The selfie craze - For a good cause, or pointless attention?

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

In the past week (starting 17 March), my social media news feeds, particularly Facebook has really hit the selfie craze. In a normal week, it would be full of birthday wishes, status updates and the occasional and slightly tedious game request.

However the no make-up selfie which has driven women to donate money and get the message of beating cancer has really worked. The awareness raised (Cancer Research UK message pictured below) has been truly fantastic and it is great to see this, speaking from an individual who knows about what it can do and the support I give on a monthly basis to one of the leading UK cancer charities.

Cancer Research UK post an important message

In 24 hours in midweek, Cancer Research UK made over £1m in donations from over 800,000 people. However there has been a negative response from some quarters of society and then, other pathetic attempts to to hit the selfie craze. So, is this selfie promotion a publicity stunt, or the way of things to come when the word generosity is used?

The selfie

The definition of the word selfie is it a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a camera on a smartphone or a digital camera. These can be casual shots with a camera held at arm’s length or in a mirror. They can also involve multiple people in “group selfies,” as widely shown at the Oscars ceremony (pictured below) earlier this month.

The Oscars selfie at the start of the month drew plenty of conversation

Whilst selfies are believed to have been around for hundreds of years, they have only really taken off in the last couple of years. In 2012, Time Magazine had selfie as one of its 10 biggest ‘buzzwords’ of the year. Last year, it got so popular that a definition was entered into the Oxford English dictionary.

Whoever you are, most of us have taken a selfie of themselves. They can be from your brother or sister, to a colleague from work or education or even well-known politicians such as David Cameron and Barack Obama.

I was having a conversation on Facebook about this earlier in the week and was thinking of whether I’ve taken a selfie in the last year? I said no to start with but when considering this a bit more, I’ve taken pictures of myself in the past. Sad I know, but I guess who hasn’t done this. Below is an example of a selfie I took back in 2010, before I even understood the word existed. 

A 2010 selfie from my first year as a University student

As you can see from this example, I’m not the most attractive person and the permanently non-existent relationship record can vouch for that but it is a different way of taking a photograph. When I took the above photo, I wasn’t aware of the word selfie but now I am and I don't mind it. 

The surge of donations

I have no idea where this surge in donations has come from for the various cancer charities in the UK, from Cancer Research UK to Breast Cancer Awareness. At first when these selfies were popping up online, I admit that I thought it was just another Instagram burst. I was generally confused until seeing what it was for.

Cancer is one of, if not the biggest killer in diseases. A good portion of us have suffered the agony of seeing one of our favourite famous faces have to deal with this. Some have had the pain of it happening to someone you love or really care about.

Adverts keep appearing on television and rightfully so. Without the help of the British public, cancer will not be beaten. My polite message to cancer would be; ‘Go away and leave us alone.’ Unfortunately it isn’t as easy as that.

This campaign asked women to post selfies with no make-up online using the hashtag #nomakeupselfie. They would then nominate five of their friends to do the same, then text a number with a donation of £3 to the cancer charity of their choice. For many, Cancer Research UK is the main charity but it could be to a local fund or a more personalised group. As soon as this went viral, the craze continued. In my view this is not a publicity stunt; this is a serious message that more needs to be done to find cures for cancer.

Cancer Research UK has insisted this wasn’t their campaign to start with but is incredibly generous to find so much support out there. I make a monthly donation to Teenage Cancer Trust – a cause I have always admired from afar and was able to start making a contribution to their work when I got my break into full-time work in the publishing industry last summer. I know how valuable it is but sadly some don’t get it.

Lack of appreciation

There has be some criticism in the face of this publicity, with accusations of women missing the point of these selfies and just finding excuses to post more photos on their social media feeds.

It has led to some posting their text message or response to their donation from a smartphone onto the internet. It shuts the critics up and anyone who still then finds the right to accuse this campaign needs to think before speaking out.

This is not something like a political argument, a sporting debate or a clash over music genres you can agree to disagree on. By making a cheap and selfish comment, you could be hurting a lot of people out there.

