In an emerging trend for photos taken over time, it seems sharing moments on social media has turned into a self centred obsession. Rather than abiding to the notion to “sharing is caring”, we’re sinking fast into the quick sand of “selfies”… the name says it all! It is not just that we lose focus of the people around us, we might even crop them out of the photo with nothing but a creepy hand showing still, but we’re going too far with our distorted self image.
It seems natural that we may cherry pick the best pics to share, after all no one really needs to be reminded of a bad hair day on their profile; but airbrushing? ! Seriously?! It wasn’t until recently that I’ve got the nick to notice the giveaways of worked photo, after some celebrity mini-sized hetself a bit too obviously, but for a lovely young friend on my list to cut down her waist to “Disney” proportions, then there must be something wrong. Blame it on the media, the models and mastering mobile apps allowing us to face retouches such as fairer skin or wider eyes. Yet we are allowing ourselves to be enslaved by the ensnared tools.
This stands out how much we weight on appearances, so shallow so superficial that we will never be truly pleased with how we look. An eye opening ad by Dove shows how critical women get to their face in the mirror that they almost never smile back. Mind you in Islam, the very duaa of looking in the mirror is one of gratitude, “O Allah, just as you have made my external features beautiful, make my character beautiful as well”
Hating our bodies is not an individually harming choice; we are well offending EVERYONE. Think of the messages we enstill into our youngsters early in life. Even in our most treasured moments, we create those fake fun features for a better Instagram. A keen “creative photographer” back home has come up with a cunning idea to fake the salt lakes for the SWISS ALPS, with a Husky, ambience and everything… but is it really worth it to fake it?! Weddings with big frames, funny lips and staged scenes are just ruining the real genuine moment. We look back at the photos wondering how are face was puffy, or our makeup was runny forgetting the true joy of being there. Even with babies, we put so much pressure on the little ones to smile for their closeup when it is not really the right time for it.
Some of the happiest days are never on camera, they might even be nothing days, black diary days. Bottom line is, be thankful.
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