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The Selfie Generation: How Our Self Images Are Changing Our Notions of Privacy, Sex, Consent, and Culture
Whether it’s Kim Kardashian uploading picture after picture to Instagram or your roommate posting a mid-vacation shot to Facebook, selfies receive mixed reactions. But are selfies more than, as many critics lament, a symptom of a self-absorbed generation? Digital native Alicia Eler’s The Selfie Generation is the first book to delve fully into this ubiquitous and much-maligned part of social media, including why people take them in the first place and the ways they can change how we see ourselves. Eler argues that selfies are just one facet of how we can use digital media to create a personal brand in the modern age. More than just a picture, they can be a positive and important part of a conversation. Eler examines all aspects of selfies and the generation that has grown up with them. She looks at how the boundaries between people’s physical and digital lives have blurred with social media; she explores questions of privacy, consent, ownership, and authenticity; and she points out important issues of sexism and double standards wherein women are encouraged to take them but then become subject to criticism and judgment. The Selfie Generation is a compelling and fascinating argument for the power of the selfie and a rebuttal to all those who would dismiss them.
- GenresNonfictionTechnology
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Published November 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 25, 2018
Very little decent material. Skimmed most of what I did read. The writing style was disjointed and at times I wondered if there was an editor. Author is clearly writing for women and she has an agenda without any vision to explain even un-clearly . From another reviewer:
"Maybe it's the still-nascent culture of selfies and social media, but Eler never quite finds a theme or an organizing principle for her work. There's no flow from chapter to chapter: most ideas drift by with scant analysis or discussion, sometimes interrupted with non sequiturs, then come back chapters later without continuity. Eler tries to present the whole smorgasbord when she really needed to focus on a dish or two. With the few exceptions noted above, there just wasn't much insight."
"Maybe it's the still-nascent culture of selfies and social media, but Eler never quite finds a theme or an organizing principle for her work. There's no flow from chapter to chapter: most ideas drift by with scant analysis or discussion, sometimes interrupted with non sequiturs, then come back chapters later without continuity. Eler tries to present the whole smorgasbord when she really needed to focus on a dish or two. With the few exceptions noted above, there just wasn't much insight."
April 8, 2018
This book was not organized and the topics had no real direction. The transition were not smooth. It was very hard to stay focused or have the urge to continue reading.
December 12, 2017
Before reading this review, please note that I received The Selfie Generation from Thomas Allen & Son Ltd. in exchange for an honest review.
I can’t remember the last time I read a non-fiction book, so reading The Selfie Generation by Alicia Eler was a welcome change for me.
I was intrigued by this book, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be an in-depth scientific analysis of the social media habits of millennials or a more fun take on selfies written by a millennial. In the end, it was a bit of both and although initially (a few pages in) I thought I’d be giving this book a 1 or 2 out of 5, Eler sucked me in and it ended up being a 3/5 book for me. I finished it about a week ago and since then I’ve been mulling it over in my mind, trying to articulate what I liked and didn’t like about it.
What I didn’t like:
- Right off the bat, I didn’t like how Eler overused certain hashtags that to my mind had no meaning or value (ex. #connect). Ultimately, I think this was more of a personal thing, rather than a true criticism of the book. I just felt annoyed every time she used them (mostly #connect) and it gave me the impression that she wasn’t a millennial herself and therefore maybe didn’t really GET social media. But, maybe she knows something I don’t… and some of the ones she used were actually pretty funny (ex. #overshare).
- Eler got REALLY into politics and protesting and the “alt” and while that was definitely interesting at first, it seemed to almost take over the whole book and was no longer relevant to the actual topic (selfies). It felt like all the politics and protesting and "alt" stuff was her true passion and she just had to sneak it all in there. I mean, definitely go for it, but maybe it needs to be in a separate book.
- The writing style at times felt like I was reading an undergraduate or graduate thesis, especially in the opening chapter where Eler said things like, ‘first I will demonstrate so and so and then I will show such and such’ etc. This kind of threw me off.
- Finally, the editing was pretty terrible. There were so many mistakes. I was really itching to get out my red pen.
Before you start thinking I really hated this book, I’ve also written about the things I did like about The Selfie Generation.
