The Truth About Selfie Culture

The selfie, that ubiquitous symbol of millennial navel-gazing, is often used as Exhibit A in the argument by older generations that millennials are self-absorbed, narcissistic, and entitled. But is that really the whole picture? As Jia Tolentino pointed out in a recent issue of The New Yorker, this argument focusses “on the individual rather than on the structures and the conditions that govern one’s life.” Maybe it’s time to put the much maligned selfie into its proper cultural context.