Last October, my world was hit by the loss of a family relative to the disease. He was in his 80s and had lived a good life. Nor was he afraid of what was going to face him but it must have been truly horrible to deal with. I know it was dreadful seeing it happen to someone so close to me. When I saw my dying relative a month before he passed away, it was a really tough moment for me to take. It was a new experience and a situation I for one struggled with massively.

The best thing I could do was to keep my family strong in such a hard moment. On the outside, I put on a brave face and threw myself into my work – both as a picture researcher at my job and the freelance writing I do in my spare time but on the inside, it was incredibly hard. This is where you need the support of your friends too – to know that they are there for you. I got some amazing messages of kindness and I won’t forget that gratitude. Others who I expected the support were not there which at one of the most difficult experiences of my life was like a slap in the face.

The no make-up selfie is for valuable and important causes. It is a shame that some don't quite appreciate the full context behind the background stories.

Stupid sellotape

Off the back of this has come selfie craze number two of the month and that is ‘sellotape selfies!’

I find this completely ridiculous and I can’t see donations going to the sellotape industry!

In the words of Buzz Lightyear from the first Toy Story movie; ‘There are some sad, strange little people out there and I have my word. Farewell!’

Some just have far too much time on their hands. If I see someone I know, decide that with nothing to do, they will stick sellotape all over their face, then they will be unfollowed or unfriended. It is childish, pathetic and stupid. What’s next – sticking blu tac all over faces and taking a selfie of ourselves!

The selfie should be a happy shot, a surprised look or one like we’ve seen in the last week of dealing with an important issue like beating cancer – not one of making yourself look like an utter fool just to be at the centre of attention! It isn’t required, simple as that.

In summary, the selfie craze is something different about our interactivity. I hope it doesn’t become too frequent as it would become a bit bland after a while but when an important message is wanted to grab the eye of the general public, it is a new and interesting concept. So, no make-up selfie for cancer charities gets a big tick from this writer; sellotape selfies for Britain’s Stupidest Individuals gets angry thumbs down from this writer.

To donate to Cancer Research UK, Teenage Cancer Trust or Breast Cancer Awareness, click on the links. 

Categories: Cancer, Cancer Research UK, Donations, Facebook, Oscars, Selfie, Sellotape, Social Media, Society, Teenage Cancer Trust

Supporting two worthy causes

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Landing the current full-time role back in the middle of July felt great.  Not only did it provide a comfortable income for the first time since the end of those student loans we all relied on during the University days, it gave me the encouragement to do something else I’m happy to do.

Starting last month, I am giving something back to a couple of worthy charities, who need all the promotion and support required to make lives better for those who are more unfortunate, or had a real unlucky break in life.

Despite my bad run of luck when it came to job applications, I can claim to be one of the fortunate ones.  I might be unlucky in love, but am very privileged with what else I have.

I have a loving family, some close friends, professional acquaintances, decent health, a good income, clothes to wear, regular foot to eat and the odd luxury here and there.  When I say luxury that is being able to treat yourself to a new shirt for work, or a new autobiography to read from Amazon or Waterstones, not things like swimming pools, tennis courts or Lamborghinis!

Others in the United Kingdom are not so lucky, and if you expand that to a worldwide scale – then think about the people trapped in Syria at the moment.  You can’t imagine what they are going through as they try to flee a country that is in the news for all the wrong reasons at the moment.

Go further back in time and think about those affected by natural disasters, such as the Asian tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010 and the horrific Japanese tsunami of March 2011.  All of these have happened because of the force of Mother Nature.  No-one deserves this kind of element, but it is sadly a cruel part of the world we live in.  I made a donation to those who suffered in Haiti because it was something I wanted to do, and felt they needed the aid.  For example, while I might have been enjoying my University experience, some of the sufferers in Haiti would probably have been struggling to get a proper meal or a clean glass of water. 

For me though, the people and the families I utterly feel for the most is when they get a devastating health setback that can change their lives forever.  For the majority, this is another wicked form of the planet we share together.

