Selfies & Self-esteem

In honor of the OED's word of the year, this month's library bulletin board is devoted to selfies.


To be totally honest, the word of the year was just a lucky coincidence. The board was actually inspired by this Teen Vogue article, "The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected Consequences of Selfie Obsession." I know my kids are selfie obsessed, especially as they leave Facebook and flock to Instagram.

From everything I've read, selfies are a useful tool in developing adolescents' personal identity, so I didn't want a board with a strict "selfies are bad" message, but I do think there are potential consequences my kids need to consider when sharing selfies. Hence our bulletin board theme - "Don't let selfies dictate your self-esteem."

I think the Teen Vogue article does a great job explaining the issue, so it was easy to translate it into a bulletin board. The iPhone frames on the board address the following topics with excerpts from the article:
  • What is a selfie?
  • Why take selfies?
  • Sharing selfies
  • How do "likes" make you feel?
  • The bad side of selfies
  • Selfie alternatives
To catch students' attention, I included celebrity selfies (side note: it's REALLY DIFFICULT to find school appropriate selfies -- put some clothes on, people!).

Has your library done anything to address selfies (and the word of the year)?

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