Department of English College of Arts and Social Sciences Sultan Qaboos University What Motivates People to Take Selfies and What Do Others Think of It? Name: Muzna Ibrahim Abbas Al Hooti Tutor: Janet Holst Semester/year: Fall 2014 What motivates people to take selfies and what do others think of it? Muzna Ibrahim Al Hooti 96822 ENGL3129 Semester: Fall Year: 2104 Abstract This paper investigates the growth of the selfie phenomenon, the motivations for taking selfies, and others’ perception of them. It first reviews previous studies and literature on the topic, and shows the technical development and selfies, the general motivations for taking them, and some views about them. The paper then analyses data obtained through questionnaires that were distributed to 90 (45 males and 45 females) people from different age groups and interviews with professors of technology, psychology, and sociolinguistics. The findings show that there are no significant differences between girls and boys taking and sharing selfies and that teenagers share more selfies than anyone else and that Arabs do not imitate others in their selfies. The paper concludes that Arabs are not yet fully aware of the selfie phenomenon’s effects and recommends that research about selfies should be conducted in the Arab world. Key words Selfies, The selfie, Phenomenon, Self-portraits, Smartphones, Social media, Motivations. Table of Contents 2 Chapters Pages Titles Chapter 1 Self-Imaging From History Up to Now Chapter 2 The Selfie Phenomenon: An Investigation into The Development of Selfies, the Motivations for Taking them, and Others’ Perceptions of them 2.1. Smartphones, social media, and the selfie phenomenon 2.1.1. The use of smartphones 2.1.2. The development of social media 2.1.3. The cultural context of Arabs and how it affects their involvement in the new media 2.2. The psychological motives for taking selfies 2.2.1. Intrinsic motivations for taking selfies 2.2.2. Extrinsic motivations for taking selfies 2.2.3. The motivation of Arabs users of social media platforms and Asians for taking selfies 2.3. Others’ perception of selfies 2.3.1. Different views around selfies 2.3.2. Risks of taking and sharing selfies Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Investigating the Selfie Phenomenon in Oman: The Motivations and Others’ Perception of it 3.1. Participants 3.2. Instruments 3.3. Results 3.3.1. The questionnaires 3.3.2. The interviews 8-22 8 8-9 9-10 10-11 11 11-16 16-17 17-18 18 19-20 21-22 23-37 23 23-25 25 25-33 34-37 The Motives of Arab Users for Sharing Selfies and their views about the phenomenon 4.1. Findings 4.2. Limitations 38-40 40 Summary of the Findings and the Recommendations 41-42 Bibliography Appendices 5-7 38 43-48 Appendix A: Research Instruments Appendix B: Summary of Results Chapter One: Introduction 3 49-53 54-57 Self-imaging from history up to now It is hard to imagine an artist cutting off a part of his ear and drawing his face with his head bandaged, but one of the most famous self-portrait artists, Van Gogh, actually did that. Interestingly, Van Gogh was believed to suffer from ‘Borderline personality disorder (BPD)’ (a serious mental illness marked by unstable moods, behaviour, and relationships (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.)). However, there were other artists who also were famous for their self-portraits like, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Rafael, in addition to some female artists, like Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, who represented unconventional fashion in Paris in her paintings, and Frida Kahlo who also suffered from dissociative disorders. In fact, the art of self-portrait developed after the Renaissance as artists were individualizing themselves and showing ownership of their own lives (“The self-prtraits”, n.d.). But, can everyone paint a self-portrait? This problem was solved after the invention of cameras as people started taking their own pictures whether by using the timer option or by taking a picture of their reflection in the mirror. Indeed, the first self-portrait photo ever believed was taken by a photographer named Robert Cornelius (Zhang, 2011). There were also some women in history who took their own photos like Ilse Bing and Margaret BourkeWhite (Rettberg, 2014, p. 8) although old cameras were big and heavy until the technology was developed to make small digital cameras that made the job easier. These days, taking a photo of oneself has become much easier with the development of smartphones. A new smartphone will be equipped with a front and a back camera with high resolution. Its practical shape and size allow one to carry it most of the time. Smartphones also enable people to be networked all the time, as they have apps for almost all social media networks that make visiting the accounts more practical and more often. The bridge between the photo taken and social media is the ‘share’ option that appears whenever a person takes a photo. As a result, smartphones together with social media have led to a new type of self-portrait’s phenomenon, “the selfie”. The question here is what do all the different forms of self-portraits –paintings, photos, selfies- have in common? The selfie has been defined as ‘a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media’ (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.). Indeed, according to Taslim and Rezwan (n.d.), it is not a phenomenon anymore, but a common act (p. 77). Due to its popularity and rapid use, it has become officially an English word listed in both the Oxford Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary. Some people 4 even consider Selfies as a new genre in photography and it may as well be a new genre in social media posts. But why so many people today are taking selfies? Many people take selfies because they do not want to bother others to take pictures of them and, besides, a person knows exactly how to capture a photo of himself that is almost ideal in his view; others just cannot represent one’s self the way he wants to be seen. In fact, selfie-taking is controversial as some think it is just a naïve act of capturing a picture and a way of self-representation and others think that it is a serious issue leading to abuse through social media websites that could be fatal. That is why researchers have become interested in studying this phenomenon as it is obviously more than a simple photo. It could be attributed as a ‘braggodocian behavior’ of the ‘me’ generation (Qualman, 2009, p. 43), where people are competing to show off themselves, or just a new method to promote ‘self-media’ by being the subject and the object at once and sharing the pictures with others in social media websites to show what has been accomplished (Fausing, 2014, p. 1; Conrad, 2014). Now comes the question, are these explanations the same here in the Arabian societies? As a matter of fact, there is no study established to date about selfies in the Arab world although some research has shown how smartphones and social media in the Arab world are being used. It seems that Arabs are asking for change in their systems and cultures through social networks. It is important to investigate the act of selfie-taking in this era of ‘self-media’ as people increasingly communicate their identities through social networks. As a result, the selfie has become a popular form of self-representation due almost entirely to the development of smartphones in conjunction with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The motivations for taking selfies can be related to various intrinsic and extrinsic psychological factors. However, people have different attitudes and views as well as some concerns about selfie-taking. This study will therefore try to answer the following question: What motivates people to take selfies and what do others think of it? As a first step to answering the research question, chapter 2 of this paper outlines the context of selfies, the motivations of selfie-takers, and others’ perceptions of selfies. To start with, section (2.1) will show how the technological development –smartphones and social media- reinforced the selfie phenomenon. Second, section (2.2) reports some of the internal and external motivations that lead people to take selfies. Part (2.2.3) in this section will discuss the motivations of Arabs in using social media platforms and it will present the topic of selfies in other conservative Asian cultures. Finally, section (2.3) will discuss the attitudes of researchers as well as the public towards selfies. 5 Chapter Two: Literature Review 6 The Selfie Phenomenon: An investigation into the development of selfies, the motivations for taking them, and others’ perceptions of them 2.1. Smartphones, social media, and the selfie phenomenon Mobile phones or smartphones nowadays are rapidly and speedily developing new services and applications. They are replacing landlines phones, desktops, digital cameras, and music and GPS devices (Leitner, 2012). Smartphones in particular are extremely popular nowadays (iPhone’s sales reached 169.22 ‘million units’ in 2014 (“iPhone sales”, n.d.)); they offer services for being socially networked. What is more, sharing social and personal activities –including personal pictures- during the day with virtual friends is easy with a smartphone as is access to social media platforms. There are some indications that the use of smartphones and social media in the Arab world is different as it is governed by the culture and the religion; this will be discussed in (2.1.3). 2.1.1. The use of smartphones Smartphones have become a central part of modern life since the emergence of iPhone, Galaxy, and BlackBerry in 2007. People use smartphones for texting, using the internet and getting access to social media networks, managing their timetables, taking pictures and sharing them, enjoying music, videos, and games, and (finally they use them once in a while for their ‘original purpose,’) phone calling (Leitner, 2012; Al Zidgaly & Gordon 2012, p. 14). A study done by Intersperience, the international consumer research specialist, found out a shocking phrase that people use: ‘I am my smartphone’ (Intersperience, n.d.). As one user has said, ‘It starts early in the morning. The first thing we do is reaching for our smartphone to turn off the alarm clock’ (Leitner, 2012). The release of iPhone 4 (a smartphone by Apple company) in 2010 created a revolution in how photos are taken on phone and led to the ‘collapse’ of digital cameras market due to the ease of taking, filtering, and sharing pictures by smartphones comparing to separate cameras (Nguyen, 2014, p. 6; Leitner, 2012; Scott, 2012). Apple integrated their iPhone with ‘Retina display’ (‘liquid crystal displays’) which soften the pixels for a high quality photo; besides , it was the first iPhone with a front camera which enabled the users to take pictures of themselves by themselves ‘Selfies’ (Nguyen, 2014, p. 6-7). With such quality and advancement of smartphone cameras, new applications on smartphones came out –like 7 ‘Everyday’ and ‘Picr’- that encourage people to capture daily selfies and even help to position their heads in the right way (Rettberg, 2014, p. 38). This simplicity enabled normal people not only photographers to take pictures of themselves (Bruno, Gabriele, Tasso, & Bertamini, 2013, p. 45-46). This intense use of smartphones has resulted in creating an overlap between the virtual and the real world; in other words, the ‘distinction’ between public and private lives is blurred, as Angelli (2004) points out (as cited in Torlak, Spillan, & Harcar 2011, p. 51). Jacobs (1981) argues that ‘snapshots’ are a form of communication with oneself as well as others and are a way of proving one’s existence. The new genre of selfies (snapshots) ‘as everyday practice and [a] way of life’ is one way to integrate one’s real life with a virtual public domain by sharing them and telling others, ‘look at me’ just like when celebrities post selfies to get attention. They know exactly that getting people to see private moments of their lives will increase their popularity (as cited in Iqani, 2013, p. 7; Iqani, 2013, p. 6; Franco, 2013). We wonder if that work for ordinary people? 