Making selfies useful to society

I once promised myself that I would never open an Instagram account. I was afraid having one would make me want to take photos of myself wherever I go (’yung tipong uubo lang ako, mag-se-selfie na!). I broke that promise last week (tinamaan ako ng inggit!) and, yes, I have been taking lots of selfies since then (with tamang lighting and angle huh!).

Noel Ferrer (Instagram)

Sawikaan Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Wika of Filipinas Institute of Translation, Inc. (FIT) recently chose “selfie” as Salita ng Taon, as submitted and defended by talent manager/writer Noel Ferrer and director/writer Jose Javier Reyes (both of whom I suppose, eh mahilig din sa selfie!)

Based on the duo’s research, selfie was first mentioned in an Australian internet forum in 2002. Noel maintained, however, that long before the word was coined, Filipinos were already doing selfies. “Even before technological advancements allowed us easier access to such, selfies were already part of our culture,” he said.

Joey agrees, believing that the word selfie is something inherent to Pinoys.

“Nowadays, karamihan ng Filipino ang mindset is ‘I am, therefore I selfie.’ We look at ourselves to see what we want to see.”

In show business, the selfie has become part of celebrities’ daily activities (mapa-sikat man, feeling sikat o wala nang pag-asang sumikat pa!).

“Napagkakakitaan kasi ’yan. Some of these celebs get paid to take selfies with a certain product. It is a way for media people to gather more supporters and sponsors. Fans, on the other hand, feel a deeper sense of connection with their idols because of these selfies,” Joey shared (ano kayang bagay na product sa’kin na isama sa selfie?!).

Joey Reyes

Although selfies may represent some unpleasant aspects of our culture – chief among them narcissism and consumerism – the writer-director tandem believes there’s a need to understand, own and recognize this phenomenon so that we, as practitioners, will be able to maximize its potential.

“We want to create awareness about the responsible use of the selfie through fun yet socially-relevant campaigns. Our commitment is to make selfies more useful to our society,” Noel explained (ay, nilagyan ng social relevance ang selfie!).

Noel encourages celebrities to create new words. “Like Kuya Kim Atienza and Atom Araullo, they could make use of catchy words and expressions in relation to weather, environment and disaster management.” (Selfie na lang with Atom, pwede?!)

“Another example. Ryan Agoncillo can start using a term relevant to parenthood, while you, Mr. Fu, can promote deeper meanings for ‘Meganon’ and ‘Push’ or other words and practice your being an academic debater once again,” Noel said (ako talaga?! Push!).

(MR.FU hosts on 106.7 Energy FM, 8 a.m., Monday to Friday and TV5. Twitter and Instagram: @mrfu_mayganon)

Making selfies useful to society

Source: Mb.com.ph (October 01, 2014 at 10:00PM)

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