A question that always came to mind was, “How did people see themselves before mirrors?” Well, since the invention of mirrors and cameras, people can actually express, define themselves publicly! Since Parmigianino’s self-portrait , presumably the world’s first mirror selfie, everyone from kings to kids took Parmigianino’s idea of self-promoting. There’s always old heads (pre-Iphone era) saying, “Kids nowadays are so conceited” and “This generation is completely self-absorbed” because we take selfies and express ourselves via social media. Nevertheless, Parmigianino’s self portrait (1524 A.D.), and every self portrait after has been more self absorbing then the last!

What I mean by this is self-expression, or selfie’s, have been around for centuries. The only things that have changed is the platform and widespread audience. With the creation of Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and social media applications, it has become a lot more easier to share and view others personal identity/creativity. Present day, we can share a picture of our family at Niagara Falls to the world with a tap of a screen.

Besides being self promoting, pictures are also proof. Before camera’s, there was no way to capture an emotional event. Yeah, you could paint it, but it was usually glorified through painting. For example:

Here’s a painting of war…

And here’s a picture of war…

 

There’s an obvious difference from the two. In my own opinion, a painting has the same effect of a rumor, but a painting is the actual evidence. When we take selfies, either with our family or with celebrities, I believe the impact is way more relevant than a self portrait. However, the idea of selfie’s and self portrait’s are similar, or almost identical. According to dictionary.com, self portrait’s are “a portrait of an artist produced or created by that artist.” Sounds like selfie if you replace the word “artist” with “person”.

When it comes to depiction, there are two sides to selfies. Regular selfies, the pictures of just you and/or the event that you’re currently attending, depict people pretty accurately. Meanwhile, the mirror selfies with their booty on the sink do not depict any image of anyone. If anything it’s most likely for attention, but we can’t make the inference that this person is a floozy.

 

 

I assume that we take selfies as a way to inform others how and what we are doing daily. Personally, I’m old fashioned. I enjoy taking pictures with family and friends instead of solo and by myself. Back when posting selfies were first starting, I took them just to join the wave of selfies. After awhile, it just starts to become repetitive. On a scale from one to ten, ten being most important, selfies are a one. I beleve that selfies are overrated and I have more progressive things to do then snap a selfie, choose the right filter, and upload one a day (but thats just my opinion).

 

Brook Gladstone and Josh Neufeld’s The Influencing Machine is a spectical in the illustrated history of journalism. Gladstone uses Neufeld’s illustrations to propose some controversial theories and questionable topics towards 21st century media.

 

Rather then boring her audience with history and examples, Brook uses the story of the press right back to ancient Rome, when Julius Caesar decreed that the activities of the Senate be posted on a handwritten sheet. She is proposing the question , “is the internet is destroying our capacity to concentrate” as a species?

 

Another thesis that Brook opened my mind with was, the fact that media reports what we implictly flock towards. In Brook’s opinion, journalists have been recently bandwagonning when comes to reporting specific events. In Rachel Cooke’s article, she describes it as “human beings are all prey to unconscious prejudices, and reporters no more or less than anyone else.

 

Media in general destroy’s the majority of society due to a large portion of it being negative. For example news stations, in my opinion brain wash viewers with only negative things. When was the last time you saw a news station cover multiple stories that were negative? It is good to know about the horrific events that are ocurring in the world but to be bombarded with it 24/7 could be very negative for the viewer and can make them lead lives of quiet desparation. I believe that they should show more positive feedback in the world to encourage viewers and will impact their lives in a positive light.

 

 

Let me start off by saying I’m one of the few in my generation that doesn’t use social media, and to hear one of my professors say “We all have digital footprint!” I thought she was nuts and I was about to switch classes. Until…

My professor asked the class to do:

1. Log out of all of our social media
2. Look our names up

And, surprisingly, everyone had their own conclusions. Most common was that they found old pics from old social media accounts, but the rest of us found pictures we never knew existed. One girl saw some pictures of her at prom that she never posted, to begin with. I, personally, found an abundance of pics of myself from the age of 8 years old and up.

Have you ever been online shopping for whatever, then all of sudden the next advertisement you spot is that item? Thanks to digital footprints, advertisers buy yours and many others information (including your history) to advertise that specific or similar product(s)!

“How do I delete my digital footprint?”, you ask?

Well, according to clark.com, “You may never be able to completely erase your digital footprint since so much is already out there about pretty much everyone. However, there are ways for you to reduce the amount of info out there about you, and in some cases, remove yourself from certain databases.[…] Deactivate all of your social media accounts. Just go to your account settings and there will be an option to “deactivate” your account — either temporarily or permanently. A few examples: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn (unless you’re job searching), Deactivate/delete old email accounts, Search yourself online: There could be old accounts, profiles and other information out there that you forgot about, Delete search results: You can request for search engines to remove any information you find about yourself that you don’t want out there, For accounts you can’t delete, fill in the required fields will false information — nothing real about you, Unsubscribe from all email lists and text message alerts, This tool will show you everything you’re subscribed to so you can easily remove yourself from whatever you don’t want, Delete old emails that may contain any personal or sensitive info about you (like passwords or account numbers you forgot etc.),
Ask your phone company to make you “unlisted” so your info isn’t available online.”

“Okayyy, so how do I protect myself in the future from disgracing my digital footprint?”

• How to protect your money and identity when shopping online
• Tips to avoid text message and pop-up alert scams
• How liking a post or page on Facebook can get you scammed
• Top 10 scams coming after your money and how to avoid them
• Identity Theft Guide

(Thank me later)