2.1.2. The development of social media Social media starting from e-mails and general blogging and chatting websites up to more personal networks like Flicker, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all applications to create a community of networked individuals. Qualman (2009) suggests that social networking is actually better than watching TV because people are finally focusing on their own lives rather than ‘watching others’ (p. 43-44). Nowadays, a press is not required to publish one’s idea; if they are socially networked, they can post anything (Rettberg, 2014, p. 19). Indeed, people are actually competing to post and update their status on social media sites (Qualman, 2009, p. 43). Aerni (2014) reports that all the women in her study had an idea of what to show to their virtual followers and friends from observation. Interestingly, selfies got more ‘likes’ than any other post (p. 29-30). Boyd (2007) claims that people ‘[write themselves] into being;’ in fact, with the development of the Facebook wall and the ‘emergence’ of Instagram, social media networks are actually becoming more ‘visually-oriented’ and they are ‘channels’ where people post different selfies (as cited in Fausing, 2013, p. 5-6; Aerni, 2014, p. 39). In effect, Fausing (2013) says, ‘one pictures oneself into being’ (p. 6). Fausing (2014), at a lecture about ‘self-media,’ notes, ‘it is not a coincidence that social media is called Facebook and not Footbook.’ He explains that the significance of the face is that people recognize each 8 other by their faces, yet it is hard to differentiate if the face is real or masked in a virtual world (p. 3; p. 5). Consequently, choosing a profile picture for Facebook or Twitter has become a serious matter. People try to choose ideal pictures or perfect selfies to gain likes and get good comments and they are even disappointed if they have not get the feedback they expect (Watts, 2014). 2.1.3. The cultural context of Arabs and how it affects their involvement in the new media The use of mobile phones in the Arab world has been growing fast since 2000, and access to social media is getting easier due to the development of technology and awareness of the importance of global interaction. It can be seen that the Arab youth use smartphones and social media platforms more than the elderly because they are better, more immediate communication tools than any other ‘channels’ like TVs, and e-mails which suit the older generation (Karasapan, 2013; Ibarhine, n.d., p. 56). Arab youth in the GCC countries are also adopting social media networks quickly (Kinninmont, 2013, p. 3). For them, social media are not only forms of interaction and having fun, but also a part of their daily activities and social engagement. It has been found that Arabic is growing faster than any other language on Twitter (Dubai School of Government, 2012, p. 2). The involvement of Arabs, males and females, in social media has made a great change on how they express themselves (Dubai School of Government, 2012, p. 1). One way is that the youth have started to show their ‘dissatisfaction’ with authorities (Aman & Jayroe, 2013. P. 319). Wael Ghonim, an Egyptian activist during the Arab Spring, said that the networks are ‘new force[s]’ to change the Arab societies. He also states that at the same time ‘modern communication’ is decreasing the effort for rebellion (Russel, 2012, p. 59). Al Shaibany (2014) argues that Omanis also are starting to express their political disagreement on social media platforms, hoping their opinions will be considered by the authority. However, the government has a high control over the Web and strict rules that can lead to the arrest of activists breaking the law (Aman & Jayroe, 2013, p. 336). Another way of seeking liberty through social media is challenging the Islamic teachings of ‘gender segregation’ (Ibarhine, n.d., p. 52). Al Zidgaly (2002) argues in her research that young Omanis use mobile phones – social media now- to be in touch with the 9 ‘opposite sex’, ignoring the cultural and parental constraints (Al Zidgaly & Gordon, 2012, p. 15). Clearly, Arabs are not only ‘empowered’ by social media to ask for a ‘social change’, but also are welcoming other cultures ideas (Dubai School of Government, 2012, p. 4). The same case of mobile phone interaction which is ‘blurring’ the personal and the public lives is applicable in the Arab world too. ‘Visual’ communication is reinforcing this integration as people started to take and share pictures on social media websites (Ibarhine, n.d., p. 52). In Arabian countries, no study has been done on the act of taking and sharing self-taken pictures. Yet, there is a new trend of ‘Haj selfies’ that began this year. Those who take these selfies claim that their purpose of doing so is to record a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ memory, while others are upset about it, as they think Haj should not be about bragging (Agence France Presse, 2014). 2.2. The psychological motives for taking selfies This section reviews some of the psychological motivations for taking selfies. Selfies are not all the same. Their significance varies according to the reason they were taken. Stock and Tupot (2014) propose that selfies are defined by ‘self-awareness, the moment, the motivation, the perspective, [and] shareability.’ There are intrinsic motivations, what people do to satisfy personal needs or lacks, and extrinsic motivations that force and encourage people to seek approval from others through the popular behavior of taking selfies. In fact, most of the studies and views that are discussed in this chapter are Western, so in order to relate the topic with the motivation of Arab users, Arab social media studies and examples of non-Arab Asian countries will be discussed in section 2.2.3. 2.2.1. The intrinsic motivations for taking selfies Intrinsic motivation is an urge that develops within a person. This urge that encourages a person to upload selfies contributes in having a positive or negative idea about him/herself. It is much like all people have the opportunity for a ‘personal reality show’ or ‘a film of your own life’ (Flatman, n.d.; Conrad, 2014). Some of the motives for taking selfies are: - Self-reflection: To reflect is ‘to think’, observe, and evaluate ourselves by looking at ourselves – or our selfies- (Fausing, 2014, p. 3). Apparently, human beings do not have a satisfactory ‘experience of looking at [their] own face to know what others 10 think of them’ in order to have an idea about others’ perceptions about them, they look in the mirror or simply take a selfie (BBC, 2014; Fausing, 2014, p. 3). A person may reflect his image in the selfie because it shows the face the person is ‘bound’ to, even if he wishes to change it (Wrammert, 2014, p. 8; Fausing, 2014, p. 3). This face of a person is ‘the showroom of the self’ and it is connected with the ‘internal conscious’ or ‘self-conscious’ that is a human feature (Fausing, 2013, p. 9; Fausing, 2014, p. 3; p. 2). Therefore, when people look at themselves or their self-taken pictures everyday, they identify themselves; the image creates special ‘individuals’ that are subjects; in other words, people distinguish and elaborate their ‘self-conscious’ through self-reflection (Fausing, n.d., p. 2-3; Fausing, 2014, p. 3). - Self-presentation: ‘Self-presentation is behavior that attempts to convey some information about oneself or some image of oneself to other people’ (Baumeister & Hutton, 1987, p. 71). It is clear that by taking selfies, people have the opportunity to keep taking their pictures until they get the result they expect or that is close to what they think they are (BBC, 2014). Selfies give people the ‘control’ over how they want to present themselves (Fausing, 2013, p. 4). Clearly, the context of every selfie is ‘the author[‘s]’ approach to ‘present the self’ and build an identity through social media; it is much like ‘online’ self-documentation (Taslim & Rizwan, n.d, p. 80; Novakova, n.d., p. 4). ‘Photography is no longer about documenting social rituals, but about documenting the everyday,’ argues Rettberg (2014, p. 54). Strano supports this point when he suggests that ‘self-presentation’ by posting selfies on social media websites helps people see their ‘looks change’ (as cited in Wrammert, 2014, p. 9). Wrammert (2014) points out that some women in her study actually uploaded selfies to save them as ‘momories’ (p. 23). Interestingly, all women in her study admitted that they cared about ‘looking good’ in their self-taken pictures while they themselves claimed that boys do not care about their looks and they post natural selfies, so they were looking forward to change this habit of posting beautiful selfies all the time (p. 27; p. 33; p. 36). That is exactly what Laci Green, a blogger, is trying to encourage women to do in her ‘selfie revolution’. She attests that women should describe beauty by their own ideas of it and not by the definitions that society bombards women with (p. 36). - Self-representation: For millions of years, people have represented themselves by drawing, sculpting, and painting their own images (Rettberg, 2014, p. 2). Nowadays, 11 people use self-taken photographs to meet a better self-representation that can be shared with others in public (p. 3). Selfies are mainly for transmitting a certain ‘image’ of oneself and making the communication in an ‘unreal’ world closer to real (Taslim & Rezwan, n.d., p. 80). According to Goffman, when people communicate with others, they concentrate on ‘what impression [they] will leave’ whether to ‘display’ or ‘strengthen their