If selfies were zombies then by golly, we have been overtaken.
From the photo versions on social media feeds to songs about selfies on the radio, personal close-ups are just the latest viral outbreak in the social media realm.
While taking a photo of oneself is not a new concept, the term "selfie" (and the increasing narcisism that goes along with it) is a newfangled creation. So is the claim that a rise in selfies is now resulting in an increased desire for plastic surgery.
Take Triana Lavey, for instance. Over the last week, the California woman has been featured by several news outlets for going through with $15,000 of plastic surgery in order to make her selfies look better.
"Your social media presence is just as important as your real-life presence," Lavey told ABC news. "Your selfie is your head shot so you can reinvent yourself every day with your iPhone. It's a legitimate form of promoting yourself."
Yikes.
The prevalence of selfies is honestly sickening. People of all ages have fallen victim, from toddlers to senior citizens. For some, selfies are harmless fun and games but to others, the fad is literally morphing into something greater: a hunger for Internet fame, a cry for attention and in some cases, an addiction. The desire for "the perfect selfie" has even contributed to a suicide attempt by 19-year-old Danny Bowman, Britain's first-known selfie addict.
Selfies don't always have a drastic outcome but they can affect your quality of life in small ways. Imagine yourself in the last place you took a selfie. Were you with your friends at a concert? Were you alone at the park? Were you by the railroad tracks in Peru? No matter where you were, you probably missed something during your photo-taking spree, like the moment when the band's lead singer pointed right at you or the rare bird that made an appearance in a nearby bush or the train conductor's foot colliding against your head. You're missing those little things as you stare at the one thing you probably know the best: your face in a four-inch screen.
Is the human race so far gone that the only thing we're capable of is promoting narcisism? Where is the creative content on our newsfeeds? Will we ever be able to truly grasp the meaning of privacy or will we continue to live in our celebrity-driven, photoshopped worlds?
Wait, don't answer that just yet...let me take a selfie.