As a young woman who enjoys blogging, I am always reading blogs written by authors on topics I am passionate about. Recently I have stumbled across a few articles written by not only millennials like myself, but members of older generations that see “Selfie Culture” as a self-destructing, egotistical practice that in the majority of cases causes uncontrollable egos or low self-esteem. Ultimately leading to a selfish tendency in teens, and young adults today. I respect their position, however, I must disagree entirely. Selfie Culture has created a huge boost in self-esteem, more smiling faces and more productivity in our nation. I see selfies as being important to a person, just as loving your body is so important. As a culture with movements to end "Fat Shaming" and "Skinny Shaming" Why do people see "Selfie Shaming" in a different light? They shouldn't.

Many will argue that the idea of posting a selfie on social media, getting likes and comments is only “fake” confidence. Or that it is a way of a person shows their undying love for themselves, usually given with a negative connotation. Last time I checked people aren’t telling lies to you about your selfie. “You look beautiful” cannot be a lie. Everyone is beautiful, if you feel beautiful I say flaunt it, don’t hide it because society is “shaming you” for loving yourself. Last time I checked there is an ongoing debate about how U.S media is making teens and young women uncomfortable and unsatisfied with their appearance. I see the real problem, while all of these others see that too much confidence and self-esteem is an issue. Today not enough girls/women are loving themselves enough to post pictures of themselves! We have these “stop fat shaming” or “stop skinny shaming movements,” but we don’t want girls to feel comfortable with their facial features to be able to post it on social media for their friends to see and comment with a confidence boost? This is completely contradictory. Every “body” is beautiful, well everybody is beautiful too, why are we trying to shame people from loving their skin as well as the other features making them who they are?

Good self-esteem is one of the key reasons for happiness and satisfaction in humanity. Defined as “confidence in one's own worth or abilities; self-respect.” Having high self-esteem just isn’t about loving yourself so much you’re going to post selfies constantly to remind people. Having an overall good self-esteem and sense of self makes one more productive in society. A confident woman who not only has tremendous self -respect, knows her worth and is comfortable with the skin they were given are more likely to become politicians, doctors, lawyers and many other positions of power. Selfies do not discourage this, they help create it. Isn’t this what we want? We want women to be successful and happy and love their hips and their nose and their smile! Their teeth don't need to be straight and pearly white, their makeup does not need to be “on fleek.” They need to love themselves unapologetically for who they are, and selfies are away of helping women achieve that, as well as showing their self-love.

So next time you hear someone complain about the amount of selfies someone posts, or talks about how conceded that person must be, think about this: You would never tell a person not to post a picture because they are comfortable in their body that society sees as “too big” or “too small” would you? So why shame a woman who has enough confidence to post that selfie, and ask yourself: do I have that confidence? We need to teach the importance of loving your self(ie).