The lyrics to The Chainsmokers’ song “#Selfie” are rooted entirely in truth. Teens and 20-somethings seem completely incapable of refraining from taking what has become known as a selfie when they find themselves in a situation that they deem significant enough to share with the world. But at what point does this new wave of narcissism go too far?
One of the victims – Nate Scimio – in the recent stabbing at a Pennsylvania high school determined that posting a selfie was the best method to show the world that he was in fact, okay. I say, find a better way; you’re not a reporter, so let the news media take care of it. There is a reason that news stations wait to report injuries, fatalities and the like in the wake of mass tragedies such as this. Is this teen so insensitive to the fact that others may not have been as lucky that he is willing to brag about the fact that he is “chillin’” at the hospital while others remain in critical condition?
I wish that the anger Microsoft Word expresses with that annoying red squiggly line beneath the word was how the rest of the nation reacted to the term “selfie.” I guess I will have to be satisfied with the fact that at least some members of society are as irked as I am by the existence of this term. On the BBC’s list of the “20 Most Overused Words” of 2013, selfie came out at number two. When I look at stories like this, it is my guess that people are more miffed by the act than the word itself. At least I am. Self-absorption and egoism now characterize an entire generation. Exalting the individual victim in a stabbing is suddenly more important and more newsworthy than acknowledging the general tragedy at hand.
But this is not the first instance of selfie nation gone amuck, and it certainly was not the last. Just this past week, a selfie of President Obama and Joe Biden surfaced with the caption “Pals.” I would have less of an issue with such frivolity – politicians are people too – if social media-centered stories were not responsible for snubbing real, hard news. Unfortunately, this is precisely what is happening. Are we really so far gone as a nation that we are willing to subvert Nelson Mandela’s death to the news of President Obama posing for a selfie with the prime ministers of Denmark and Great Britain? Apparently we are, and apparently that was only the beginning. No wonder this kid thought it prudent to post a selfie – everyone is doing it, even the president.
So while CNN reported, “Victims were stabbed in their torso, abdomen, chest and back areas, and two people were sent to surgery immediately after arriving,” the selfie epidemic continued to infect our nation. Nate Scimio, you are a hero for pulling the fire alarm that day of the stabbing. Let that fact immortalize you, not a selfie.
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