Are You Selfish If You Love To Take Selfies?

I've been described by friends, acquaintances, and peers as 'selfish', 'vain', and 'self-centered' all because I love to take selfies.

One buddy even told me, "You are a good person, Mark. But I wish you'd take selfies less often."

I thought it's an odd assumption considering that I also include other people in my selfies (ala groufies) and most of the time, I only take selfies when I don't want to bother those around me to take my photo in a place I really like.

So yesterday, on Facebook and Twitter, I asked my friends and followers the same question that I posted in this entry's title just to get a better understanding of what they think about this topic.

"Are you selfish if you love to take selfies?"

Here are some of the replies:

"I don't think it follows. Sometimes people take selfies because they have no one to be with but would like to commemorate a moment. Sometimes you just really look good that day. Other times, you just feel like capturing the moment and sharing it with the world. As long as it is not over the top where you take a photo every few minutes and upload it to get validation, loving selfies should never be a basis for someone to be tagged as selfish or narcissistic. Argumentum non sequitur." - Kathy Kenny Ngo

"A selfie is a form of creating your own happiness." - John Luke Chica

"I just felt that confidence rushing into my veins telling me that I'm awesome at this moment. It's more [of] bragging that you're beautiful... with a heart of course!" - Yammie Marquez

"[I guess] more of vain. Not really selfish." - Carissa Villanueva

"No. I [take] selfies because I want to show to everyone that I am happy, I'll be selfish if I [...] hide my feelings to others. [My] selfie is not for my own consumption it is for everyone who cares." - Roger Costanilla Canezo

"Selfies are shared publicly, and are widely spread in all social app. So it's not being selfish." - @Mong_RGN on Twitter

"I guess it depends. I mean if a person take selfies just so they have something to post on Social Media then I guess it can be considered as selfishness. And I am pertaining to those who take selfies at inappropriate time and events like during accidents, or those taking a selfie beside an unaware person just so he/she can mock the person online." - Kristine Vicencio

"Certainly yes, if someone creates a selfie album out of hundreds [of self-photos]." - Surewin Agbayani

"In essence, selfie [or the act of taking a selfie] is a 'want', so it should be selfish. If ever a selfie becomes a 'need', then its not selfish anymore, it's a disease." - JP Cruise

"We are the generation of selfies. One takes selfies sometimes to the detriment of one's life i.e. news about getting killed because they fell from the building because of their selfie attempt etc. My two cents is that it's a free world. As long as no one is stepping on other people's rights then the act of taking a selfie is fine. Self expression is A-OK." - Carissa Flores

"Selfie-ists are mostly narcissists [and] attention-seekers [who offer] nothing but heavily make-upped faces, shopped photos, googled quotes." - @chrissanne14346 on Twitter

"We've been taking selfies since [smartphones] and polaroid cameras were invented. [It's] just [in] recent years that they coined the word 'selfie' and included it in the dictionary. We take selfies to capture the moment, a great way to reminisce those time when we get old. Sometimes people take them for vanity [but I don't think it's selfish]." - CJ Concon

Clearly, the opinions are mixed. How about you? Do you think it's selfish to take lots of selfies? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.