Lecture Selfies

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One would fall under the assumption that three years into a bachelor that exists to create teachers out of moderately young people, also considering those people have paid over twenty-thousand dollars thus far, those people would start taking their lectures seriously. 

One would then come to the realisation that this is, surprisingly, not the case. It is difficult to comprehend that this is so, and it is difficult to believe me when I say that it is, as your mind falls into denial about the fact that these people will one day educate your daughters, sons, nephews and nieces. But do believe me, for today I witnessed something that I had to sacrifice half the attention time I give to my lecturer just so I could observe it again and again to ensure that my mind was not being devious by playing tricks on me. Alas, it was not, and I cannot believe what I saw despite it being utterly real. In fact, it happened right next to me the entire time. 

Had I not relocated to the back of the lecture, I would not have witnessed this occurrence. Thanks to the air-conditioner being blasted in the lecture theatre in the icy coldness of winter, I had moved away from my comfort zone. Nevertheless, I was able to witness this bizarre act - the act of the girl seated beside me continuously and repeatedly sticking her arm far out in front of her, holding her phone tightly so as it will not fall, the camera aimed at her face. The girl then proceeded to reach her little thumb out from the side of her phone, aim it directly in the bottom-center of the screen, after which she began to, in an unabating manner, take photographs of herself.

I should not be talking about a fellow peer in this manner, I accept that we live in the twenty-first century and that because of iPhones we are the most narcissistic generation; I should be able to empathise for her, because not only was it a difficult job to get out of bed at eight in the morning and drive to university wherein she had to merely sit and passively accept all of the lecture information being thrown at her - my, what a daunting and tiring thing to do - but she also had to tear herself away from her reflection. Her mirror in the meantime sat all alone at her home so it was only natural for her to revisit it temporarily on her phone.

I should let you know, however, that I acted worse when I was in my first year in lectures. I would conduct Skype webcam chats with my overseas friends and I would have bubblegum chewing competitions and I even turned up drunk off my face for one lecture which happened to be the funniest thing, after attempting to make it up the lecture steps without falling down from laughing too much, because my lecturer that day had decided to play an old video where there were Amish people singing about tradition - mix that with an excessively happy drunk, and chaos ensued. 

However, let me reinstate that that was my crazy behaviour in my first year. My first year was a pathway course equivalent to the first year of my bachelor and I only had this sort of fun when nothing important was happening. Now, let me add the contrast: this girl is in a burst subject that occurs over five days, at the cost of $750. Each day contains four-weeks worth of material, which means each lecture is two-weeks worth. Because of her dire need to photograph herself on Snapchat to show the visual of her geographical location, this girl threw away one-weeks worth of learning. She had the opportunity to throw away thirty-minutes worth in her first year like I did.

It just interests me at this point in time. It is so fascinating but also frightening. These people, who have not the ability to lengthen their attention spans over the course of our bachelor, will have their VIT certificate at the end of next year, which means that they will be literal educators. They will be taking a stand as role models for children. They will be yearning for attention, screaming at students to hark. It will be an interesting display - especially when it comes to long meetings and assemblies; I wonder which teachers will be the last ones standing. 

The Narcissism behind Selfies

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Smart phones have been in our hands, excuse the pun, for years now. Gone are the days of painful thumbs because of having to push buttons, we now have sleek screens to glide them on. Gone are the days of hauling around a brick and here are the days of sitting carefully whenever your phone is in your back pocket in the event that it breaks, snapping in half with it the battery that never seems to survive long enough.

And here are the days of 'selfies', portraits of ourselves taken with our smart phone cameras. In fact, we take so much that photographers of the times before us cannot compete, especially professional ones who spent most of their lives in the aura of the dim red light waiting for their exceptional pieces to develop in multiple liquids, hanging them like wet underpants on a line with a couple of pegs and later mounting them professionally without getting any thumbprints in the way of the art they worked so hard for. Nowadays, all we do is snap and post. I do not believe that any of the future generations will know what a 'photo album' is apart from that digital place where digital photographs are stored.

Selfies are infiltrating our lives. They ensure the longevity of our narcissism. Some people cannot leave their house if they are in an outfit they deem appropriate enough for everyone's eyes to enjoy unless they photograph themselves in it and share it - I will admit, I have been a victim of this on numerous occasions. There is nothing bad about this, because the comments you get may, if you are lucky, boost your self esteem. This becomes bad when there is an inflation of selfies. This becomes bad when the outfit you deemed 'appropriate' only covers less than 3% of your body. This becomes bad when it is a daily thing.

And it is. My photo album, on my smart phone, that is, is filled with photographs of myself. I never saw myself to be a narcissistic person until I critically analysed it, and boy, was I wrong. If somebody found my phone one day, they would think that I thought of nothing else but myself. And I can guarantee that this is the same way with every smart phone owner. Neil Armstrong, in the photo above, did not take five photographs on the moon. In fact, he took seventy-seven, a total of one-hundred and twenty-two photos in total taken by his crew including his own. This is significantly higher than a mere five, yet the funny photo above does make a point. Even if Neil Armstrong took seventy-seven photos, I am willing to risk my left arm that most smart phone owners in their lifetime will take more than double that amount of photographs of not necessarily themselves in the bathroom, but themselves in general.

Smart phone photographs are not all that bad, though. Take iPhone photography, for example. The most convenient thing about the iPhone in this case is that though it cannot compete with the pixels an SLR camera has to offer, it is far more convenient. It is pocket-sized, light to carry, has a fast response time and is there when you feel the need to capture things instantly, which is how we are exposed to so many great videos nowadays, particularly the random jam session that happened in Irving involving Jesse Rya and two random strangers. The person who happened to capture this footage did so by accident, intending only to record Jesse's great guitar playing and singing. What he ended up capturing in the heat of the moment was something that could not be captured if it were planned. 

Do we enjoy our narcissism? How would our lives be if we had no smart phones tomorrow? How would we go about with our days without having our appearances approved? Yes, to imagine a world without the convenience of smart phones is terrifying, but I think the world with smart phones can be worse.