What I did like:
- Eler really hooked me when she started writing about internet privacy. This was primarily in Chapter 2, but also continued on a bit in the other chapters here and there. She said that the price we pay for “free” services like Facebook and Instagram etc. is our privacy. While a lot of people know this, they just don’t care. I totally agree with this and would even admit that I’m one of those people. But while I sort of knew this stuff was going on, Eler helped pull the wool out of my eyes. I found this chapter really fascinating and actually highlighted a few parts.
-----“We have this sense of agency and how we are presented [on social media], but at the end of the day the corporations own all of that data so we actually have zero control— even less than what we think.” (page 60)
-----“The NSA had wiretapped King in the late 1960s, a fact that they have disclosed.” (page 60)
-----“In more reports that came out in 2017, undercover cops in NYC had begun infiltrating BLM members’ groups and obtaining access to their text threads." (page 61) - BLM being Black Lives Matter
-----“They would observe, from our understanding, through a Stingray, which is a device that can be fitted on a helicopter that scrapes all the metadata of ay phones in the area.” (age 61)
There was even more, but this was just to show you that although I kind of knew this existed, I didn’t really KNOW until I read this book and that’s what hooked me.
- Eler also gave examples of different people, primarily artists, who are either using social media in an interesting way or whose art is a commentary on social media. I found these people and projects really interesting and actually paused my reading to check out their social media pages and follow them.
Weighing the pros and cons of the book and how it made me feel and what it made me think about, I decided to rate it 3/5. It wasn't perfect, but I found it to be an interesting read. If you’re interested in reading about selfies and social media in general, and especially if you’re interested in online privacy and the alt. and protesting and all that stuff, then you’ll enjoy this book. If you’re looking for a fluffy, non-fiction read written in the style of a YouTuber, then this isn’t it. Similarly, if you’re looking for a really in-depth scientific analysis of social media trends and behaviour then this isn't really it either. It falls somewhere in the middle.
I can’t remember the last time I read a non-fiction book, so reading The Selfie Generation by Alicia Eler was a welcome change for me.
I was intrigued by this book, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be an in-depth scientific analysis of the social media habits of millennials or a more fun take on selfies written by a millennial. In the end, it was a bit of both and although initially (a few pages in) I thought I’d be giving this book a 1 or 2 out of 5, Eler sucked me in and it ended up being a 3/5 book for me. I finished it about a week ago and since then I’ve been mulling it over in my mind, trying to articulate what I liked and didn’t like about it.
What I didn’t like:
- Right off the bat, I didn’t like how Eler overused certain hashtags that to my mind had no meaning or value (ex. #connect). Ultimately, I think this was more of a personal thing, rather than a true criticism of the book. I just felt annoyed every time she used them (mostly #connect) and it gave me the impression that she wasn’t a millennial herself and therefore maybe didn’t really GET social media. But, maybe she knows something I don’t… and some of the ones she used were actually pretty funny (ex. #overshare).
- Eler got REALLY into politics and protesting and the “alt” and while that was definitely interesting at first, it seemed to almost take over the whole book and was no longer relevant to the actual topic (selfies). It felt like all the politics and protesting and "alt" stuff was her true passion and she just had to sneak it all in there. I mean, definitely go for it, but maybe it needs to be in a separate book.
- The writing style at times felt like I was reading an undergraduate or graduate thesis, especially in the opening chapter where Eler said things like, ‘first I will demonstrate so and so and then I will show such and such’ etc. This kind of threw me off.
- Finally, the editing was pretty terrible. There were so many mistakes. I was really itching to get out my red pen.
Before you start thinking I really hated this book, I’ve also written about the things I did like about The Selfie Generation.
What I did like:
- Eler really hooked me when she started writing about internet privacy. This was primarily in Chapter 2, but also continued on a bit in the other chapters here and there. She said that the price we pay for “free” services like Facebook and Instagram etc. is our privacy. While a lot of people know this, they just don’t care. I totally agree with this and would even admit that I’m one of those people. But while I sort of knew this stuff was going on, Eler helped pull the wool out of my eyes. I found this chapter really fascinating and actually highlighted a few parts.
