Week 6 – Selfies at funerals

The discussion of appropriate digital media usage has been wide spread in the 21^st century. As technology evolves to become part of our communication, sharing and work, the opportunity for “incorrect usage” increases. This week’s reading focusing on one incident of misuse, challenges the reader to develop their own opinion on the act of taking selfies at a funeral. The reading addresses both sides to this argument, sharing the views of those who thought this was a millennial stunt that showed no respect for the family of the person who passed away. Contrasting this were those who claimed to understand the friendly and celebratory nature of the photos being taken as they defend those who had choses to share. (Selfies at Funerals, 2015) This included blaming the funeral industry and the way that society has learnt to mourn a loss of life. This reading comments on not only the act of taking selfies at a funeral, but the way the photographic genre of ‘selfies’ has changed the way society sees moments in their life, and the need to share. They use Instagram as a way to measure the demands for each photo, taken through the amount of likes and comments each piece of content receives. (Taylor M. Wickel, 2015) I found this week’s lecture and reading to be highly engaging as an active member of social media. The youthful nature of selfies as well as sharing large portions of one’s life, leads to this report being a commentary on the combination of millennials and technology. The comments on the narcissistic undertone to selfies challenged the way I thought about social media posts, especially posting photos of myself. This reading forced me to think about why I am posting each photo and what kind of reputation would be created by someone who posts regularly.

Meese, J., Gibbs, M., Carter, M., Arnold, M., Nansen, B., & Khon, T. 2015, ‘Selfies at Funerals: Mourning and Presencing on Social Media Platforms’, International Journal of Communication, vol. 9, pp. 1818–1831.

Taylor M. Wickel, 2015, Narcissims and Social Networking Sites: The Act of taking Selfies, Strategic Communications Elon University, viewed 24^th August, < http://elon.edu/docs/e-web/academics/communications/research/vol6no1/01WickelEJSpring15.pdf&gt;

Quentin Fottrell, 2016, Instagram users admit they’ve created the most narcissistic social network on the planet, Market Watch, viewed August 24^th,< http://www.marketwatch.com/story/beware-of-people-who-always-post-selfies-on-facebook-2015-07-16&gt;