Selfie. A term first coined in 2002 that took a decade to gain popularity. A term used when someone takes a photo of themselves, particularly with their smartphone. A term that has since earned a song, a television show, products that help users further their “selfie game,” a place in the Scrabble dictionary, and has become a staple on social media along with a variety of hashtags such as #selfiesunday, #selfielove, and #selfiegram. Despite their increasing popularity, people who take selfies have become notorious for being attention seeking, narcissistic, and vain. Selfie takers are constantly scrutinized and looked down upon just because they like the way they look in a photo, but why is that? Why is it not okay for someone to think that they look amazing and want to document it? Why is it conceited to want to share a photo you think you look fly as hell in and want to spread some #selfielove? Why should you tear someone down because they have the confidence to put themselves out there? You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t make someone feel less amazing than they are; you shouldn’t diss a photo because someone felt the need to share it, you should not ruin someone’s confidence. It’s not going to make you feel any better.

 When someone takes a selfie, it means they are feeling good about themselves in that moment. It means that they feel confident  enough to take a permanent photograph of themselves, no matter how it turns out. It means that they have enough self-esteem to allow themselves to be vulnerable to the public. Self-confidence and self-love are two of the most important things a person can have and no one has the right to take that away from them. We live in a society where it takes so much to build a person up, but almost nothing to tear them down. We live in a society where people thrive on tearing others down. This is not something to be proud of. Something to be proud of is to take a bomb selfie and to not let self doubt consume you. A selfie is something so simple, but it can be so powerful.

   A selfie’s power is in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately, our society has shaped most views to be negative, but that ends today. Before you judge someone for taking a photo of themself, think. Will it benefit me to destroy someone else’s happiness? No, it won’t. It will just make you less of a person. A selfie is taken out of pure courage and contentment. If someone thinks that they are slaying that day, don’t take away that sense of empowerment, because one day you might want to take a selfie but will be fearful of scrutiny. If that day comes where you  want to take a selfie but hesitate — don’t. Take that selfie, be proud of that selfie, work that selfie, slay that selfie, embrace that selfie.