Why Are Malaysians Obsessed With Selfies?

Why are Malaysians obsessed with selfies?

Selfies – we love them, we hate them, but we just can’t get away from them, especially in Asian countries! It has become one of the most popular social trends in Malaysia.

Selfies are constantly in the news – as a way to raise money for charity (#nomakeupselfie), the inappropriate selfie (#selfiesatfunerals) or even the popular hoax that went viral when the American Psychiatric Association declared taking selfies as a mental disorder!

Every time someone famous takes a selfie, that in itself becomes news – consider the Ellen de Generes Oscar selfie which crashed Twitter, or even the selfie PM Najib took with Obama on his visit to Malaysia!

My selfie with President Obama ! pic.twitter.com/mr94wZtmuA— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) April 27, 2014

The rise of selfies is not so surprising – the advancement of technology has made it easier for people to take selfies of themselves in everyday situations. And now that all new mobile phones are equipped with high resolution cameras – front and back – we totally understand if some people find it extremely tough to put their phones down!

How can any selfie-lover resist?

According to some data Times Magazine analysed from Instagram, Malaysia was ranked no. 2 in Asia for taking selfies. Petaling Jaya won the fifth ‘selfiest’ city in the world with 141 selfie-takers per 100,000 people, while George Town in Penang was awarded 10th place with 95 selfie-takers per 100,000 people. Even Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru made it into the top 50 selfiest cities in the world, ranking 21st and 50th – pretty impressive stuff!

So why is it so popular amongst Malaysians?

Honestly, we don’t have a precise answer. Some of our friends think selfies are kind of vain and narcissistic – whilst others explained that they simply enjoyed the pleasure of taking their own pictures and looking good. We think that selfies can be good fun – the likes you get from a photo can improve your self-confidence no end – but it is important not to overdo it.

As a result of the escalating popularity of selfies, an amazing gadget was created to fulfil the wishes of all ‘selfiers’. You must have seen the Selfie Stick by now, every selfie’s dream gadget! No more outstretched shaky arms! No more blurry pictures! All you have to do is pose, alone or with a bunch of friends, and push a hidden control button on a stick to take a picture.

The Selfie Stick! Who woulda thunk it!

There was even a fantastic April Fool’s joke this year where an ‘online selfie course’ was being sold on Groupon. It promised that it would use diagrams and instructions to perfect your selfie techniques – refining every pose. Some of the highlights of this Groupon Deal included taking the perfect Asian Selfie, Selfieception, Pet Selfie, Extreme Selfie, and more. What was even more hilarious was that people were willing to sign up for it!

Lastly, let us end this post with one of the funniest yet most painful selfies ever taken in history. This smart-alec Jared Frank took a risk by taking a selfie in front of a moving train in Peru – literally inches from the moving train (not a wise move!). He did not realise that he was too close to the train tracks and ended up getting knocked on the head. Ouch!

So guys, it’s okay to take a selfie, just make sure that you steer clear of trouble, and maybe avoid getting a knock to the head!