-----“We have this sense of agency and how we are presented [on social media], but at the end of the day the corporations own all of that data so we actually have zero control— even less than what we think.” (page 60)
-----“The NSA had wiretapped King in the late 1960s, a fact that they have disclosed.” (page 60)
-----“In more reports that came out in 2017, undercover cops in NYC had begun infiltrating BLM members’ groups and obtaining access to their text threads." (page 61) - BLM being Black Lives Matter
-----“They would observe, from our understanding, through a Stingray, which is a device that can be fitted on a helicopter that scrapes all the metadata of ay phones in the area.” (age 61)
There was even more, but this was just to show you that although I kind of knew this existed, I didn’t really KNOW until I read this book and that’s what hooked me.
- Eler also gave examples of different people, primarily artists, who are either using social media in an interesting way or whose art is a commentary on social media. I found these people and projects really interesting and actually paused my reading to check out their social media pages and follow them.
Weighing the pros and cons of the book and how it made me feel and what it made me think about, I decided to rate it 3/5. It wasn't perfect, but I found it to be an interesting read. If you’re interested in reading about selfies and social media in general, and especially if you’re interested in online privacy and the alt. and protesting and all that stuff, then you’ll enjoy this book. If you’re looking for a fluffy, non-fiction read written in the style of a YouTuber, then this isn’t it. Similarly, if you’re looking for a really in-depth scientific analysis of social media trends and behaviour then this isn't really it either. It falls somewhere in the middle.
Read
July 3, 2018I heard about this book on one my regularly-listened-to podcasts, "Why'd you push that button?" And it's pretty true to what that podcast aims at: exploring why it is we engage in the online behaviors we do. Eler's book is at times repetitive, and while she circles a lot of really interesting phenomenon, I don't think she dove in quite as deep as she could have to take this from an okay read to a really powerful one. The selfie, as she posits, is a means of not just self expression, but a means of being seen and heard, particularly by those who aren't straight white men. This is why women are so routinely made fun of for taking selfies and considered vain and self-absorbed because of it.
The book explores race and gender identity, too, and perhaps the part that was most interesting to me -- and what I'd love to have heard more about -- was how selfies work in the non-Western world. The part about how Filipino/as use selfies was fascinating and so different from how they're used and perceived in the West; I wish we'd only gotten more of that because it was 1. not repetitive and 2. refreshingly different and a means of reflecting back what purpose selfies serve in a different context.
I listened to this on audio and thought the performance was fine. I suspect had I read it in print, I'd have been really annoyed by the use of hashtags and slang.
Worth a perusal if it's at the library, especially if you like feminist and queer takes on social phenomenons (Eler identifies as both, and she goes to great lengths to explore trans identity in selfie culture by talking with and about those who are trans -- again: I'd have liked more here because this was where it circled so close to REALLY good but didn't go quite deep enough).
The book explores race and gender identity, too, and perhaps the part that was most interesting to me -- and what I'd love to have heard more about -- was how selfies work in the non-Western world. The part about how Filipino/as use selfies was fascinating and so different from how they're used and perceived in the West; I wish we'd only gotten more of that because it was 1. not repetitive and 2. refreshingly different and a means of reflecting back what purpose selfies serve in a different context.
I listened to this on audio and thought the performance was fine. I suspect had I read it in print, I'd have been really annoyed by the use of hashtags and slang.
Worth a perusal if it's at the library, especially if you like feminist and queer takes on social phenomenons (Eler identifies as both, and she goes to great lengths to explore trans identity in selfie culture by talking with and about those who are trans -- again: I'd have liked more here because this was where it circled so close to REALLY good but didn't go quite deep enough).
July 5, 2018
some good ideas, but bogged down by her own agenda, a tedious read...
June 25, 2018
I thought it was going to be more analytical especially with the subtitle of how it's changing things. The whole book is more of a commentary about how things are that even the most casual user of social media outlets will have already noticed. It was a struggle to finish because I felt that the author was telling me things I already knew. There wasn't a lot of depth to the book.
February 17, 2018
I find the topic interesting, so I pushed through, but the writing was inescapably off-putting--it read more like an undergraduate essay interlaced with (self-consciously ironic) use of social media conventions (hashtags like #connect, abbreviations like TBH, and doubled punctuation?!). There were also grammatical and spelling errors that should have been caught in the editing. I found the best chapter to be the one on "meta-selfie advertising," but the rest was rather less than I had hoped for. For me, it didn't quite work as scholarly analysis and it didn't quite work as memoir (the two genres she lays out in the introduction), and it was ultimately disappointing.