images’ by behaving in certain ways (as cited in Aerni, 2014, p. 9). Indeed, selfie sharing is the best choice for those who want to avoid ‘embarrassing situations’ from ‘face-toface’ interaction; besides, it is easier as most of the people are ‘always already networked’ (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013, p. 28; Qualman, 2009, p. 50). One of the reasons ‘digital images’ are preferable is because it is easy to delete and take as much as possible which makes the photo-taker in control of the way being represented (p. 12). By taking selfies all over again, people are having the opportunity to end up with an ‘image’ that is so close to their idea of themselves (BBC, 2014) especially in the stage of ‘emerging adulthood’ when people explore themselves, most importantly, their appearances (Nguyen, 2014, p. 2). Clearly, the constant act of taking selfies can be explained that people just cannot take a photo that matches their expectation of themselves (Rettbeg, 2014, p. 43). Another reason is the misrepresentation when people are taking pictures of each other; that is, ‘[a person cannot] see [himself] in other people’s photos’ (p. 29-30). The modern ‘visual theory’ suggests that pictures have ‘more dynamic meaning[s] and function[s]’; they long to communicate (Fausing, 2013, p. 10). This is exactly what Rettberg means when he said that selfies are not only photos that are shared somewhere; but also communicate a meaning (2014, p. 19). Apparently, selfies are not only a way to ‘control’ the way people are seen, but it is also an experiment to express oneself and impress others in a virtual ‘context’ (Fausing, 2013, p. 4). Rettberg argues that filtering or photoshopping the pictures before sharing them will give people a new edge to see themselves; that is, when we filter our selfies or ‘pose’ like celebrities, ‘we see ourselves . . . as if we are outside ourselves’ (2014, p. 27). Selfies give people the chance to tell their own story and be ‘famous’ (Italie, 2014). 12 Clearly, there is no mistake in shooting a selfie; however, ‘there is a fine line between taking them and living for them’ (Watts, 2014). - Self-expression: Selfies is a way of expression where the photographer is in control, not the social network (Iqani, 2013, p. 9). Evidently, many people would rather post a selfie to express themselves than to write a text (Fausing, 2013, p. 2). Iqani (2013) argues that the importance of selfies is derived from the ‘meaningful’ way of expression they give to ordinary people (p. 10; p. 18). To explain, selfies are a form of democracy where the public is able to enjoy a moment of ‘glory’ that was once belonged only to celebrities (p. 18-19). Selfies also show ‘good consumption’ as people most of the time dress up, and look beautiful and fit in them, unlike the other ‘visual’ posts that transmit thoughts and ideas (p. 10). Indeed, selfies show the natural ‘individual’ when they express who they really are (Stock & Tupot, 2014). - Creating a digital identity: According to Kellner (1995), real identity is falling as technology is promoting false identity that is generated by the user himself (as cited in Iqani, 2013, p. 10). It seems that social media networks promote self-expression; therefore, users always ‘perform their identity’ by updating their status with textual or visual posts (Gabriel, 2014, p. 104). A selfie is a strong interacting ‘visual’ post that is related to the ‘identity’ in this developing ‘cyberculture’ (Taslim & Rezwan, n.d., p. 77). This suggests that humans want to be in charge of how to show themselves to others which is easy by taking a selfie (Fausing, 2013, p. 1). - Self-esteem: It takes a lot of confidence to look at your ‘close up’ pictures and share it with many people through social media networks; they might like it or might criticize it (Fosco, 2014). Selfies can be indicators of both high self-esteem and the opposite. When people are raised up in a context that encourages taking selfies so often, they will be ‘comfortable’ with their image. For example, Hendry (2014) experimented sharing different selfies for a time and she says that she ended up uploading ‘no make-up’ selfies, as she knew people would see the other ‘attractive’ ones (p. 9). Others post selfies because of existing low confidence issues; therefore, they tend to share inappropriate selfies to grab attention (Hutchinson, 2014). Toma (2013) has proved that the act of women sharing selfies can be harmful to their self-esteem as a result of the negative comments on their photos (as cited in 13 Nguyen, 2014, p. 3). Yet, getting only positive feedback can ‘create . . . a false sense of confidence’ (Watts, 2014). - Self-development: People are in progress. Selfies do not represent people as finished subjects, but fully grown up, yet it present them as they are developing (Iqani, 2013, p. 20). Fausing (2013) claims that ‘the eyes of others form especially important mirrors for self-development;’ that is, by sharing selfies for others to see and judge them, ‘a social and mental self’ will be grown (p. 6-7). ‘It is developmental Me, not generation me’ is the name of a study that attributes many modern behaviors to development rather than narcissism (p. 7). However, Gabriel (2014) disagrees and warns that youth’s involvement in social media may not be healthy for their developmental stages. She explains that with two argumesnts: First, social media have provided a new environment for ‘growing up’ and all the experiences of youth are settled in social media platforms (p. 104). Second, the youth have a ‘limited capacity’ to ‘critically’ analyze themselves and that is what social media encourages them to do, the thing that will damage ‘their “natural” cognitive and emotional’ development (p. 105). ‘Kelley Ott, a counselor at the HOPE Center’ supports that by saying that selfie sharing is risky for adolescents – their identity is still under development- as they will be ‘negative’ if they did not get the comments they expect (Watts, 2014). - Self-worth: The selfie, according to Fosco (2014) is all about ‘creating’ matters that make people feel better about themselves. Apparently, some studies have shown that women who connect their look with their ‘self-worth’ share more selfies on social networks than men (Nguyen, 2014, p. 2). They may even feel ‘unworthy’ if they did not get the number of ‘likes’ they expected (Nelson, 2013). However, Nguyen (2014) in her own study concluded that there is no direct relation between ‘self-worth’ and the act of posting selfies in Instagram in young females which could be because the majority of her sample was highly educated (p. 32-33). - Narcissism: Social media have long been connected with narcissism (‘a personality disorder when people tend to view themselves in the best way possible; in terms of intelligence, power or attractiveness’) (Novakova, n.d., p. 3). Mehdizadeh (2010) claims in her research ‘Self-Presentation 2.0: Narcissism and Self-Esteem on Facebook’ that users who post selfies have ‘narcissistc’ tendencies more than others (as cited in Wrammert, 2014, p. 9). It seems that ‘using 14 “self” and “I” in [the] same word makes is quite narcissistic’ (Taslim & Rezwan, n.d., p. 77). Some argue that selfies show ‘self-obsession’, as they are ‘all about’ the selfietakers. Even if it is a group selfie, people are not interested in the scene or other people; they are just showing themselves (Hendry, 2014, p. 1; Andrews, 2014, p. 74). A teacher at Regent University, William Brown, has stated that he thinks that selfies are ‘narcissistic’ because a person shows what he is doing in a particular time, but actually no one else is interested to know (Leal, 2013). - Self-objectification: Nguyen (2014) claims in her study on women that selfies are a form of ‘self-objectification’ (p. 17). Most of the time, people share selfies that show them while they are looking very attractive. This can be seen as making an ‘object’ out of the self (Iqani, 2013, p. 7). Gram (2013) argues that particularly young women objectify themselves to meet their cultural standards (as cited in Iqani, 2013, p. 7-8). Eventually, the selfie shared in social media will be a product (object) that might be used by others (p. 8). In USA, there is a big stress on ‘appearances’; it has led women to care about their look more than their emotion or ‘physical capabilities’ (Nguyen, 2014, p. 11). Be that as it may, Aerni (2014) conducted a study on women and they were asked about Selfies. Their responses were ‘emotional’, like saying that posting selfies is kind of embarrassing because it could be seen as ‘self-promotion,’ an act of narcissism, an unreal action, or they simply avoid it as a result of lack of confidence. All this create an ‘ambivalent’ standpoint towards Selfies (p. 33), because no matter what those women said, each one of them actually posted at least one Selfie; ‘there is an extrovert in every introvert,’ as Aerni stated (p. 41). 2.2.2. Extrinsic motivations for taking selfies The society’s demands and people’s actions promote others to adopt certain behaviors just like the act of taking a selfie. It seems that ‘selfies are shared to make impact’ (Stock & Tupot, 2014). Uploading selfies is a way for grabbing attention, getting good comments, and being socially accepted (Watts, 2014). To infer, teenagers are very public because their friends and many other ‘consumers’ are pushing them (Gabriel, 2014, p. 106). It can be said that posting an inappropriate selfie is only ‘logical’ to those who seek ‘attention’, ‘admiration’ and acceptance (p. 105). 15 Sharing selfies is an act of ‘seeking acceptance’ from others and is a tool for ‘peer bonding’ (Fausing, 2013, p. 5; Vivienne & Burgess, 2013, p. 281). A lot of times, sharing selfies is a journey from ‘marginalization’ to supportive social interaction (p. 288). This suggests that ‘digital [storytellers]’ in social media upload ‘personal’ photos because they are afraid of ‘cultural exclusion’ (p. 283). Whenever someone sees a selfie in their timeline, they will immediately get the idea that this selfie-taker is saying ‘out loud’, ‘look at me’ and seeking ‘gratification’ by asking for like and share (Hendry, 2014; Iqani, 2013, p. 7). The youth nowadays ‘cannot just “be” anymore, they [desire] to “be seen”’ no matter what (Gabriel, 2014, p. 106; Wrammert, 2014, p. 9). It seems that it is not just a way to say, ‘look at me,’ but in fact, ‘Look at me a little more to the right and make sure I’m sore in focus’ (Scammel, 2014). ‘Attention. Attention is power,’ says James Franco, an actor and a director (2013). He suggests that celebrities are ‘privileged’ because they are already under the lenses of the paparazzi and the fans but selfies are contributing in their popularity even more and they are still the ‘sure winner[s]’ (Franco, 2013; Fausing, 2013, p. 11). Girls feel popular according to how many attractive and sensuousness selfies they post; they hope to get likes to ‘reinforce’ their own idea of how attractive they are (Nelson, 2013). The women in Wrammert’s study actually said that their purpose of uploading selfies is to get ‘feedback’ and that they get worried if they did not get what they expect (2014, p. 26). According to Kelley Ott, ‘certain insecurities make [teens] vulnerable and lead them to rely too heavily on the response of others’ (Watts, 2014). 