Better Than Words: Say It with a Selfie TRACE AND EVALUATE AN

ARGUMENT
Argument
by Gloria Chang Annotate: Highlight the
author’s claim in paragraph 1.
Why are selfies so popular? Connect: Highlight the
question and add your
1 In our digital age, the selfie is the best response.
way to express oneself, empower oneself, What is the effect of the
and even surround oneself with repetition in the claim?
friends. Everyone everywhere owns and ________________________________
uses a smart phone, and, with at least a
million different social media platforms ________________________________

available, you’d have to live in a cave not to ________________________________

take part in and appreciate this form of
________________________________
communication. Sure, there are critics who
say that selfies are taken only ________________________________
by narcissists craving attention, but those
________________________________
critics really do live in caves—and they
certainly have no friends. ________________________________

Selfies are about art and about life. ________________________________

2 In a society saturated, stuffed to the ________________________________

brim, with social media, selfies are an ________________________________
artistic form of self-expression. Humans,
since the beginning of time, have used self- ________________________________

portraits to express themselves. From ________________________________

ancient Egypt to the early Greeks to famous
painters such as Rembrandt and Van ________________________________

Gogh, people have expressed themselves ________________________________

artistically through self-portraits.
________________________________
3 The only difference between the artists
of old and modern selfie-takers is that
technology now allows anyone and
everyone to be an artist, and a “self-
portrait” is now called a “selfie.” It’s easy to EXTREME OR ABSOLUTE
create a “self-portrait” with a smart phone LANGUAGE
and its filters. You don’t need to know how When you notice language that
to draw or paint when you have a cell exaggerates or overstates a
phone! case, you’ve found an Extreme
or Absolute
Selfies are about self discovery. Language signpost.
Notice & Note: Highlight
4 Selfies allow people to show different extreme or absolute language
parts of themselves. Maybe it’s their artistic used in paragraph 4.
Analyze: Highlight the
side, maybe it’s their silly side, or maybe it’s question and add your
to show an interest or passion, such as a response.
love of certain foods. Whatever that side Why does the author use this
may be, by showing the selfie-taker’s language? Do you think it shows
a bias? Explain.
interests, selfies become more real than
any boring photographer’s ________________________________
work. Photographers don’t care if they ________________________________
show who you truly are in those boring
photos; they’re interested only in making ________________________________

sure you are in focus. They don’t know ________________________________

what you are like. How can they? None of
________________________________
us even know ourselves until we
experiment with different views, explore ________________________________
different interests, and discover the things
________________________________
that influence us.
________________________________
5 In this way, selfies—unlike past self-
portraits that weren’t taken on handy ________________________________
mobile devices—allow us an easier and ________________________________
better way to find out who we are. Just like
trying on different clothes to find what ________________________________

works best for our personalities, taking ________________________________

selfies is an excellent way to test how we
________________________________
look and feel in certain outfits, poses, and
places. Our own reactions to these pictures,
along with the reactions of friends and
strangers, help us figure out what works for
us as unique individuals.
Selfies are about self-expression.
6 Taking a selfie is like saying to the
world, “this is me, right now, right
here!” And a selfie does a better job of
communicating this who, when, and where
than spoken or written words can. After all,
the human brain, as science shows, is hard-
wired to recognize faces. In other words,
we naturally recognize things and people
visually. The effect is more immediate. The
objects, people, and background in a selfie
can show what a selfie-taker likes, hates,
admires, or aspires to. The taker’s attitude
will naturally affect his or her facial
expressions. As they say, a picture is worth
a thousand words.
7 Even museums and art galleries know
that selfies can be an artistic means of self-
expression. They encourage visitors to take
selfies with works of art to share as art. One
gallery in London even held an
international selfie competition for people
to submit the most artistic selfies.
8 But don’t just trust the artists and
everyone who takes selfies. Trust
science. One scientist who studied the
motivation for taking selfies found that we
take selfies as a form of self-expression, not
to be narcissistic. So don’t assume that
DETERMINE AN AUTHOR’S
PURPOSE
Annotate: Highlight evidence in
paragraph 8 used to support the
claim.
Draw Conclusions:
Highlight the question and add
your response.
Who do you think the writer’s
audience might be? What
purpose is suggested by
appealing to this audience?
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
you’re a narcissist; don’t assume that it’s all
about you.
Selfies are about self-confidence.