Read
November 7, 2017A fast and fascinating read about the promise and perils of our digital moment. I reviewed The Selfie Generation for The Tangential.
April 11, 2018
I typically reserve one-star reviews for work that is utterly abysmal, so I want to preface this review by noting that Selfie Generation is not all bad. Eler offers some truly great ideas in this book: her reporting on social media surveillance and the Standing Rock pipeline protests; her criticism of selfies in the context of the Clinton 2016 campaign; her discussion of selfies and liberation for transgender persons. But those good ideas are lost in a sea of sloppy (and sometimes lazy) writing.
Maybe it's the still-nascent culture of selfies and social media, but Eler never quite finds a theme or an organizing principle for her work. There's no flow from chapter to chapter: most ideas drift by with scant analysis or discussion, sometimes interrupted with non sequiturs, then come back chapters later without continuity. Eler tries to present the whole smorgasbord when she really needed to focus on a dish or two. With the few exceptions noted above, there just wasn't much insight.
While an editor might have redressed some of these flaws, I wouldn't wish that on anyone lightly. It's hard to say whether wholesale reorganization could have saved the book. A fair portion really doesn't talk about selfies much at all, but instead generally conflates them with social media. Eler often ends a five or six paragraph anecdote by quoting one source or another, adding no analysis of her own. She spends an entire agonizing chapter (and no small portion of the total book) blandly recounting selfie incidents in tv shows.
The masters' thesis committee would not be impressed. Not recommended.
Maybe it's the still-nascent culture of selfies and social media, but Eler never quite finds a theme or an organizing principle for her work. There's no flow from chapter to chapter: most ideas drift by with scant analysis or discussion, sometimes interrupted with non sequiturs, then come back chapters later without continuity. Eler tries to present the whole smorgasbord when she really needed to focus on a dish or two. With the few exceptions noted above, there just wasn't much insight.
While an editor might have redressed some of these flaws, I wouldn't wish that on anyone lightly. It's hard to say whether wholesale reorganization could have saved the book. A fair portion really doesn't talk about selfies much at all, but instead generally conflates them with social media. Eler often ends a five or six paragraph anecdote by quoting one source or another, adding no analysis of her own. She spends an entire agonizing chapter (and no small portion of the total book) blandly recounting selfie incidents in tv shows.
The masters' thesis committee would not be impressed. Not recommended.
March 29, 2018
I first heard about this book on the podcast, "Why'd You Push That Button ", and was intrigued by the premise. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get past the writing style and the lack of cohesion between chapters. There are elements which are fascinating, like the examination of selfie culture in different countries, or an analysis of the criticism that is leveraged at predominantly young women as part of selfie culture. However, it seemed like the author was trying to cover far too much material and ended up being a disjointed and scattered read.
January 24, 2019
This book was so painful to read. It felt disorganized and I often found myself not knowing what the author is talking about. I never really got to know the author because she was constantly quoting other people. The works cited pages take up 20 pages front and back because I would say 70% of this book was not her own words and thought.
January 6, 2018
This book is perfect for individuals who have no idea what a selfie is, which is sort of tough to find in today's world. There was a lot of repetitive information which leaves me to think that the author could have easily shortened it to article length.
January 29, 2025
Selfie Generation de Alicia Eler es un ensayo que intenta capturar la esencia de una generación definida por la cultura digital, las redes sociales y la obsesión por la imagen propia. El libro se sumerge en cómo la tecnología ha transformado la forma en que nos vemos a nosotros mismos y cómo interactuamos con el mundo, centrándose en el fenómeno del "selfie" como símbolo de esta era. Eler explora temas como la identidad, la autoexpresión y la búsqueda constante de validación a través de likes y comentarios, argumentando que esta dinámica ha redefinido no solo la autoestima individual, sino también las relaciones sociales y culturales.
Sin embargo, el libro a menudo se siente superficial en su análisis. Aunque Eler presenta ideas interesantes, como la conexión entre los selfies y la construcción de la identidad en un mundo digital, muchas de sus reflexiones se quedan en la superficie, sin profundizar en las implicaciones psicológicas o sociológicas más amplias. Por ejemplo, aborda la idea de que los selfies pueden ser una forma de empoderamiento, especialmente para mujeres y minorías, pero no desarrolla suficientemente este punto, dejando al lector con más preguntas que respuestas.
