The other day, I was in Michael’s Craft Store, picking up something for the Ancient City Romance Author Conference held in September. As the girl was ringing up my item, I looked at something on the display 
shelf. That’s how they get you to buy stuff you don’t need, they make you wait so you end up looking around. At least that’s what happens with me.
On the counter was a box holding a selfie stick. The young lady went on to explain that this item holds your smart phone out about eighteen inches longer than your arm so you can take a better selfie.
Saved me some money by not having a smart phone. But then I shook my head and asked her “What does this say for the American people that we need to buy a pole in order to get a better photo of ourselves?” She just smiled, and I went on my way.
But I’m not kidding. What is it with our egos that we constantly take pictures of ourselves, our food, and our vacations just to put up on a social media sight for others to see? Are we that self absorbed?
Unfortunately, the answer is yes, we are too focused on ourselves. Depression, drug use, and alcoholism are at an all-time high because we concentrate too much inward and not enough outward.
God hates it when our focus is ourselves and not others. Proverbs 8:13 states, The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. All this self-portrait stuff we do is about pride and arrogance.
If we were to focus more on helping others, we would live a much happier life. And that’s what God wants. For us to be happy. He didn’t make us to only focus inwardly. To only see what we didn’t have. He wants us to feel blessed by what he has given us.
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People who use Facebook the most tend to have more narcissistic or insecure personalities. – (Taken from an article titled “The selfie syndrome: This infographic reveals how social media is making us more narcissistic.” http://justsomething.co
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We have become too preoccupied with ourselves. Narcissism is at an all time high. We need to put down the smart phones and the selfie sticks, get off social media, and look at other’s needs before our own.
And you parents need to control the amount of time your children spend on these sites. The more time they spend, the more they feel social media defines who they are. And the last thing we want is for our children to believe that taking pictures of themselves and listening to what others believe is truly all that important.
If you or someone you know are in need of prayer this week, please leave a comment. We’d be more than happy to pray for you.
And if this post moved you in some way, please feel free to share it.
Right on! We should be looking outward, not inward. Besides, just how hard is it to interact with someone close by and ask them to take your picture if it’s that important that you have one in that particular place and time. Isn’t that how we’ve always done it before. And then we offer to take others photos – maybe when we see a couple obviously on a honeymoon or a family on vacation and we say, would you like me to take a photo of all of you together? Have we lost even that momentary courtesy to others?
Great idea, Skye. Good way to meet a new friend.