2.2.3. The motivation of Arabs users of social media platforms and Asians for taking selfies Fausing (n.d.) suggests that Arabia is an ‘ornamental’ or decorative culture unlike the West that is ‘visual’ (p. 2). Actually, there are no studies that have been done on what motivates Arabs to take selfies yet, but we can relate their motivation to their use of social media platforms and some examples from other conservative Asian countries. Arabs’ involvement in social media can be seen as a journey for ‘social change’ in their conservative societies. They have started protesting against their governments (Aman & Jayroe, 2013. P. 319). In Egypt and Tunisia, the events of Arab Spring were all arranged through Facebook and blogs (Russell, 2012, p. 59). Interestingly, even Omani youth have started a ‘technology war’ when they express their political views in their social media 16 networks. They know exactly that networking is the best way to have a voice in their culture. Al shaibany (2014) states that their posts are getting smarter everyday. Another revolutionary motive of Arabs getting involved in social media platforms is breaking ‘gender segregation’s’ conventions (Ibarhine, n.d., p. 52). Because dating before marriage is forbidden, many Arabs escape this division by communicating with the opposite gender ‘virtually’ (Ibarhine, n.d.; Keyrouz, 2013) to such an extent that many social media platforms that promote boys and girls to be in touch were banned in Saudi Arabia. However, all the users in Keyrouz’s (2013) article pointed out that such relationships do not work or reach marriage. In Saudi Arabia, smartphones with cameras have been banned in public places because people were taking photos of women and sharing them in their social media accounts (Ibarhine, n.d., p. 52). Even women were not allowed to take pictures of other women for the same reasons (p. 53). Thus, it is not surprising then that there have been no studies on selfies in the Arab world. Yet, ‘Haj selfies’ are a new trend that Arabs and Muslim are adapting when they visit Mecca. People who took such photos claimed that their intention was to document a great memory, though others judged them for bragging in a holy place (Agence France Presse, 2014). A study by Wrammert (2014) has been done on Indian women’s use of selfies. All the girls interveiwed ‘wish[ed]’ to upload their selfies on social media websites but were afraid that their photos might be used inappropriately (p. 31). When some of those girls shared their selfies, they were told by their family men or school boy friends to delete them (p. 31-32). It seems that Indian boys were free to share their selfies, so the girls saw this reality as ‘inequality’ (p. 33). Another Asian example concerns Koreans. Kim and Papacharissi have found that Koreans, unlike Americans, do not ‘represent’ themselves by putting selfies on their profile picture but rather they use ‘agents’ like animated characters or celebrities (p. 39). 2.3. Others’ perception of selfies Different people have different attitudes towards selfies and selfie-takers. Some people think it is just a naïve act of ‘self-representation’; others are worried about the issues arising from the phenomena, and some are just judging particular people for being selfietakers. However, it has been argued that there are many types of selfies and an ‘analyzing structure’ needs to be created (Stock & Tupot, 2014). This section will therefore discuss some of these positive as well as negative views. 17 2.3.1. Different views around selfies There is growing concern that the selfie phenomenon is going beyond the bounds of normality and they are leading people to extreme craziness and obsession. That is why many academics and other people are concerned about the lives, the development, and the identity of people, especially women, who take self-taken pictures. ‘Selfies invite short-sighted judges,’ reports Nanda (2014). That could be because sometimes they violate the ‘rules of social presentation’ which state that chasing ‘attention’ is right only for people whose jobs require that or who made an accomplishment (Nanda, 2014). That is exactly why people do not mind when famous figures upload selfies (Rettberg, 2014, p. 18). Identity is a combination of a person’s reality, his thoughts about himself, his ‘characterstics’, and how the world sees him (Your dictionary, n.d.). Unfortunately, selfies only offer a visual identity that is derived from the body and the appearance not from the total self of the selfie-taker (Taslim & Rezwan, n.d., p. 82). Yet, people will count this virtual identity that they created through selfies as reality, rather than the one ‘[they wake] up with at morning’ (p. 82). It is as it will make those selfie addicts say, ‘I selfie, therefore I am’ (p. 83). Taslim and Rezwan argue that those will be prisoners of the selfie self not their real self (p. 82). Nanda (2014) argues that selfies are a form of ‘loneliness’. To explain, a British research alerted that people who share selfies have less ‘real-life relationships’. It seems to Nanda that selfie-takers are alone and have no one to take them pictures; a selfie is ‘a cry for help’, she claims. The selfie craze has led people to lose their lives for a special selfie that was the last ever. While taking a selfie holding a gun or standing on a cliff edge, people died (Nanda, 2014). In their cars, people take selfies even if they made an accident and get injured, they will take a selfie of them in the ambulance (Andrews, 2014, p. 74). Andrews wonders if it is technology that is driving people crazy (p. 74). Interestingly, there is a hotel in Germany that put ‘warning cards’ for their visitors that says, ‘In case of fire, please exit the building. Do not post pictures on social media’ (Nanda, 2014). Selfies are linked with the youth that present themselves on social networks most of the time. Researchers argue that selfies, where authors ‘[try]’ variety of ‘faces’, are ‘extension of typical adolescent behavior’ that earlier teens revealed it in the way they dress 18 and do their hair (Leal, 2013). According to Ruttledge, the more ‘parents and teachers’ resent selfies the more alluring they become to teens (as cited in Italie, 2014). It can be said that it is a habit of young girls more than young boys (Wrammert, 2014, p. 3). In Canada, the media discussions denounce selfies as ‘narcissistic vanity rituals’ by goofy female teenagers (Warfield, 2014, p. 2). Burns (2014) reported about ‘selfie-haters’ in her blog post ‘Selfies and Hatred.’ Burns sees the hatred as a way society uses to regulate the ‘stereotypical Selfietakers: young women’ (as cited in Rettberg, 2014, p. 17). Leal (2013) argues that men are searching for a chance to ‘demean’ females. She says they get the chance with selfies in that they frequently misinterpret women’s selfies as attempts to be seen as ‘sex objects’. We can conclude that when selfies show a female ‘body’, her ‘subjectivity’ and intention will be neglected by the ones who are watching, mostly men (Warfield, 2014, p. 2). It can be seen that those men who judge girls for posting personal pictures are the ones who ‘crave’ to get ‘sexual’ chances with them (Nelson, 2013). However, Fausing (n.d.) disagrees. He states, ‘Selfies are no longer just something young people do’ (p. 1). To give an example, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, took a ‘smiling selfie’ with a female ‘Danish Prime Minister’ and the British Prime Minister in Nelson Mandela’s funeral (Scammel, 2014). Another example is Pope Francis of the Vatican. He posed for the first ‘papal selfie’ ever with some admirers (Alexander, 2013). There are some other judgments of selfies for being meaningless. Scammel describes social media and selfies in his article Selfies Exacerbate Social Stupidity as ‘stupid’, ‘dumb’, and ‘idiot’ as well as being something ‘hard to beat’ (2014). Andrews (2014) mentions that they are superficial and they do not carry meanings as memory photographs for future. He says that our grandkids will see ‘photo albums’ that are ‘full of mugging faces’ so close from camera. Some other people pass judgments on selfies just because they are tired of seeing the same face all over again in their ‘timeline[s]’ (Watts, 2014). Anyways, selfies is a type of action that you are going to be judged whether you do it or not (Graham, 2014). It seems that blaming and judging selfie-takers removes the responsibility of the ‘social system’ for building the issue at first (Gabriel, 2014, p. 106). We can conclude that maybe after a time when everyone ‘look[s] back’, they will see selfies as a form of democracy rather than passing negative judgments about it (Leal, 2013). 19 2.3.2. Risks of taking and sharing selfies Uploading personal pictures online is risky. People now are sharing their selfies all the time; therefore, risks of sharing selfies are discussed in the following lines. Specialists discuss that individuals who are constantly looking for ‘the perfect angle’ to take a selfie may be psychologically disordered (Graham, 2014). Dr. David Veale suggests that selfie-takers are not addicts but showing some signs of ‘Body Dysmorphic Disorder’ (BDD) and that it is not ‘a vanity’ problem; it is a psychological disorder that might lead to suicide (Graham, 2014; The Huffington Post, 2014). Related to this, another psychologist has stated that most of his clients who suffer from BDD are selfie addicts. In fact, it has been found that people with BDD allocate a great time trying to snap selfies that do not reveal any ‘flaw’; flaws that nobody else might notice (Graham, 2014). One of the serious and ‘suicidal’ cases of BDD is Danny Boman’s, ‘a British teenager’ who was also diagnosed for having ‘Obssessive Compulsive Disorder’ (OCD) (The Huffington Post, 2014). Bowman attempted to ‘commit suicide’ because he could not take the right selfie. He wasted hours shooting hundreds of selfies, so he left school and did not care about his health until he asked for ‘medical help’ (Graham, 2014). Many people post sexual selfies on their social media. Clearly, sharing personal pictures is risky because no one knows what will happen to them after they are online (Gabriel, 2014, p. 105). After all, ‘most [social media] feeds are public’ (Iqani, 2013, p. 6). Gabriel (2014) mentions that teens who post a lot of selfies are exposed to ‘cyber-bullying’ and ‘suicide’ (p. 106). For teenagers and young children, this affects them in two ways: First, they lose their ‘childhood’ earlier. Second, they