In our previous blog about selfies, we delved deeper into the public’s opinion of such photos and how their place in the social media has raised ethical questions over the past decade. Most people we interviewed agreed, some disagreed and others gave their varied opinions. However, the perspective of selfie changes when it is brought into a larger scale, such as that of the film industry. Hollywood star, Daisy Ridley mostly known for playing ‘Rey’ in the star wars movies, spoke to radio times about her private life without the need of selfies.
At 27-years old, at an age where you would expect most stars enjoying the extra promotion from selfies, Ms. Ridley declines any type of photos with her fans and will not go to an event in which she is invited if she ‘doesn’t feel great’. Moreover, she is very aware that when people take selfies, they tend to share them immediately therefore making people aware of her whereabouts. At one point, she was invited to a Cirque Du Soleil which she did not attend. “Even though people aren’t going to look at me, if anyone does, I’m not in the right frame of mind to deal with that.”
To conclude, while respecting everyone’s opinion, selfies do infringe to a certain extent our own privacy, be it whether we are exposing our location or we are attending an event with someone. Therefore, think of how the selfie, when posted online, can affect you on a deeper context. Is it portraying me properly? Can the photo which I posted be used against me? Can someone find out my location? These are several things to keep in mind when making use of selfies in the context of social media.
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This is a project for Study Unit MCS3953, University of Malta.