Photowhores: They're EVERYWHERE

If anyone's ever stumbled upon my facebook, you'll notice that I have a load of pictures up.  A LOAD.  And yes, pretty much all of them are posed, like this:

Whee!  I'm in front of some lamdmark!  What a completely normal looking photo!

But anyway, this is not the point.  Here, I look like a normal human being with perfectly normally functioning nerves and muscles, and instead of posing in front of a mirror I am posing in front of a landmark.  It's proof I've been somewhere cooler than my bedroom.  Lately, I've been seeing a lot of this type of photo on the internet:

This hideous photo was probably taken about a year ago, and after scanning through about 300 of my 700ish photos, I figured this was a good enough example.  This is what it looks like:  a really bored girl stuck in her room trying on ridiculous outfits and trying to be 'hot'.  This is what it actually was: a joke of a picture and a hilarious outfit that was also supposed to keep me warm during the walk out to the club (note the socks and tights).  So once you understand what's actually going on, it's not terrible.  Still bad, but not terrible.

I do not have many of this type of photo--the kind where I'm by myself, making a ridiculous pose to the camera, scrunching up my face as if I were constipated, and jutting my hip out as if I broke it.  But for some reason, I notice that a lot of the younger crowd takes pictures like this ALL THE TIME.  The key elements of each photo: stupid poses, sticking out the tongue in a weird way, scrunching up their faces, posing in 'hot outfits' in front of a mirror in their room, etc. etc.

This sort of thing makes me sad.  I mean, I HATE seeing that kind of useless picture.  Whoever thought it was cute to pucker up their lips or open their mouth wide and stick their tongue out so it looks like they're going to lick something gross was certainly mistaken.  I also don't like that constipated face that everyone makes, and that super exaggerated hip jut to make the a$$ look bigger... I just don't understand the appeal to these hideously posed pictures.  Especially when you're by yourself and there's a whole album of you in the same outfit posing in front of a mirror?  Like, sh!t, get over yourself.  Isn't the context what truly matters?  What context is there to sitting in front of your mirror and posing for an hour and a half, or taking pictures of yourself in a store's dressing room when you try on something really pretty?  Sure, it's a pretty dress ... but what's the meaning of it if there's no special moment or memory attached?  Like, okay, you were by yourself, got bored, and went shopping.  Hoo-hah.

Maybe it's a self esteem issue, and people are just taking a bunch of pictures to receive comments from people?  Or maybe it is just boredom, and if that's the case then I think people should find better things to do than simply take pictures of themselves.  How about taking pictures of other things?  It just makes us that much more self-centered and superficial.

But I guess our society is just that, right?

I hope everyone had a pleasant new year.  I'll be seeing you soon.