are not fully mentally and ‘socially’ developed (p. 105). It can be seen that girls who share inappropriate selfies get more likes which develop false ‘ego’ in them (Nelson, 2013). They are also giving men the idea that they are nothing but ‘sex objects’ (Leal, 2013). This suggests that ‘restriction’ is needed to guard this immature population from the harm of social media (p. 107). Selfies should not set the standards of beauty for women. Hanna Hellquest, Swedish columnist, argues that women are stuck in the idea of being a woman- happy and attractivethat the society has made despite that they are given the opportunity to ‘define themselves’ (Wrammert, 2014, p. 3-4). According to a study, women who look at selfies on social media tend to compare their ‘appearance’ with other women and they might feel bad about themselves (Briggs, 2014). In many parts of the world, women are affected by celebrities. If 20 celebrities share attractive selfies, other women will do the same (Flatman, n.d.). By this, people are starting to ‘redefine’ idealistic beauty with selfies. As a result, all of the 2013 South Korean beauty pageants were looking almost the same (Stock & Tupot, 2014). Conclusion: This paper answered most of my research questions and reviewed some aspects related to selfies. It has discussed the development of smartphones and social media networks that promoted the emergence of selfies as a new genre. Then, it went through the external and internal psychological motivations that make people take selfies. Those motivations were both positive and negative. Finally, it discussed other people’s attitudes towards selfies and the risks that might be caused by them. 21 Chapter 3: Methodology Investigating the selfie phenomenon in Oman: The motivations and others perception of it My aim for this research was to investigate the motivations of people for taking selfies and others’ perception of them. This research has also focused on Omani and Arabs’ use of selfies and how it is affected by their culture. 3.1. Participants In this paper, the data was collected from school students, undergraduates, and adult staff from SQU no matter what was their nationality. The whole participants were 90 (45 male and 45 female) from all the age categories. In order to do this, 34 questionnaires were distributed to schools (17 for boys and 17 for girls), 34 to undergraduates in SQU, and 22 to adults working in SQU. The reason why I selected those three categories is because I found that selfies use differ among boys and girls as well as among youth and adults (Wrammert, 2014, p. 3; Leal, 2013). In addition to that, three interviews were conducted with a psychology professor, technology professor, and a sociolinguistics professor. By these interviews, the three aspects of my research – motivations, others’ perception, and Arabs and selfies- were fulfilled. 3.2. Instruments To answer my research questions, two data collection instruments were used: Questionnaires and three interviews. First, questionnaires can be easily distributed on a large number of people. Many aspects of the research can be included, like the motivations of taking selfies and others’ perception of them in simple questions, and information can be gotten from anyone and fast. To add, questionnaires are commonly used and people can feel free to choose the time to complete them and people would help in distributing to get a varied sample. Finally, questionnaires can be analysed easily. The questionnaire distributed to school students, undergraduates, and adult staff from SQU consisted of nine questions. The first section sought personal and demographic information like gender, age, nationality, and the e-mail – as I was planning to do a focus group derived from the questionnaires-. The second and third questions were related to social media and technology. The second questions asked people to choose the social networking sites they use and the third was dedicated to know how good they are in using internet and 22 technology. The fourth, fifth, and sixth questions all devoted to know if people take and share selfies. In the seventh question, a grid with some intrinsic motives for taking selfies was given, where the participants were asked to rank them from their most important motive to the least important (1 downwards). To boost your confidence To show yourself in different situations To show yourself the way you want to be seen To show yourself as being/having the best Show others how good-looking you are To be or look like others The eighth question investigated the extrinsic motivations for taking selfies. Participants were asked to choose their level of agreement for some statements that indicate the motives. Reasons/levels Strongly Agree agree I share selfies because my friends do that. I share selfies to gain likes and comments. I share selfies for others to look at me. 23 Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree The last question dealt with others’ perception of selfies. Participants had also to choose their level of agreement about 11 arguments made about selfies that were mentioned in the literature review. Some of these arguments were: • Selfies are faked (photoshopped and filtered). • Selfies are a way of seeking attention. • Sharing selfies is a dangerous and risky action. • Selfies are a form of self-love. • Teenagers generally share more selfies. 3.3. Results 3.3.1. The questionnaires The majority of the respondents were Omanis from ages 13-24. Fewer older people (25 years+) participated including Arabs from different countries and two non-Arabs. The following figure shows that. Age 14.44% 8.89% 13-18 38.89% 19-24 25-30 31 & above 37.78% Figure 3.1 The age groups of the participants. 24 According to the data, social media sites that are mostly used by the participants are Instagram (73%) and Facebook (62%), particularly by people from age 13-24. This explains the growth of selfies, as those two sites are more visually oriented than the others especially Instagram –that came along with iPhone4 (Nguyen, 2014, p. 16) –, which promotes the idea of sharing personal pictures. Interestingly, most of the participants had good computer skills indicating that people are not required to be excellent in using technology and internet to share selfies as being good is enough. This fact brings back the argument that smartphones and access to social media platforms made it easy to upload selfies (Rettberg, 2014, p. 38) so that people do not need to be highly skilled. not good at all 0% not very good 8% Expert 21% good 71% Figure 3.2 Participants’ expertise in using internet and technology. Surprisingly, there are no significant differences between boys and girls taking and sharing selfies. As shown in the table below, most of the participants from ages 13-24 take selfies, but only half of them share their selfies. It is also surprising that not many participants share hands and feet selfies as it seemed to us that the Arab culture is very sensitive about faces -especially women’s-. 25 Table 3.1 Participants’ percentages use of selfies according to age. Age distributions Participants Take selfies Share selfies Share feet and hands selfie 13-18 % (35) Yes 91.4 54.3 28.6 No 8.6 45.7 68.6 19-24 %(34) Yes 85.3 50 23.5 No 14.7 50 76.5 25+ %(21) Yes 47.6 38 23.8 No 52.4 61.9 76.2 As mentioned in my literature review, motivations for taking selfies can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. In question seven, participants were asked to rank some of those motives according to their importance. Results show that men mostly share selfies to show themselves in different situations; it could be because they are more social and outgoing than women. Women; on the other hand, share selfies because the want to show themselves the way they want to be seen; in other words, to meet their expectations of themselves, just as Fausing (2013) stated, the face is ‘the showroom of the self’ (p. 9). However, it is noticeable that both males and females do not share selfies to be or look like others which comes from the argument that selfies standardize beauty (Stock & Tupot, 2014; Flatman, n.d; Briggs, 2014), so it seems that the participants were not motivated to imitate others in their selfies. Tables 3.2 (a and b) show motives of males and females for taking selfies ranked. Table3.2a Ranked motives of males for taking selfies. Table3.2b Ranked motives of females for taking selfies. Males Mean # To show yourself in different situations. To show yourself the way you want to be seen. To boost your confidence. 1.39 1 1.5 2 1.7 3 4 To show yourself as being/having the best. 1.9 4 5 Show others how good looking you are. To be or look like others # 1 2 3 6 Motivations Females 2 2.6 Motivations 5 To show yourself the way you want to be seen. To show yourself in different situations. To show yourself as being/having the best. Show others how good looking you are. To boost your confidence. 6 To be or look like others 26 Mean 2 2.8 3 3 3.3 4.7 In question eight, participants were asked to choose their level of agreement for the three extrinsic motivations that were discussed in the literature review: Peer approval, seeking attention, and seeking admiration (Watts, 2014). For males, as shown in table 3.3, the first external motive unsurprisingly is ‘I share selfies to gain likes and comments’ which is in other words, seeking admiration. It seems that men are not too much worried about being noticed and accepted as much as they want to show how interesting they are to gain an audience. Most of the females, however, agreed that they share selfies because their friends do that, but still there are no significant differences between the means of the three motives. Apparently, females are motivated by all these motives as it is an effect of the society that females are more insecure, so being socially belonged makes them feel safer. Table3.3 The extrinsic motivations levels of importance by gender. Extrinsic motivations Mean for males 1 2.97 Mean for females 2.7 3.2 2.6 2.97 2.4 2 3 Share selfies because friends do that. Share selfies to gain like and comments. Share selfies for others to look at them. In the end of this particular section, an optional open-ended question was asked about other reasons for taking selfies so that participants can add some other motivations. The responses were divided according to their main idea by age groups and gender: Males from ages 13-18: • Selfies is a trend: one of the boys stated that he takes selfies because “it is like a fashion.” • Showing others what one has: showing the materialistic things one has by sharing selfies. Females from ages 13-18: • Seeking approval: A girl shares selfies to prove that she is not boring. 