It’s A “Selfie” Society

My writing “sabbatical” is officially over. It’s been a great month of bonding with our new granddaugher and preparing for yet another move. However, it’s definitely time to get back to work. Before I begin a new series though, let me share a blog by my daughter Emma. As a millenial herself, she has some interesting and thought-provoking ideas to share about one of the newest passions of her generation.

Honestly, if I wrote this blog I’m afraid I’d meet with eye-rolling and shrugged shoulders. I’m interested to see the response from one millenial to another… 

The word of 2013 was “selfie”.

 

It was all over the media, both social and mainstream.

The premise of a selfie is to take a picture of yourself and post it with a caption to let your friends know what you are doing. It is very hard not to be sucked into this new trend.

From young teens to celebrities, it seems as if everyone is posting pictures. The thing about these pictures is that they are often put through filters and edited on our smart phones to make them look perfect and hide any flaws.

The other day I saw a friend’s selfie picture and she looked nothing like her real self. She had changed the coloring and lighting and you could not see the real person. Now she is beautiful all on her own, and not in the “she is my friend so I am biased way.” She is truly beautiful. However, she felt that she was not good enough on her own and changed the filters to “perfect her image”. 

I am going to go out on a dangerous limb and say that selfies are not only harmful to a young person’s image, but they are just wrong. It is the epitome of selfishness that has crept into our society. We post pictures of ourselves and expect people to not only care, but also affirm to us that we are pretty, smart and worthy of attention.

We are teaching our young people that it is more important to be accepted by others, than to be acceptable to Jesus. We are communicating to the world that our looks are the only thing that matter.

Here is the reality: Jesus does not care if you have long hair. He does not care if you are smiling. He does not care that you got new glasses.

Jesus cares about the beauty of your heart.

By allowing ourselves, and our children, to post selfie pictures on social media we are communicating that all that really matters is on the outside.

Young girls post pictures and they get 50 likes and feel that they are somehow worthy now because people “like” them.

 

Jesus wanted our image and worth to be found in God. He commands us to put aside ourselves and our family to follow Him. Yet everyday, more and more young people reach out to the world around them for assurance that they are acceptable. In the Psalms we are told that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That should be the only confirmation that we need.

I am not a perfect example in this.

It is a lesson that God has been teaching me recently. I do not think that social media is wrong, and I think that posting pictures of fun times with family and friends is great. It is when we are pulled into the world’s philosophy that worth comes from those around us that we begin to sin.

We take the focus off of God and what He is doing in our lives and we put it on ourselves and how we look.

How shallow.

Jesus wants to show us we are loved and cherished, but we silence Him with the voice of the world.

 I’d love to hear your thoughts!    

Much Love,

Emma