Q: I worry about how caught up young people are these days with taking selfies. They can’t seem to do hardly anything without jumping in front of their cellphones to grab pictures of it.
Is it just me or is this preoccupation with taking selfies removing us from the respect we expect from personal exchanges?
A: Nothing is likely wrong with you, but for sure we are living in different times.
There were no selfies until very recently and the few pictures we got from our old box cameras did little more than preserve a few memories of people about whom we cared.
Read Also

Restaurant blends zero waste, ancient farming
A Mexico City restaurant has become a draw for its zero-waste kitchen, which means that every scrap of food and leftovers is reused for other purposes.
Selfies do much more. They take us right into the heart of the action. I don’t know that there is much more excitement than that which is generated by a group of young people jumping around in front of their cellphones while trying to hit the ball in an exciting slow-pitch tournament. It really is fun.
For the most part, selfies enhance communication. People, not just young ones, are forever posting pictures on social media and in messages. Selfies bring all of us together.
Having said that, there is a dark side.
For some young people, selfies can become linked with objectification. Objectification is the dehumanizing process that comes when we look at ourselves or other people as objects and not people with feelings and rights. The most obvious examples of objectification are the young girls who are designated as sexual beings. Their concerns are more about their image than who it is they are as people.
Kids, young people or anyone who is caught up in objectification do more with selfies than take and post a few pictures. They edit their pictures. They have to because in fact they are seldom satisfied with the pictures they have taken. They want the pictures to show the person they want, rather than reality.
If you run into someone caught up in objectification, give that person a huge hug. That will do more for them than a selfie could do.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor from Saskatchewan. Contact: jandrews@producer.com.