27 • Showing others how one looks: One of the girls share selfies to show others how beautiful she is and another one shares them to show how stylish she is. Males from ages 19-24: • Sharing memories: Two of the respondents said that they share selfies to save the ‘memorable’ moments. • Having fun: One of the respondents stated that selfies help them enjoy their time more. • See and show how one looks: It seems that some boys share selfies to look at themselves and show others how they look too. One of the boys stated that he actually shares selfies because he wants to share his photos. Females from ages 19-24: • Sharing experience and memories: One of the respondents said that she shares selfies to share her life experiences as she thinks they may help others in some way. Other respondents said that they share their experiences to show others what they like, what they do and what is around them. Another girl said that selfies are meant to be kept and shared as memories. • Showing how one looks: some girls share selfies to show others how they look especially if it is a new look. • Personal choice: One of the girls stated that she shares selfies because she simply wants to. • Beneficial: One girl stated that she shares things to gain benefits. Males from ages 25-30: • Sharing experiences: One of the men made it clear that he shares selfies to tell his friends where he is and what he is doing. • Checking one look: One of the respondents said that he shares selfies to check how he is looking. • Filling free time: A respondent shares selfies to enjoy his free times. • Beneficial: One of the respondents thinks that sharing selfies is something helpful. Females from ages 25-30: • Showing how one looks: One of the respondents shares selfies to show others how good-looking she is and also that she is wearing the best. 28 • Sharing experience: A respondent said that she shares selfies only with relatives to show them what she is doing. Clearly, from these responses, it can be seen that many motives have been repeated among the participants despite the gender and the age. For example, ‘showing others how one looks’ can be overlapped with showing others what one has and checking one’s look by sharing selfies thereby both men and women from ages 13-30 share selfies to show their physical appearance to others which has been argued for being an action of ‘selfobjectification’ (Nguyen, 2014, p. 17). Furthermore, males and females from ages 19-30 share selfies to share memories and experiences with others. It can be explained that people in this age are mature and have a wider view of the world around them, so they want to share and keep what they experience and see, which makes it an act of ‘online’ self-documentation (Taslim & Rizwan, n.d, p. 80; Novakova, n.d., p. 4; Rettberg, 2014, p. 54). Interestingly, two of the teenage respondents (a male and a female) gave a similar motive. They share selfies because it is a trend and they want to participate in that trend to avoid being outcasts. To add, two of the respondents claimed that sharing selfies is helpful and beneficial; however, they did not clarify their claim. Two other male respondents share selfies to enjoy their time or free time, so this makes selfies a hobby for those particular people. Unfortunately, no extra responses were given from older people (30+) who take and share selfies. A number of teenage girls commented that they want to share their selfies but they are afraid that they will be misused online. Another reason could be that they are afraid of being punished by their families and the society. It is the same case with Wrammert’s (2014) study on Indian girls. She reported that those girls wished to upload their selfies, but they were scared of the inappropriate use of the pictures and they were also controlled by the men in their society. It can be concluded that both Oman and India are closed and patriarchal cultures. The last section (question 9) investigated others’ perception of selfies. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement for some of the arguments made about selfies (that were also mentioned in the literature review). Tables 3.4a and 3.4b summarize the results. 29 Table 3.4a Male participants’ rates of agreement for arguments about selfies ranked. Males Arguments # Mean 1 Teenagers generally share more selfies. 4.3 2 Girls share more selfies than boys. 3.7 3 Selfies is a way of seeking attention. 3.6 4 Selfies are getting extreme and crazier. 3.44 5 Selfies is a way of expressing oneself online. 3.4 6 Selfies are a form of self-love 3.15 7 Selfies are faked (filtered and photoshopped). 2.7 8 Selfies are silly. 2.6 9 Sharing selfies is a dangerous and risky action. 2.53 10 Boys share more selfies than girls. 2.51 11 People who share selfies are suffering from psychological disorders. 2.4 Table 3.4b Female participants’ rates of agreement for arguments about selfies ranked. Females Arguments # Mean 1 Teenagers generally share more selfies. 4.04 2 Selfies are getting extreme and crazier. 4.02 3 Selfies is a way of seeking attention. 3.57 4 Sharing selfies is a dangerous and risky action. 3.55 5 Selfies are a form of self-love. 3.4 6 Girls share more selfies than boys. 3.3 7 Selfies is a way of expressing oneself online. 3.2 8 Selfies are faked (filtered and photoshopped). 2.9 9 Selfies are silly. 2.66 10 Boys share more selfies than girls. 2.5 11 People who share selfies are suffering from psychological disorders. 30 2 As it is shown in the tables above, both male and female participants agreed that teenagers share more selfies than anyone else, just as both parties mostly disagreed with the arguments that selfie-takers are suffering from psychological disorders and that boys share more selfies than girls. However, men agreed that girls share selfies more than boys. This is contradictory to the fact that the Arab culture gives more freedom to boys than girls. Another difference is that more females than males think that sharing selfies is a risky action which could be because girls are more concerned about what will happen to their pictures after they are uploaded online (Wrammert. 2014, p. 31). Apparently, there are no other noticeable differences between the responses of males and females. By the end of this section, an open-ended question was asked to the participants to offer other ideas and attitudes towards selfies. Some of the relevant responses were (The black bullets points are negative and the white bullets are positive): Males: • Selfies is for showing off. • People with low self-esteem seek approval through posting selfies online. • The selfie has become a marketing tool for new business like the selfie stick. • Selfies will be much crazier in the coming years due to the strong focus from the mobile phones companies. • What is a selfie? o Selfies are okay and I do not see why people are overreacting about them. o Selfies are fun. o Selfies make everyone a photographer and a model at the same time and apparently it feels good. Females: • Selfies are getting boring. • Selfies is a waste of time. • It is a way of putting the self a spectacle. • I’ve never liked the few selfies I took. • I think selfies are fine, but social media is dangerous. Identifying yourself at all online is risky now. Possibly in the future. 31 o I think selfies make life interesting by seeing what people are going through in their daily lives. It may also reduce stress and encourage discussion and may enhance relationships with friends/family. o Selfies may give the person some kind of confidence when people give good comments and vice versa. o I guess people who share selfies are more confident about their appearance than those who do not. o Selfies are being popular nowadays as anyone can be involved in them despite their age. Personally, I’m not a selfie-holic but recently I started to take some. It is becoming contagious. o I think people take selfies because there is no time to stop someone and ask him to take a photo of you. It is created to make things easier, but of course anything has pros and cons. o Selfies is a good thing; people should nurture it. Clearly, males had more negative responses than positives ones whereas females had more positive responses. One similarity among the responses is that both parties think that selfies are for seeking attention. Nevertheless, there are some contradictions. First, males think that people who lack confidence share selfies while females actually think the opposite. It may be because men do not think that one’s look is an approach for self-esteem, but women are sensitive about their look and they think that a selfie has to be attractive to be shared in public (Nelson, 2013). Second, One boy said that selfies are fun whereas a girl thought that they are boring. Apparently, Omani boys are outgoing and they are allowed to travel alone so they can share those “fun” selfies, but most of the Omani girls do not go out often, so their selfies are repetitive. In fact, there are other responses that also showed the difference in the thinking of males and females. For example, men mentioned a typical business-related idea about selfies which is that companies are promoting selfies and that is why selfies will get crazier. Women, on the other hand, mentioned social views like selfies improve relationships and that it is getting ‘contagious’. 32 3.3.2. The interviews For the purpose of this research, three interviews were carried on. They were conducted with a technology professor (AS) on 2014, December 14, a psychology professor (IH) on 2014, December 15, and a sociolinguistics professor (NZ) on 2014, December 15. The responses of the interviewees were recorded, noted, and analysed for common themes. Interview questions are in the appendix A. Key points are as follows: o Technological development: Because technology has become accessible, cheap, and easy to use, people’s lives are becoming visual more than verbal. Indeed, generating content without sharing it with the world is not effective and motivating, so this gives social media its importance. Thus, smartphones with their main and front cameras and social media are the key tools for the emergence of the selfie (Dr. AS). Clearly, if people do not have social media accounts, they cannot share selfies so they will not take them at first (Dr. IH). o Digital identity: Digital identity or ‘digital citizenship’ is being in a virtual environment (which has its own terms and regulations) and it is not limited to the country or the society we live in; there are no physical boundaries thereby all people are connected with each other. In this virtual world, you have to identify yourself and you have to be able to identify others as well, so part of this identification is having your own picture in your profile (This particular condition is encouraging the process of uploading selfies). It can be said that this condition is a means to create familiarity (especially for age, gender, and culture) among people, so that they know with whom they are dealing. It seems that selfies today make all this easy, as a lot can be learned about a person from his self-taken