R7: My Selfies and the Picture they Paint

The only time I take selfies is when I am sending something over Snapchat. Aside from that, any other selfies that have been taken of me were taken by another person in the picture, or were specifically taken for this post. I'm not really the type of person to instigate taking a picture. Usually I feel it separates me from the moment. The only reason I typically use Snapchat is to respond to someone who sent me something, or because my girlfriend wants the emoji next to my name to no longer be a "meh" face due to my lack of Snaps. That being said, I have no difficulty smiling for pictures since my Grandpa and my parents have always loved taking pictures....so many pictures. My mom even goes through the trouble of organizing them into albums, and I am glad she does it, but I would never do it myself.

Anyways, most of the selfies that have been taken of me were taken by my girlfriend, so I'll just use our most recent one as an example. This picture clearly indicates that I am a white, heterosexual male. This selfie, along with all of our other ones together, demonstrates that we are very happy as a couple. However, none of the selfies we have showcase any sort of struggles we've encountered throughout our near 6 years of dating, and instead they only show the happy side of things where we are getting along all the time. This mentality of being happy in every selfie applies to all of the selfies I am in that weren't taken on Snapchat. When a selfie is taken on Snapchat I feel I can show more honestly how I might be feeling in a particular moment to the person I am talking to, whether I'm feeling sad, angry, happy, or stressed. Nobody wants to see a sad or stressed out picture of you on Facebook, they want to see positive moments in your life.

My next selfie is meant more to show my interests, and by doing so also implies that I may be of a high-socioeconomic status. This selfie has my Xbox One, my Alienware laptop, and my Disney College Program sweatshirt. The Xbox is my most prominent means of entertainment and I am very much into Disney. The Xbox and the Alienware laptop are not by any means something everyone can afford, but what this selfie doesn't show is that video games are really the only entertainment I spend my money on. It's not that I have a lot of money, I just spend it on different things. I only use free streaming services, I don't use cable, I don't watch movies very often, I don't go to concerts, etc. I spend my money for entertainment on games and not much else.

The last selfie here shows me playing a card game with my friends. This selfie demonstrates that I, well, have friends! Again, this picture shows us being happy together and doesn't portray any of the annoyances we've put each other through. The picture also shows how interesting our personalities can be, showing that we have a goofy side (except for me in this case, I was more focused on taking the picture, felt like I wasn't part of the moment). While I do have a goofy side of my own, it's much more subdued than my those of my friends' and it typically only comes out when I am around people I am close with.

I don't care too much for taking pictures. Sure they can be good for immortalizing a particular moment, but the whole story is never there. Even in selfies I specifically took for this post there were multiple parts of my identity that were left out or not entirely accurate.