I’ve always wanted to give something back, and that meant making donations to charities that most definitely deserve my support in their battles to make life easier for more unfortunate people.  It is something I’ve wanted to do for a while too, but never been able to, until I got into a settled financial position with suitable income coming in.  Now I have this, I am happier to make a contribution back to the less fortunate.

Therefore I am proud to announce that from last month, I set-up a regular monthly donation to two great charities and they are the British Heart Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust.

The BHF are doing some fantastic work

The British Heart Foundation is the nation’s leading charity for tackling heart disease.  Currently, there are almost 2.7m people living in the UK with coronary heart disease and the numbers are rising.  That statistic shocked me when I read the booklet the BHF sent to me on the donation I started recently, but I know they are doing some incredible work to change these numbers for the better.  I know that with my small contribution on a monthly basis, I could be helping research for understanding heart disease and how it occurs and how it can be cured.  There are so many ways where you can help out, whether that is doing charity events or making a regular contribution which is what I’m doing.  The BHF’s official Twitter channel sent me a tweet last month to thank me for my donation, and it is one of the main charities I always wanted to do something for in close proximity.

Teenage Cancer Trust is an amazing cause that I'm delighted to be a part of

Teenage Cancer Trust (logo pictured) is another amazing cause that I only really started researching more recently.  Every day, six young people across the UK are told they will have some form of cancer, whether that is lung, pancreatic, testicular or any other form of this deadly disease.  Being a young adult myself, this is something that you simply can’t comprehend if you received this devastating diagnosis.  Teenage Cancer Trust is working very hard to build specialist teenage cancer units in NHS hospitals up and down the UK.  They might have only been around for two decades, but they have been supported by many famous people.  They include boyband Blue, film star Nicholas Hoult and the England football team. 

While I haven’t personally been affected by any family loss to these diseases, I am fully aware of their hard work and a couple of scenarios – one fiction and one in the real world made me want to support both causes even more.

In March 2012, the football world came together in support for the footballer Fabrice Muamba.  Muamba was a fit athlete at the peak of his powers and playing in the Premier League for Bolton Wanderers when he suffered a shock cardiac arrest and collapsed on the turf at White Hart Lane during an FA Cup quarter-final between his side and Tottenham Hotspur.  Despite being clinically dead for 78 minutes, Muamba miraculously survived and recently became a dad for the second time.  Although his football career came to an end, he still has his life and he is working with the British Heart Foundation to get defibrillators into football grounds up and down the country.  Football has always been a huge part of who I am as a personality, and when you see something like that, it does shake you up and you want to help out as best as you can. 

Earlier this year, E4 teen drama Skins took the brave decision to hand a cancer storyline in their final series to one of their leading characters.  Naomi Campbell played by the talented actress Lily Loveless was given the shock diagnosis that she had cancer in Skins Fire.  Sadly, this would have an unhappy ending and as treatments including radiotherapy and chemotherapy didn’t work, the cancer spread and ended up being incurable.  Naomi would end up dying at a young age, and whilst there was anger at the heartbreaking ending given to the popular ‘Naomily’ couple in Skins, it was a brave and sensitive issue that the production team tackled.  While it could have perhaps been given better coverage, it did highlight the threat of cancer to youngsters, even in their early 20s.  Watching these episodes was really sad, and although I disagreed with the final outcome, I accepted that it had a powerful impact for the following watching the show. 

These two tales, one that happened in real-life and one that happened in television portray the emotions that can be felt when lives are suddenly turned upside down.  It encouraged me to support these two charities even more and I’m delighted to now be doing that. 

I can now say that I am supporting two tremendous causes and this gives me joy and happiness to be part of the fight to tackle two health issues that need more public attention because they deserve it.  I hope that with my regular donations, I will be helping to make lives better. 

Together, the numbers can decrease of those who have to live with heart problems and cancer and I am proud to be joining the fight to tackle the statistics.

Categories: Asia, Blue, Boxing Day, British Heart Foundation, Charity, E4, Fabrice Muamba, Haiti, NHS, Nicholas Hoult, Syria, Teenage Cancer Trust, Tsunami, UK