I have tons and tons of photos from my childhood; of family holidays, amazing vacations, important milestones, and ordinary days with friends. I’m even in many of them.
However, something interesting I’ve noticed about nearly all of the photos from those earlier days of my life that contain me: I didn’t take a single one of them.
Today, most of us probably have more Selfies than any other photos of ourselves, and the younger we are, the more true this is.
Now that we have a camera, literally at arm’s length at all times, the habit of turning the lens on ourselves is almost second nature. (There’s even a button so that it comes as a standard feature).
At a moment’s notice, we lift our phones, straighten our arms, and digitally document our days, both public and intimate.
Something very telling about Selfies, though: They make the person taking them the largest thing in the picture.
When you document a photo of yourself, regardless of the context, you automatically become the focus. Anything and everything else is relegated to the periphery or to the background.
Whether the setting is a beautiful beachfront, a famous monument, a romantic restaurant, or a living room filled with friends, it’s almost impossible not to see ourselves as the stars of the show, because we fill the frame.
Most of us have come see the world this way; always filtered through the lens of self.
When considering lines at the grocery store, traffic on the highway, new healthcare laws, or changing tax codes, we all almost always consider the most important question to be, “How does this impact me?”.
That’s probably why we each have half a dozen public portals of daily self-promotion, where we can constantly let people know how we’re feeling, what we’re doing, where we’re eating, how much we’re lifting, and what’s ticking us off.
We obsessively monitor these sites, the way ICU nurses monitor patient vital signs; to see moment by moment, how people are reacting to, commenting on, and approving of, us and what we’re up to.
As a pastor trying to minister to teenagers, one of the greatest challenges of the task, is helping young people raised in a Selfie culture, find a healthy sense of self, without becoming completely focused on self. (Who am I kidding, it isn’t just a teenage problem, is it?)
For most of us, it’s a constant, daily battle; to feel secure enough in ourselves, to actually move the focus of our thoughts to the needs of others; to make them the center of the story.
What about you?
As you view the world, do you always make yourself the biggest thing in the picture?
As you walk through your day, and as you look upon a planet filled with billions of people who need love, and attention, and affection, do you miss them all, simply because you “fill up the frame”?
This week, as you work, study, travel, and play; do your best to turn the view-finder around once in awhile, and see outside of you.
May you find the beauty of going beyond a Selfie life.
