The selfie phenomenon as a moral indicator of the young generation



Selfie — is a kind of self-portrait: when photographing captures himself on camera. Despite the fact that the word «selfie» has been around since 2002, and the great interest around the world recorded in 2013, the phenomenon of softography can't be called new. The fashion for «selfie» arose long before the advent of smart phones [4, c. 67].

History of selfie:

In the 20-ies of the last century, due to the rapid development of technologies used by human technology began to shrink in size, and thus the camera became much easier and compact. A small camera you can hold in hand for some time, which was enough for an original selfie to commemorate a meeting or an important moment of life [3, c. 112].

Enough common is the fact about the daughter of Nicholas II, who sent independently photo taken your reflection in the mirror of the other. The Princess also wrote a letter describing the work done and challenges encountered. The next step was the 60-ies, when the necessary equipment was fixed on a special tripod, or created improvised. But in the process of photographing always had complications because of the need to correctly adjust the focus, time to reach to his place and wait for the desired flare in a beautiful position [2, c. 90–101]. For the people of that time made the images were perfectly normal, had a more official character than the modern, radiating joy and happiness. Perhaps they did not even know that such self-narcissism will turn into a mainstream in a couple decades [1, c. 32–47].

Types of Selfie:

1. Life lock– self-portrait is a self-portrait made with using the mirror, located in the elevator.
2. Duck face — making is the artificially self-portraits bulging forward of the lips.
3. Group Panoramic selfie — panoramic group selfie.
4. The fitness selfie or a selfie back from the gym.
5. Relationship selfie — self-portrait with beloved person.
6. Farmer selfie — self-portrait with favorite pets.
7. Shoes selfie — photo of your feet [5, c. 59–73].

The survey:

We interviewed 100 schoolchildren girls and boys from 5-th to 7-th grade.

Our survey consisted of 7 questions:

1. What is a selfie from your point of view?
2. What is your attitude to selfie?
3. When did you take your first selfie?
4. How often do you take selfies?
5. Are you ready for much for a good selfie?
6. Do you depend on selfie?
7. What's your reaction to the person making a selfie?

Table 1

№question	5th grade		6th grade		7th grade
	boys	girls	boys	girls	boys	girls
1	a regular photo	a picture from the front camera	thing	an unusual fashionable photo	a picture from the front camera	a personal photo
2	positive	positive	positive	positive	positive	positive
3	9	9	9	9	10–12	10–12
4	rarely	all day round	never	often	rarely	every day
5	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
6	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
7	positive	positive	neutral	positive	neutral	neutral

The following conclusions can be made from the research results:

− On the question «What is a selfie from your point of view?» respondents gave the following answers in the 5^th forms 42 % of the boys said that selfie is a regular photo and 58 % of the girls replied that selfie is a picture from the front camera. In the 6^th forms 22 % of the boys think that selfie is nothing for them, but for 78 % of girls it is an unusual fashionable photo. By the way, in the 7^th forms 37 % of boys responded that selfie is a picture from the front camera and 63 % of girls answered that it’s a personal photo.

− The next question was «What is your attitude to selfie?». The answers were positive from all 3 forms.

− Interesting was to get to know of schoolchildren when did they take their first selfie. Boys (44 %) and girls (56 %) from the 5^th and 6^th forms (boys — 30 %, girls — 70 %) take the first selfie at the age of 9. In the 7^th forms we got another results 25 % of boys answered at the age of 10, 33 % — at the age of 11 and 15 % — at 12. Girls in the same forms 10 years old — 20 %, 11 years old — 4 %, 12 years old — only 3 %.

− Speaking about «how often do you take selfies?» 22 % of boys in the 5^th form answered «rarely» and 78 % of girls said they take them all day round. In the 6^th form 31 % of schoolboys replied that it never happens but the schoolgirls (69 %) told that they often take selfies of themselves. In the 7^th form 28 % of young men never take them and 72 % of young ladies are mad about selfies, that’s why they take them every day.

− Opinion of respondents on «Are you ready for much for a good selfie?» is: 52 % of young men in the 5^th forms consider, that they are afraid of taking selfie with exotic animals (crocodiles, lizards, tarantulas and etc), at the same time 48 % of the young ladies declare, that they scruple of fitness selfie in the gym with their parents. In the highest form (6^th) 26 % answered that doing his homework, playing computer games is better than taking selfies with friends but 74 % of the girls said that demonstrating new clothes, presents and playlists with popular songs on the photos is the best activity in their free time. The schoolboys of the 7^th forms (51 %) were pleased after classes to take group panoramic selfies and 61 % of the schoolgirls take selfies in the cafes, with pets or in the countryside.

− As for the question «Do you depend on selfie?» gentlemen in the 5^th (49 %), 6^th (42 %) and 7^th (33 %) forms have no dependence of selfies. The ladies (51 %) in the 5^th forms answered that they have other interests like sport, drawing, travelling than taking selfie. 58 % of the girls in the 6^th forms and 67 % in the 7^th forms can’t stand their lives without selfie.

− Talking about the reaction of the respondents on a person who takes selfie was: 50 % of boys and girls in the 5^th forms have positive opinion, in the 6^th forms 44 % of boys have neutral attitude and 56 % of girls have positive attitude, in the 7^th forms 47 % and 53 % of girls give neutral answers.

Summing up, we may say that the popularity of the selfie phenomenon increases among young generation from grade to grade. We can’t admit in the future that our children appreciate themselves more than the nature around us.

References:

1. «A brief history of the selfie». ABC Science blog. ABC Online. Retrieved 30 June 2015. [Electronic resource]. — Access mode: http:// www. abc. net. Au /science / a r t i c l e s / 2 014/08/12/4065062.htm
2. Aldridge G. & Harden K. (2014, March23). Selfie addict took two hundred a day and tried to kill himself when he couldn’t take perfect photo. Daily Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/selfie-addict-took-two-hundred-3273819
3. Khan V. «On the other side of Selfie». Retrieved from http://www.khanacademy.org/
4. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at Oxford Learners Dictionaries. Selfie is named Oxford Dictionaries word of the year 2013. Retrieved from http://www.blog.oxforddictionaries.com/press-releases/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-2013/
5. «7 tips for taking better selfies». CNN. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2015. [Electronic resource]. — Access mode: http://edition. cnn. Com / 2 0 1 3 / 1 2 11/tech/mobile/selfie-photo-tips/