Young people taking photographs of themselves has been a hot topic in the media as far back as my short-term memory extends.
There seem to be more people talking about selfies and complaining about selfies than there are people actually taking selfies.
The selfie as a topic has been absolutely done to death.
I only mention it because I recently read that the selfie stick, a device used to hold the mobile phone/camera further away from the photographic subject, has been banned from two major music festivals in the United States; Lollapalooza and Coachella.
Lollapalooza haven't commented on why they have banned the selfie stick, but Coachella have labelled the device as being ''narcissistic'' as well as a general security nuisance.
Narcissism is something that comes up a lot in discussions regarding the so-called millennial generation.
According to most baby-boomer narratives, we just can't get enough of ourselves. As a collective, we take too many photographs of not only our faces but also of what we are eating and doing.
In short, we incessantly document our lives in minute detail and publish this documentation in a public forum.
While some might consider this behaviour vain or simply inane, I would argue that, as a generation who have grown up with rapidly advancing computer technology, we are simply doing what makes sense.
At no other point in time have we been able to record our lives with such ease.
We are able to instantly capture and archive images and recordings of significant events, fashion movements, decor, and food trends, other pieces of technology and countless other important artefacts and moments.
Historians are always searching for hints as to what life was like for past generations; those studying the twenty-first century are going to have plenty to work with.
Cultural preservation aside, I am totally at odds with the idea that we shouldn't take our personal lives seriously.
And not only that, I completely support young people who take both their physicality and their emotional experiences as being important and worth documenting, either publicly or privately.
It is a common but valid complaint that being a millennial involves dealing with an environmentally, financially and socially disintegrating world.
It is difficult almost beyond measure to find employment. We are faced with an ageing workforce who just won't retire, and we are often considered to be underexperienced and underqualified, but in order to be experienced, we must sacrifice time that would otherwise be spent gaining the appropriate qualifications.
When we have these qualifications, we are crippled by debt. When the future is looming over you in such a threatening manner, you have to find solace in those things that immediately concern and surround you.
If you're having a day when you feel like you look nice and you feel good, it can be nice to share that with other people.
Personally, I think selfies are incredibly positive.
They teach young people it is OK to feel good about yourself, and it is OK to find yourself at the centre of your own attention every now and again, especially when so much of our media says the opposite.
And if you are able to show on a public forum that you feel positively about some aspect of yourself, then it sends a positive message to other people consuming media on that forum.
I know I feel good when I see a friend posting a photograph of themselves online because they liked the shade of lipstick they were wearing, or their new T-shirt, or they just had a nice day and wanted to let people know.
It might seem vacuous to take a photograph of your tuna salad or your perfectly applied mascara, but if we want to be vacuous, then why shouldn't we be?
If you ask me, it isn't the selfie that requires examining as much as the attitudes of those who would actively seek to discourage people from feeling good about themselves and the smaller details of their lives.
Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
