The Selfie Syndrome: Capturing Images like Drone

Capturing Images has gone viral

At the outset of this story on the Selfie Syndrome, I will be honest that I am not great at getting clicked and will qualify as photo-allergic! I will not say that it is in my genes as my sister as well as my daughter; they both are great Selfie fans. So, how come this Selfie craze started and how the world became obsessed with Selfies.

The Selfie syndrome has been the primary reason for the success of a social media site like Instagram with over a billion subscribers. On the other hand, it has given a new lease of life to Facebook also. Add to this the millennials and Generation Z and their obsession with phones. And let’s not forget the fairer sex which in all age groups are bitten by the Selfie bug.

How to take a Good Selfie – Click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqIQcKNE7E

From “Facing the Camera” to “Camera facing you”

There was a time in early 80’s and 90’s when cameras used to be popular. Nikon, Canon, and Yashica were for cameras while Kodak, Fuji and Agfa were for films. You needed to load your cameras with a film roll of 24 or 36 shots. Once clicked, the rolls had to be given to the photo studios for developing and processing.

The day I used to pick the photos from the studio and bring it home, it was like a celebration time. Everyone was excited to see those pictures. I will say watching photos was more exciting than clicking them. And if by any chance the camera roll captured 39 photos in a roll of 36, it was a bonanza.Pictures captured were more of family and friends rather than being one’s own self.

The Selfie Syndrome: How it started?

It’s difficult to pinpoint when the Selfie syndrome started.  It was while hosting the Oscars 2014, that Ellen DeGeneres, a famous American television host, and comedian clicked a picture. The picture captured some of the well-known faces of Hollywood like  Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and many others. The Selfie got a record-breaking 32,83,353 tweets.

From that day onwards, the world has never looked back. In fact from that day the World has only looked in the front to capture a Selfie.

The Selfie Syndrome is now driving the economy

Nobody would have realised but the Selfie Syndrome is virtually driving the economies of the world:

Driving the Growth of Smart Phones

India now accounts for more than 10% of the global smartphone market with a total of 137 million smartphones shipped in 2018.

Driving Garment Sale

As per the rules of Selfie clicking, once you have clicked yourself in a particular dress, you can’t be seen again in the same dress. This is the reason that stores like H&M and Zara are reporting tremendous sales in India.

Social media has transformed tourism worldwide

India is now one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets in the world, second only to China. By 2020, it is expected that India will account for 50 million outbound tourists as per the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. One of the reasons can be attributed to Selfies.

The Selfie Syndrome in China

Social media sites like Instagram are blocked in China. But that doesn’t mean that Chinese are deprived of this Selfie clicking fun. They use a social media app called Douyin. It’s owned by ByteDance which also owns TikTok (quite popular in India). Instagram users mainly browse pictures posted by people they follow. On the other hand, Douyin’s fans commonly use the app to watch hot-trending videos uploaded by users they do not know under categories such as “Food” and “Scenic spots”.

In China, the culture of uploading a picture or a video from a photogenic spot to social sites such as Douyin is known as “daka“. Daka means “punching the card”. The word is used to refer to the practice of registering your presence at a location that has already become hot. The aim is to show that you have also been to popular places. It’s like telling people that you have struck down a destination from your bucket list.

Daka has become a craze amongst youngsters in China. There are Daka tribes roaming places of interest, checking in at as many hot locations. Guides can be found online to show the most efficient ways to achieve this.

The Selfie Syndrome Sufferers

There is a whole community that has to suffer because of some people’s obsession with Selfies. I will describe a few:

When your social media sites get jammed by Selfies

My suggestion to US and European embassies is that they should put a clause before issuing visas to travelers. You can’t upload your Selfies and pictures on any social media as it disturbs people at work. Also, it unnecessarily creates a stress on the head of the family from his spouse and children as they start demanding foreign travels.

Imagine the kind of load on the servers of Google. Somewhere Google should also put a limit on Selfies you can store on its servers. Not more than 20 at a time.

When you visit your family and friends house

Your close friend has just come back from Europe and has invited you home with family for drinks. You reach there thinking that it is a great start to a weekend. But hey what is this? You are supposed to sit and watch all the selfies and the videos he has clicked with each picture explained in detail with live commentary. It seems to you that the Scotch is going down the drain.

When the sweet dish in a party is followed by a Selfie session

I hate to say but I always get late from most of the evening parties. The reason is that the moment you are through with the sweet dish (serving a sweet dish indicates that a party is over), one of the friends will declare that nobody has taken a picture. And suddenly you will find yourself surrounded by people flashing their mobiles. Just like there is a strong debate in the US on Gun control, similarly, our govt should also enact a law on “Camera mobile control”. Another debate which triggers is Apple versus Android – which one has a better camera?

Selfies create social pressure

Such is the obsession of Selfies these days that nearly 2/3^rd of your friends and relatives end up just posting their pictures with a run-of-the-mill destination in the backdrop. And if you don’t press the like button, chances are that you may be blocked by them. Such Selfie obsessed people also specialize in posting pictures in new dresses or with family members visiting them. They try to make the most insignificant moment look like a great occasion.

 Selfies have landed criminals in Jail

Recently a Criminal from Meerut uploaded his photos on Facebook. He was enjoying his break in Shimla when the police caught with him. It’s a recent story when Haji Saeed, a desperado from Meerut, a town in North India, couldn’t control his urge for Selfies and uploaded a click on FB. That was the end of his freedom.

Selfies are profitable

Flood tourism is a new concept. Ganesh Pandit, a boatman took full advantage of the recent flooding of the Yamuna river in Delhi. Pandit gave joyrides to the many visitors who came to make videos of the submerged houses and to click Selfies against the backdrop of the deluge. Pandit made a handsome profit.

And if you don’t have time and money to get clicked in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza, just visit the wonders of the world, a theme park in New Delhi. You can get clicked by professional photographers in front of the replicas right in the capital of India.

Last but not the least; even animals have fallen in love with selfies. The picture is proof.

Read more such interesting stories on social media by clicking on following links:

Tagged: The funny side of Social Media

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Acknowledgement:

The Economist: Issue dt - Aug 17th 2019 /Topic - Daka destination,Page - 23

The Times of India Delhi