Obsession with self, bordering on narcissismIJ
This is not a record that Indians can be proud of: According to The Washington Post, India accounts for half the 27 selfie-related deaths reported in 2015. People have died falling off a boat, before an oncoming train, toppling off a cliff, and more. Tragic and wasteful end of lives as these were, the incidents seem to have triggered disbelief among people more than distaste for taking the selfie-obsession too far. Well, it is becoming an obsession, though still far behind the craze for cricket and religion.
Nothing but misplaced obsession can persuade people to stand by a surging river or sea unmindful of the dangers, just to get the ‘perfect image' on a mobile camera with self and nature together. Mind you, these are not professional photographers willing to risk their lives for a snapshot that could immortalise them even as they are alive in flesh and blood; the selfie-obsessed crowd's conduct often borders on the insane. It began with taking images with loved ones in the safe confines of a home or a park or a tourist destination, and then ‘graduated' to dangerous territory.
In a recent case, an 18-year old girl stood on a slippery rock by the sea in Mumbai to click a selfie with her friends, slipped and drowned in the waters. The sea can be cruel, but what does one say of the case where a tourist, absorbed in taking a selfie while walking the steps of the Taj Mahal, trips and falls and dies as a consequenceIJ We can, of course, be fatalistic and philosophically pronounce that life ends when it has to end; the circumstances are only incidental. But not even philosophical meandering can justify senseless recklessness for the sake of self-centredness — of all things.
The obsession with ‘self' has many layers and is complex enough to be best left to psychologists and sociologists. Is it narcissism, or is that too heavy a word to be used for a craving for simple funIJ Author Alex Morritt believes it is the former. He writes, “The Selfie Stick has to top the list for what best defines narcissism in society today.” Instead of admiring and reveling in the beauty of nature — the unending sea, the soaring snow-capped peaks, the tall majestic trees atop steep cliffs, the gurgling waters that make their journey from hundreds of kilometres away in the lap of mountains carrying with them flora and fauna that sustains humanity — we are more tuned to admiring ourselves in the midst of these wonders.
How silly it's for us to believe that nature is incomplete without a selfie, and equally how stupid it is for us to imagine that we are incomplete without a selfie with nature! We seem to be adopting the motto, ‘To be with nature', a little too literally. We are familiar with the ‘Don't swim here' boards along beach stretches where the current is dangerous, or the ‘Drive slow, accident-prone zone’ on roads; already, ‘Don't take selfie here' warning signs have begun to spring up at risk-spots across the country. Of course, per se, there is no harm in a selfie so long as it doesn’t harm the self and others around.