pictures (Dr. AS). As long as those selfies are online, they contribute in the digital identity, so people have to be careful of what they share (Dr. NZ). o Reasons of popularity: First, photos (including selfies) are visuals that are more realistic than texts or any other type of visuals because they are less abstract and everyone can understand them. That is why selfies are getting popular and accepted by people as they are realistic. Second, it seems that the fast movement of people all around the places made them tend to snap their own pictures very fast and keeping them in their mobiles rather than asking someone else to take a picture of them (Dr. AS). Third, Dr. IH argued that most of the users are from the ages 18-27 and 33 those are highly motivated to try new things; in other word, they will do anything spread at that time. It can be explained that people in those ages have a lot of free time and they are not using it on things they are familiar with so they tend to try new things that are around. He also thinks that the selfie phenomenon is just a trend and it is not going to last long. o Motivations: Many selfies are actually self-reflections of people doing activities, yet the motive for doing an activity is something else than the motive for taking the selfie. Clearly, people do not share selfies of them studying (something boring) as the selfie has to meet the standards of being funny or interesting. Dr. IH disagreed with the argument that selfie-taking is an act of narcissism. He said that it is human nature that they all want to show and communicate how good they are in something. He also adds that this action is related to ‘motivation achievement’; that is, when people achieve something, they feel more motivated when they tell others about it. It has been argued that women who share selfies are self-objectifying themselves (Nguyen, 2014, p. 17). Apparently, it depends on culture (not religion). If the culture does accept women sharing selfies then there will be no obstacle; if it does not, then women might be called objects (Dr. IH). o Risks: Every technology device is dangerous if terms and regulations of use were not followed. This leads to several concerns about selfie-sharing. First, files can still be accessed by hackers even if people follow the terms and regulations of use. That is why people should not install applications that keep their pictures or files online –which can be easily hijacked- just like the iCloud application in iPhones. It can be said that even if people do not share their selfies (or pictures), they should not take any one that they do not want others to see (Dr. AS). The second concern is addiction. Dr. IH argues that reinforcement by culture creates the addiction. He explained that by giving an example: If a person took selfies and shared them more than three times but did not get any comments, he will not dare to share another one, but if he shared selfies and got positive feedback then he will definitely keep doing it. Third, selfies are making Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and ObsessiveCompulsive Disorder (OCD) suicidal cases (Graham, 2014). These disorders are accumulated in the personality and apparently the selfie is only a tool for those who already have the diseases. Clearly, if a person is not satisfied with himself no matter what he does (with or 34 without selfies), he will feel the same. Thus, the problem of committing suicide is not from selfies but from the diseases (Dr. IH). Fourth, selfies are creating beauty standards for others (Stock & Tupot, 2014; Flatman, n.d; Briggs, 2014). This has to do with the ‘social component theory’ where people repeat what others do but only if they have prior interest in that particular thing (which is not healthy unless if it is a good thing). To explain, if a girl already has a big concern about beauty, she will easily take famous beautiful faces as models (Dr. IH). o Older generation’s perception of selfies: There is ‘a very general rule’: People usually have a negative attitude towards anything they did not use before. This is the case with selfies so people have to get the chance to try taking and sharing selfies in order to have a positive attitude; however, they do not have the motivation to try it like young people (Dr. AS). Dr. IH agreed that it is all about age differences. The older generation has a high resistance towards selfies because it is not something from their generation. Interestingly, those people used to take photographs, so their attitude could be due to the fact that too many teenagers and young people are sharing selfies which makes it meaningless to them (Dr. AS). o Selfies in the Arab world: The difference in male-female use of selfies is noticeable because of the culture, traditions, and the Islamic teachings. Boys have more freedom to share any selfie without being questioned by the society. However, girls do not share selfies because they do not know what others will do to their pictures. In USA, many personal pictures of famous actresses were leaked and they said they are not ashamed of it and that it is their life and their freedom. Arab girls cannot say that as they will be punished by the society and the families if not the law (Dr. AS). In fact, all the three interviewees agreed that the Arab cultural rules are protecting Arab girls from the dangers that they will face if they are allowed to share selfies. With these cultural boundaries, it is obvious that some Arab girls take selfies without sharing them perhaps simply motivated to try and participate in a new thing (the selfie) (Dr. IH; Dr. NZ). However, Arab girls send their selfies to the opposite sex, but only a part of the face is shown (Dr. NZ). Interestingly, one reason older people in Oman are not creating issues about selfies is due to the lack of knowledge. The other reason is that Omani youth are rebelling but within ‘the limitation of the culture on digital representation’ because if they did more than that, they 35 will be punished by their people (especially girls). Clearly, this awareness is ‘not out of respect’, but ‘out of fear’ (Dr. NZ). 36 Chapter 4: Findings The motives of Arab users for sharing selfies and their views about the phenomenon 4.1. Findings Some significant findings and generalizations have been derived from this study. The first thing to be highlighted is that the topic was unusual, as participants and interviewees expressed surprise to the fact that this topic is being studied academically. Other findings are: Technological development and selfies: Participants’ responses reveal that the most social networking sites used is Instagram and then Facebook which are ‘visually-oriented’ (especially Instagram). This feature of the new sites promotes sharing selfies according to Fausing (2013, p. 6). As a result, companies are taking advantage of the popularity of selfies so they are developing smartphone cameras, presenting new social media sites, and inventing selfie-related stuff like the selfie stick. Selfie taking and sharing: One surprising finding reported in this study was that the number of males taking and sharing selfies is almost as much as females who take and share selfies. This result contradicts with Wrammert (2014) and Warfield’s (2014) argument about girls taking and sharing selfies more than boys (p. 3; p. 2). Although it was hypothesized that Arab girls are less likely to share their full face selfies because of their culture and religion and instead share partial selfies of their hands and feet or only a part of their face to avoid violating the rules of the society, surprisingly, the results show that few Arab girls actually do that. It may be because some changes are happening in women’s face publication in media as many women are showing up on TV and newspapers. It could also be that women are breaking the limitations of their ‘digital representation’, so if they can share their full face selfies, they do not need to share partial ones especially if the privacy terms in social networks are getting advanced. It has been argued that Arabs use social networks to violate Islamic rules of ‘gender segregation’ by talking to the ‘opposite sex’ (Ibarhine, n.d., p. 52; Al Zidjaly & Gordon, 37 2012, p. 15). It appears the same may apply for selfies as an interviewee said that some Arab girls –even if they do not share their selfies in public- send partial selfies to boys Motivations: This study contradicts with the other research in many aspects. First, both males and females do not share selfies to look like other celebrities or models as it was argued that selfies standardize beauty especially for girls (Stock & Tupot, 2014; Flatman, n.d; Briggs, 2014). It seems that Omani and Arabs are not interested to look like others in their selfies as they should have prior interest or obsession about beauty in order to imitate someone they find beautiful according to the ‘social component theory’ (Dr. IH). It seems that social media makes everyone a celebrity and Arabs want to be creative not imitative. It can be also said that most of the female models and celebrities are unveiled (even Muslims), so the public of women who wear hijab cannot actually imitate them. Second, this study reveals that not only women, but also men are keen to show themselves while they are good-looking, which breaks Nguyen (2014) claim in her study that selfies are women’s approach of ‘self-objectification’ by sharing attractive selfies (p. 17; Iqani, 2013, p. 7). Others’ perception of selfies: One interesting finding was that most of the participants disagreed that selfie-takers suffer from psychological disorders (Body Dysmorphic Disorder, narcissism, addiction, low selfesteem, etc) which was mentioned in some studies (Graham, 2014 Hendry, 2014, p. 1; Andrews, 2014, p. 74). This can be explained in two ways: 1. Omani and Arabs’ mentality is coming towards a change where they are coming off stereotypes that where long associated with whatever new that disturbs the peace of the Arab world. 2. Omani and Arabs have little knowledge about psychological disorders. The word disorder might be too big to them and they cannot relate it to a meaningless or fun thing like selfies. Another surprising finding is that men believe that women share more selfies than them even though most of the Arab men do not allow their family girls to share their selfies. Burns (2014) explained that the patriarchal society blames women for sharing selfies and its purpose is only to regulate them (as cited in Rettberg, 2014, p. 17). 