Además, el tono del libro a veces resulta contradictorio. Por un lado, Eler critica la cultura del selfie por fomentar la narcisismo y la obsesión por la apariencia, pero por otro, parece celebrar la capacidad de las redes sociales para democratizar la expresión personal. Esta ambivalencia puede resultar confusa y resta fuerza a sus argumentos.
Otro aspecto que decepciona es la falta de diversidad en las fuentes y ejemplos. Aunque Eler menciona algunos casos relevantes, muchos de sus puntos se apoyan en anécdotas personales o en fenómenos culturales ya muy discutidos, lo que le resta originalidad al texto. En lugar de ofrecer una perspectiva fresca o innovadora, el libro a menudo repite ideas que ya han sido ampliamente exploradas en otros medios.
Sin embargo, el libro a menudo se siente superficial en su análisis. Aunque Eler presenta ideas interesantes, como la conexión entre los selfies y la construcción de la identidad en un mundo digital, muchas de sus reflexiones se quedan en la superficie, sin profundizar en las implicaciones psicológicas o sociológicas más amplias. Por ejemplo, aborda la idea de que los selfies pueden ser una forma de empoderamiento, especialmente para mujeres y minorías, pero no desarrolla suficientemente este punto, dejando al lector con más preguntas que respuestas.
Además, el tono del libro a veces resulta contradictorio. Por un lado, Eler critica la cultura del selfie por fomentar la narcisismo y la obsesión por la apariencia, pero por otro, parece celebrar la capacidad de las redes sociales para democratizar la expresión personal. Esta ambivalencia puede resultar confusa y resta fuerza a sus argumentos.
Otro aspecto que decepciona es la falta de diversidad en las fuentes y ejemplos. Aunque Eler menciona algunos casos relevantes, muchos de sus puntos se apoyan en anécdotas personales o en fenómenos culturales ya muy discutidos, lo que le resta originalidad al texto. En lugar de ofrecer una perspectiva fresca o innovadora, el libro a menudo repite ideas que ya han sido ampliamente exploradas en otros medios.
Want to read
September 6, 2020i had checked this out at the library & read only parts of it here & there. it was really good for the discussions about privacy culture (dubbed anti¡-selfie) & talking about how ...legalized predators use social media against us. it also helped with discussing sexting which is important when you combine it with discussions about social infrastructure. so anyways, this book is good, but it cannot be a standalone & it's not the kind of book you use for a summary as much as a jumping off point into researching other topics. it is also helpful for explaining how selfies were like our signatures, but this was also before deepfakes became more mainstream.
i want to read the whole thing.
i want to read the whole thing.
December 8, 2020
It could have been good.
It's very repetitive. There are hashtags that seem more like a poorly constructed continuous joke than anything. Far too much politics.
It also seems to be trying very hard to be an academic book, but with weird personal asides that don't contribute anything.
It's like when someone old tries too hard to be cool and "with the times". That's basically the book in a nutshell.
It's very repetitive. There are hashtags that seem more like a poorly constructed continuous joke than anything. Far too much politics.
It also seems to be trying very hard to be an academic book, but with weird personal asides that don't contribute anything.
It's like when someone old tries too hard to be cool and "with the times". That's basically the book in a nutshell.
June 4, 2022
I actually quite enjoyed this one and was surprised by the general rating. It's not the most in-depth reading into the media phenomenon for sure, but to be brutally slaughtered by one-stars. Wondering if it's just because it skews towards a feminist reading and rips out the band-aid to reveal our deeply capitalist and surveillance culture.
February 26, 2018
Tietokirjaksi osin heppoinen ja huonosti toimitettu, lisäksi kirjoittajalla ärsyttäviä maneereita kuten hashtagien viljeleminen leipätekstissä. Sisältö kuitenkin pääosin rautaa, ja perustelee itsensä hyvänä aikalaiskuvauksena.
October 9, 2019
The content in this book is phenomenal, but it is unfortunate that the writing is a bit disjointed and there isn't a great flow. But - is this emblematic of the fast paced media culture we are currently living within? I don't know. Either way, worth the read.
January 4, 2019
Tries to dispel the notion that selfie taking is a byproduct of narcissim, but rather the new tool of choice for self expression. Not buying it.
Want to read
March 31, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
Read
March 9, 2018302.30285 E392 2017
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews