This post brought to you by Soffe . The content and opinions expressed below are that of Emily Reviews.
I’m 23, so I was just starting high school when Myspace became popular with teenagers and creating an account was my first real experience with social media. From the beginning, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with social media. I loved being able to chat with my friends online and create my profile in a way that I felt represented me. At the same time, it was uncomfortable to be in the midst of puberty while everywhere I looked online my peers were sharing tons of pictures of themselves. The term selfie didn’t really exist at the time but the concept of sharing personal photos that you have taken of yourself started there and has only continued to get more popular since.
While I’ve gotten more confidence in myself internally and my looks now that I’m older, I still feel strange about selfies. It seems a bit self absorbed to share “too many” pictures of yourself, but it’s common to see others criticize people who only share pictures of their kids or their pets. As adults, our looks don’t really change so I just don’t feel the need to share photos of myself more than a couple of times per year but it’s viewed as strange not to at my age.
Did you know there are more than 1 million selfies posted each day? 91% of teens have shared a picture of themselves online. 30% of all photos people ages 18-24 take are selfies! 35% of 18 to 24 year olds admit to altering their photos before sharing them online. If the majority of the photos we see of others are edited, it’s easy to assume that our assumption of what we “should” look like ourselves will be altered based on these altered photos.
Studies have shown that there are negative impacts associated with the selfie epidemic that we’re currently living through. For example, one study showed that selfies lead to decreased intimacy and more shallow relationships. Another study showed that selfies have lead to more people under age 30 seeking cosmetic surgery.
Soffe believes that social media is a tool that can and should be used to bring people together, instead of pitting us against each other (or against ourselves!). As a result, they have created #TheUsProject movement to draw attention to the concept of building up our friends instead of competing with them. Instead of sharing selfies, they are encouraging users to share pictures of themselves with others such as friends or family members. The goal is to focus on “we” instead of “me” because together we can make a more beautiful picture.
To celebrate #TheUsProject, Soffe is encouraging users to post a photo of themselves with their friends on Instagram with the hashtag #TheUsProject. Winners will receive Soffe apparel! Giveaway ends 4/25/2015
Upload an instagram picture of you with a friend or family member with the hashtag #TheUsProject as your contest entry. Leave a link to yours in the comments below or tag me on Insta (my username is @EmilyReviews) and I’ll check it out! Also check out the video below!
Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has one response.
I tagged you in my pic, but here’s the link as well: https://instagram.com/p/1zJsmDFPA0/
It’s a fun idea!