38 Reflection This research raises many thoughts and arguments. Is selfies a passing phenomenon or it has a deeper significance in people’s lives? Selfies has, indeed, provided Omani and Arabs with the chance to enter the public space and share their private lives visually with others; in other words, it has blurred the public and private lives (Angelli, 2004, as cited in Torlak, Spillan, & Harcar, 2011, p. 51). Clearly, the media (TV, newspapers, and the Web) in Oman is controlled by the authority, but mostly to fight political activism (Aman & Jayroe, 2013, p. 336). Selfies is not a political but a cultural revolution, so many Omanis and Arabs are using this chance to show themselves and express who they are in order to build an international identity that is not bound to their home. They are asking for social democracy indirectly especially for women, as they want to beat the cultural restrains by showing their faces in public. Apparently, Arabs want to create a moment of fame for themselves and social media is the context for such activities of creativity and asking for liberty. It is a process of individualization –showing the self- by separating one’s existence from others, as it is known that Arab societies are based on general rules that are made by culture, society, and religion. 4.2. Limitations A number of limitations associated with this study. First, fewer older people (+years 25) participated, as they were only 21 out of 90, yet this was not an obstacle as the overall sample was quite representative. Another limitation was that some participants did not read the questions of the questionnaires carefully especially for the ranking section, for they did not do it right. A further limitation was that the topic was new to many people; however, its relation to social media popularity in the Arab world gave it some sense. Despite these weaknesses the findings can be regarded as valid, as the sample was representative of mostly Omani and Arabs from different age groups and the equal numbers of males and females. 39 Chapter 5: Conclusion Summary of the findings and the recommendations The selfie, pictures taken by oneself using a smartphone, is widely spread among people especially youth, as studies show. This phenomenon has been growing since smartphones are being developed and social media sites are becoming more visually-oriented. Investigating the motivations of people for taking selfies and others’ perception of it was the aim of this study. This study aimed to answer two main questions: What motivates people to take selfies and what do others think of it? Some important conclusions can be drawn from the study. As expected, the study shows that men share selfies to tell others where they are and what they are doing while women share them to meet their expectation of themselves. This indicates that boys tend to brag about their actions whereas girls are concerned about their looks. This study also shows that both males and females agree that adolescents share more selfies and that selfie-takers are not suffering from psychological disorders. For the first agreement, it is clear that teenagers tend to try new trends more than anyone else and for the second, it shows that Arabs are changing their attitude towards new technologies or it might be due to their lack of knowledge about psychological disorders. Nevertheless, this study, surprisingly, reveals that Arab females take and share selfies almost as much as males do. This shows that there are some cultural and social changes in the publication of women’s faces. It has begun with TV and magazines where Omani and Arab women started to appear in public. It seems that selfies offer every single woman this moment of fame by sharing their pictures on social media sites. Recommendations It is recommended that more research should be done, because the phenomenon is new and the world needs accurate literature. It is also recommended that Arabs and Omanis should be aware of the global changes that are happening and will happen in many areas, so they can easily adapt them within their culture and religion’s limitations to avoid stereotypes. Moreover, it is recommended that Arabs –especially Omanis- should be offered more awareness about psychological disorders, as this will allow them deal with new phenomena in a better way. 40 Future research The current study forms the foundation for future studies, for instance, to investigate how selfies are getting extreme and leading to unwanted results. It could also be examined how much people who share selfies are aware of the privacy terms on social media in order to reduce risks. Another study could be done on why people share photoshopped selfies. A final idea for a study could be to investigate the effect of selfie (as a global trend) on Arab women’s face publication. 41 Bibliography Aerni, M. (2014). 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Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:721945/FULLTEXT01.pdf Zhang, M. (2011, July 19). The first portrait photograph ever made [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://petapixel.com/2011/07/19/the-first-self-portrait-photo-ever-made/ 47 Appendix A: Research Instruments Questionnaire: The use of selfies I am doing research on The Use of Selfies. I would be very grateful if you help by completing the questionnaire. Part One: 1. Personal Information: - Gender: Male ( ) Female ( ) - Age: 13-18 ( ) 19-24 ( ) 25-30 ( ) 31 and above ( ) - Nationality: …………. - e-mail:…………………………….. 2. Tick (√) the social media that you use: Facebook ( ) Instagram ( ) Twitter ( ) Snapchat ( ) Flickr ( ) yahoo/Gmail/Hotmail messengers ( ) Blogging ( ) others ( ) 3. How good are you in using the internet and technology? Expert ( ) Good ( ) Not very good ( ) Not good at all ( ) 4. Do you take selfies? Yes ( ) No ( ) 5. Do you share your selfies on social media? Yes ( ) No ( ) 6. Do you share your hands and feet selfies on social media? Yes ( ) No ( ) Part Two: 7. If you take and share selfies, why? (Please RANK your most important reason 1 downwards). To boost your confidence To show yourself in different situations To show yourself the way you want to be seen To show yourself as being/having the best Show others how good-looking you are To be or look like others 48 8. You share selfies because … (Choose the level of agreement) Reasons/levels Strongly Agree agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree I share selfies because my friends do that. I share selfies to gain likes and comments. I share selfies for others to look at me. If you have any other reason, please write it here ………………………………………………………………………………………… …… Part Three: 9. What do you think of selfies? (Choose the level of agreement) Ideas/ agreement Strongly Agree agree 1. Selfies is a way of expressing oneself online. 2. Selfies are faked (filtered and photoshopped). 3. Selfies is a way of seeking attention. 4. Sharing selfies is a dangerous and risky action. 5. Selfies are getting extreme and crazier. 6. People who take selfies are suffering from psychological disorders. 7. Selfies are a form of selflove. 8. Selfies are silly. 9. Girls share more selfies than boys. 49 Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree 10. Boys share more selfies than girls. 11. Teenagers generally share more selfies. If you have any other idea about selfies, please write it here ………………………………………………………………… Thanks for your 50 Interviews: Interview questions with Dr. AS 1. How has technology led to the emergence of the selfie phenomenon? • • Smartphones? Social media? 2. Do you think there is such a thing as “digital identity”? • How does selfies contribute in building this identity? 3. Why people now prefer sharing a selfie rather than a text on social media networks? 4. Do you think there are any dangers or drawbacks for sharing selfies? 5. From you own observation, what are the differences in the uses of selfies on social media between girls and boys in Oman and the Arab wold? 6. Why do you think the older generation does not approve the selfie phenomenon? Interview questions with Dr. IH 1. Why do you think they are popular? 2. Why do you think people take selfies? • A form of self-reflection and self-representation? • Narcissism? • Self-objectification for women? 51 3. Do you think selfies are getting extreme? • • • Addiction? Body dysmorphic Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Suicidal? 4. Selfies standardize beauty. What effect does that have on people? • Especially women? 5. Can you explain the fact that Omani or Arab girls take selfies knowing they cannot post them in public? 6. From your observation, why do you think the older generation does not approve the selfie phenomenon? Interview with Dr. NZ 1. How do you think the selfie contributes in the identity? 2. Why do you think Omani or Arab girls take selfies even though they cannot share them? 3. From your experience, how do you think Omanis perceive selfies/ the selfie phenomenon? - To what extent does the culture contribute in this perception? 52 Appendix B: Summary of the results Table 1: The number of participants in each age group Age 13-18 19-24 25-30 31 & above % (out of 90) 17.8 5.6 males 20 females 18.9 20 3.3 7.8 total 38.9 37.8 8.9 14.5 6.7 Table 2: The nationalities of the participants gender males females % (out of 45) % (out of 45) age 13-18 19-24 25-30 30 & above 13-18 19-24 25-30 30 & above Omani 40 35.6 8.9 4.4 35.6 37.8 6.7 4.4 Egyptian 0 0 0 2.2 0 0 0 0 Iraqi 0 0 0 2.2 0 0 0 0 Yemeni 0 0 0 2.2 0 0 0 0 Indian 0 0 2.2 0 0 0 0 2.2 Canadian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 Tunisian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 Neauzealand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 Bahraini 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 Anonymos 0 0 0 2.2 2.2 2.2 0 0 Total 40 35.6 11.1 13.2 37.8 40 6.7 15.4 53 Table 4: Social media sites that are used by the participants Social media sites that are used % (out of 90) gender/ sites males females Total Facebook 34.4 27.8 62.2 Instagram 37.8 35.6 73.4 Twitter 25.6 15.6 41.2 Snapchat 17.8 17.8 35.6 Flickr 4.4 6.7 11.1 messengers 26.7 21.1 47.8 blogging 4.4 2.2 6.6 others 25.6 15.6 41.2 Table 5: The number of participants who take and do not take selfies Table 3: The excellency of participants in using internet and technology Excellency in using technology and internet % (out of 90) not very not good at good all expert good 13-18 11.1 25.6 1.1 0 19-24 6.7 27.8 2.2 0 25-30 1.1 7.8 0 0 30+ 0 10 3.3 0 total 18.9 71.2 6.6 0 Table 6: The number of participants who share and do not share selfies Table 7: The number of participants who share and do not share feet and hands selfies The items for intrinsic motives are in question 7 in the questionnaire Table 8: The intrinsic motivations of the male participants for taking selfies 54 Table 9: The intrinsic motivations of the female participants for taking selfies The items for extrinsic motives are in question 8 in the Table 10: The extrinsic motivations of the male participants for taking selfies Table 11: The extrinsic motivations of the female participants for taking selfies The items for others’ perception of selfies are in question 9 in the Table 11: Male participants’ perception of selfies 55 Table 12: Female participants’ perception of selfies 56