Plenty of people will say that the selfie is the downfall of this generation. It supposedly encapsulates our obsession with technology and with ourselves in one shiny digital photograph that we share on Facebook and Instagram.

To all those naysayers, I would send a selfie with a caption that reads “haters gonna hate.” I was raised in a family that told me that I was beautiful and at a minimum, humored my self-expression, even through my Punk rock high school phase.

My dad, at 52, doesn’t understand selfies. Every time I pull out my phone to send a snap to one of my friends, a “what are you doing?” or “what kind of face is that?” is accompanied by an eye-roll and a chuckle.

Despite the criticism, my dad never hesitates to take a selfie with me.

My dad and I share a love of running and for years we’ve been taking pictures before and after races. My dad will even tell me not to forget to take our selfie, because despite the fact that he has longer arms, he doesn’t ever get the photo angle right.

I have dozens of pictures of my dad and I in running gear before the break of dawn, and dozens more of my mom and I on road-trips and at wine tastings. I have tons of pictures of my brother and I cross-eyed at family events.

Don’t even get me started on the ridiculous amount of pictures I have of my friends and I, or of my dog and I.

I once took a selfie with the Stanley Cup beside my best friend. I’ve taken a selfie on the 10th mile of a half-marathon. I took a selfie while 40 feet underwater. I have a selfie with my 93-year-old grandma.

I will grant the argument that selfies are a bit narcissistic. But so what? What’s the harm in a little self-love?

Young women are raised in a culture that criticizes everything about their looks. Our nations’ puritan beliefs that we must be conservative and polite are always at odds with the sex, drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll culture of the media.

Young men are raised in a culture that deems they have to be tough and hyper-masculine at all times. Any emotion other than “I am a dominant man” is a sign of weakness, which is absolutely ridiculous. Show no fear, show no tears and chug a beer.

There are so many high expectations for this generation. You have to have straight A’s, go to college, work a job, volunteer, have extracurricular activities and somehow manage to have a social life at the same time.

Selfies are the ultimate form of self-expression that let us break through the expectations and societal standards. They let us be weird and funny and not so serious. It’s okay that we love ourselves and want to be goofballs, it’s not an obsession, it’s expression.

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