9 Selfies empower us because they fulfill

our need for validation from friends,
family, and the rest of the world. If you
don’t believe it, try it. Science has shown,
once again, that taking selfies makes you
more confident, especially kids. We all
know it. Some people are not allowed to say
positive things about themselves because
other people will say that they are full of
themselves. But a selfie is a photo, so it’s
acceptable for those people to show what
they’re proud of.

10 Sure, people may get fixated on selfies

being about physical things, but that
doesn’t mean the selfie has to be about how
someone looks. Everything in a selfie can
tell you about a person. For example, a
selfie can show that someone may be the
next celebrity chef because that person
always posts selfies of himself or herself
cooking and eating at different places in the
world.

11 Selfies also empower us because they

make us happy. In two studies, researchers
discovered that people who took selfies and
people who didn’t both thought pictures
taken by themselves (those are selfies!)
made them more attractive and likable. If
you like photos of yourself, taking them
boosts your confidence. In another study,
scientists had college students take selfies
and share them. This made them more
confident and comfortable with their
smiling faces. It may not even be possible
to take too many selfies.
12 In short, taking and sharing selfies
boosts both self-confidence and self-
esteem. People who say otherwise are like
cavemen. They’re probably people who’ve
never taken selfies, so they probably don’t
have any self-confidence whatsoever. They
probably hate people who do have self-
confidence.
Selfies are about making connections.
13 The best part of taking selfies is that
they’re a great way to connect with friends
or even make new friends. Since we all
have smart phones and social media is
everywhere and here to stay, we stay in
touch with friends by taking selfies. It’s like
sending a letter in past times. But selfies
are faster and are sent with a phone instead
of a horse. By taking and sharing a selfie,
you can share what you are thinking,
feeling, or doing with your friends. Social
media is made for others to give feedback
so friends can tell you what they are
thinking, feeling, or doing. They can do this
by sending their favorite emoticons or
posting comments or sending a selfie of
themselves back to you.
TRACE AND EVALUATE AN
ARGUMENT
Annotate: Highlight examples
of name-calling and
stereotyping (an
oversimplification based on
biased views) in paragraph 12.
Draw Conclusions:
Highlight the question and add
your response.
Are these examples of clear
reasoning? Explain. How do
these examples affect the
writer’s credibility and the
argument's strength?
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
14 Selfies are all about online social
networks, and social networks lead to
better relationships. Teens especially say
they have more positive experiences than
negative ones when using social
media. Selfies may have been around for
only about a dozen years, but they’re
today’s way to connect with other people.
Selfies are about making memories.
15 Selfies also help us create special
memories. By posing with friends or at
special events or places, we create
snapshots that we can look back on with
fond feelings. Obviously, taking selfies
helps create memories because people
naturally take selfies when something is
happening right there close to them. They
also take selfies when visiting places they
like or think are funny or strange or
interesting.
16 There are even “relfies,” where
couples take photos of themselves. Did you
know that couples who take and show more
relfies are more satisfied with and
committed to their relationships than
people who don’t? And there are
“groupies,” selfies that include the selfie-
taker and friends or family or even
celebrities. They make the best memories
since they include people we want to
remember.
DETERMINE AN AUTHOR’S
PURPOSE
Annotate: Highlight evidence
the writer uses to support her
claim in paragraph 14.
Analyze: Highlight the
question and add your
response.
To whom might this type of
evidence appeal? How does the
evidence and its intended
audience reveal the author’s
purpose?
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Selfies really are better than words. WORD GAPS

17 Whether by ourselves, or with our When you notice vocabulary

favorite things, places, or people, selfies that is unfamiliar—for example,
a rare or technical word—
obviously say it better than words.
you’ve found a Word
Gaps signpost.
18 They express who we are and what
matters most to us. Notice & Note: Highlight the
words in quotation marks and
their explanations in paragraph
16.
Draw Conclusions:
Highlight the question and add
your response.
Why would the writer include
these words?

________________________________
GLOSSARY
________________________________
Narcissist: A self-obsessed person is a narcissist.

Saturated: Something that is saturated is filled until it is ________________________________

unable to hold or contain more.
________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________
FIRST READ:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________