The “selfie” first started as photo sharing sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Tumbler began to develop. This “selfie” phenomenon has taken over and even celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian regularly post these photos and receive thousands of comments on their Instagrams on a daily basis. Studies have shown that the comments on your Facebook profile picture strongly affect an individuals perceived physical, social and professional attractiveness. The way an individual sees themselves in the mirror is different from how they seem themselves in a photo. Technology has enabled us to change our look and also mask our identity online. Even when a person posts a photo of you on social media, you can untag, delete or modify the photo to keep social presence more consistent with the self-image you want others to see. A profile picture or avatar has been incorporated into almost every social media site. This avatar is a way for people to present a certain side of themselves and also puts the person in control of their own image. A recent study showed more online photo sharing from people whose self-esteem is based on others approval, physical appearance and outdoing competition. “This infatuation with self image is only problematic when someone fixates or over-compares to their detriment, but that is not a function of the photos as much as the individual struggling with self-esteem,” says Dr. Rutledge. If you find yourself obsessing over the image and whether it is presented accurately online, Dr. Letamendi suggests limiting access to sites, especially ones that are prone to negative feedback. After reading this article, I thought about the Iphone application, Snapchat. The “selfie” is so popular, an app was created that allows users to take a one-time-open photo that can be shown for an allotted amount of time!
Article: http://mashable.com/2013/02/15/social-media-and-the-selfie/
Julia DiBenedetto 
Oh my god I am totally a sucker for the selfies…. I love seeing others selfies but only seem to send them myself wile using snap chat. I completely agree that it changes a persons look and creates a new identity or opinion about that particular person because we only have a caption of that second. With pictures we don’t always know the context of the situation. Its a little sickening that our society has become so obsessed with pictures of our selves. In the end I think that this will ultimately hurt ones self of steam since they seek so much confidence in a material idea, looks…. Great post though Julia, I love this stuff!
I completely agree! Its so sad that people need to seek acceptance through likes. I agree that it feels good to have people like your pictures, and I think that because social media is becoming such a huge part of people’s everyday lives, they need to seek acceptance through other means than simply interacting with people in person.
I agree that it makes me feel ‘better’ to have likes on “selfie” pictures, but I do not post more than 1 or 2 a month… I cannot stand the people who post one every day, or more than one each day with the caption “outfit of the day” I think that its understandable to post a selfie on a special occasion, but not saying goodnight, good morning, studying, etc… that is when it gets pathetic.
I agree though, that I do see girls looking for acceptance through their likes and comments on FB and Instagram.
I also agree that a picture of myself looks different to me than what I see in the mirror of myself, but I do not know why.
Things like this make me scared for my little sister’s generation (she is 12) I can only imagine if it is this bad now, how bad it could be in 5 years. She is already VERY aware of her self image, and freaks out if I post a picture of her on my FB… she is 12!!! I did not care about these things when I was her age. This just goes to show how much social media is becoming more and more prominent.