Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 22 Issue 6

might include keeping the memories forever, looking better than others on social media (use of photo edit apps), gaining popularity among friend circle, and, but not limited to, increasing confidence. The paper also advances with the idea that the cell phone producing companies are promoting this idea in order to increase their sale. The research discusses the imposition of late- capitalistic tools in the once-colonialized countries through establishing a myth in the arena of Cell phones. It, then, shows how Selfie alienates an individual from society, and flushes out all the secret of people. II. S elfie as a N arcissistic I dea ‘Every narcissist needs a reflecting pool. Just as Narcissus gazed into the pool to admire his beauty, social networking sites, like Facebook, have become our modern- day pool’. 5 The mission behind starting the chapter with the quotation is to justify that the urge of expressing the self is an ancient one. The idea of expressing someone’s own existence connects itself with the idea of knowing the self. So, it can also be traced to Socrates’ famous idea- know thyself . But then again he used it not to lure people to follow something blindly, rather to suggest them to judge something from a holistically sceptic and analogically dialectic viewpoint. The case to be discussed here is partially resonant with that. Moreover, for the present discussion, it is significant to revisit the myth of Narcissus, the son of a river god named Cephissus a nd a nymph named Liriope, who was well known for his beauty. Full of pride for his beauty, he started to disdain others who loved him. Because of his pride, Nemesis, the spirit of divine retribution, brought Narcissus to a pool. There he fell in love with his own reflection in the water. He became so immersed in his own image that he could not leave the pool and subsequently died. His death came due to his being so much consumed with himself. In the same way, Selfie is being used to promote the narcissistic idea of beauty. It is being done mostly by some of the industrially developed countries and some multinational corporate companies. Apparently, it discourages sadness and thus encourages happiness but the real motif is veiled under a mask. Selfie has now been ushered down to the poorest of people because of the availability of front camera Smartphone. From the general outlook of this kind of photos, one can easily guess the relation of makeover, beauty parlour, and saloon with Selfie. It is also related to expressing aristocracy, and so looking rich and elegant is deemed extremely important. Hiding 5 Tracy Alloway, Rachel Runac, Mueez Qureshi, and George Kemp, ‘Is Facebook Linked to Selfishness? Investigating the Relationships among Social Media Use, Empathy, and Narcissism’, Social Networking , 3 (3), 2014, pp 150-158. the reality on a high expense and showing off also sound logical to some brainwashed victims. Most of the people who take Selfie share it in the social media. This phenomenon of sharing photos would have been no issue for the authors of the current paper if there were no concrete evidence backing up the idea that for some people it is an obsession. What this obsession might result into has been mentioned by some writers. One of them is Erin Gloria Ryan who comments on Selfie in this way in the first paragraph of her essay, ‘Selfies are just dandy, they say, because they're a way for people (mostly young women) to express themselves and to show pride in who they are’ . 6 On June 13, 2014, an Article titled “Scientists Link Selfies To Narcissism, Addiction & Mental Illness” was published in an online newspaper named True Activist . In that article, the growing trend of taking Selfies is linked to mental health conditions that focus on a person’s obsession with looks. 7 He expressed his obsession to Mirror with taking selfie by saying, ‘I was constantly in search of taking the perfect Selfie and when I realized I couldn’t, I It is reported in the Mirror that a British male teenager, Danny Bowman, tried to commit suicide after he failed to take the perfect Selfie because he became so obsessed with capturing the perfect shot that he spent 10 hours a day taking up to 200 Selfies. It is also reported that the 19-year-old lost nearly 30 pounds, dropped out of school and did not leave the house for six months in his quest to get the right picture. He would take 10 pictures immediately after waking up. Frustrated at his attempts to take the one image he wanted, Bowman eventually tried to take his own life by overdosing, but was saved by his mom. wanted to die. I lost my friends, my education, my health and almost my life’. 8 Another phenomenon is the opportunity of editing the photo which reinforces people’s narcissistic tendency. Kristina Robb-Dover comments that a selfie that is edited loses its authenticity and the way the selfie All these prove that technology is the tool to activate the narcissistic tone of beauty. 6 Erin Gloria Ryan, ‘Selfies aren’t Empowering. They’re a Cry for Help’, Jezebel , 21 November 2013, For a full discussion, see https://jezebel. com/selfies-arent-empowering-theyre-a-cry-for-help-1468965365 (accessed 5 September 2022). 7 Scientists Link Selfies To Narcissism, Addiction & Mental Illness, True Activist , 13 June 2014, For a full discussion, see https://www.trueacti vist.com/scientists-link-selfies-to-narcissism-addiction-mental-illness/ (accessed 5 September 2022). 8 Gemma Aldridge and Kerry Harden, ‘ Selfie addict took TWO HUNDRED a day- and tried to kill himself when he couldn’t take perfect photo’, Mirror , 23 March 2014, For a full discussion, see https:// www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/selfie-addict-took-two-hundred -3273819 (accessed 16 September 2022). Volume XXII Issue VI Version I 72 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals C O ‘Selfie’! O Narcissus: The Mythologico-Cultural Imposition of Late-Capitalistic Tools in the Present Digital World