On the first day of the 4th Philippine Apostolic Congress on Mercy (PACOM) in San Juan, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David dedicated a talk on how ‘selfie culture’ is moving the people farther away from God. He posed that indulging in too many selfies could make people have an excessive interest in themselves.
His talk, “IMG (I am God): Selfie Syndrome and the Image of Mercy”, warned that “selfie syndrome is a possible manifestation of a narcissistic personality disorder.” Taking selfies in itself doesn’t make you a narcissist, but taking too many or letting it become a habit is what leads to a high level of self-interest. This narcissistic behavior shows itself in a lack of empathy, inflated self-importance, and an obsession for admiration.
Bishop David believes this is directly in contrast to living a righteous life. If narcissism can be characterized as shamelessness, arrogance, envy, entitlement, and self-centeredness then it also means forgetting God as the center of your life. He says that young people must “explore self-centeredness versus God-centeredness to fight against the narcissism of modern life to rediscover their relationship to God.”
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But others argue that selfies don’t necessarily mean you think highly of yourself. A lot of millennials have reclaimed this selfie culture to use it as an instrument of self-love.
People take selfies to gain confidence or to learn to accept their bodies. As with most things, perhaps it just becomes a thing of balance.
Do you think taking too many selfies is a bad thing?
Source: Manila Bulletin
