearance involved in taking selfies. Lacan's notion of misrecognition can be applied to the act of taking selfies. The “mirror stage,” as discussed by Lacan in “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I,” involves the baby’s misunderstanding of a whole and coherent self as seen in its reflection. In the same way, when we look at a selfie we have taken of ourselves, there is a misrecognition between the whole, coherent self in the image and our assemblage of disconnected parts that make up our appearance in reality. We rarely look like what we look like in selfies. Similar to the “mirror stage,” the act of taking and sharing selfies “establish[es] a relationship between an organism and its reality” (Lacan 78). We aim to maintain our position in our social circle by maintaining our social media presence. We are constantly looking for more followers, more likes, more shares, more retweets – this has led to cultural and social anxieties that we are largely unaware of, due to the omnipresence of media.”