Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us

I was expecting some kind of breezy survey of internet culture. It was instead a fantastic exploration of our changing understandings of who we are - history, psychology, philosophy - read like an Adam Curtis script at times. Will Storr is brutally honest in his self-reflections and superbly integrates them into a broader picture. Highly recommended

Selfie is an incredibly dense and information filled journey to a satisfying ending. Will Storr clearly did an immense amount of research for his latest book. Traveling through history he shows how various people and cultures have impacted the way we think and view ourselves. The journey has a lot of insight into the way we think.However, as a mental health therapist and a Christian, much of his views are lacking in depth and understanding of the complexities of both topics. Throughout the book he mentions therapy and alludes to Christianity being a factor in the way we think. His simplified versions of both topics leads to misunderstandings of both topics. Both therapy and Christianity are meant to be messages of self-acceptance regardless of our imperfections which is not reflected in his writings. Much to his admission at the end of the book, Storr has a lot of knowledge on the subjects but little depth and it shows. Though, in my opinion it doesn't undermine his overarching message.Regardless though, Storr concludes the book with a message of self-acceptance and hope. This message is definitely not aimed at accepting our strengths but rather accepting our limitations and weaknesses. Overall, whether or not you agree with his interpretations of certain topics, his underlying message is much needed in a time where perfectionism is the standard.

Coming from a culture (Iowa farm, 1930's) where conversation was polite and people cared for each other, I was not pleased with the frequent obscene language, mostly not needed to make the points. The various cultures described showed little caring and much competition, insults and aggression.As a long-time student of human thinking, I was not surprised by the negative effect of pushing "self-esteem." I learned more about how elite academia can be cruel. I have seen it in my own higher education, but not the extremes Storr described.First gap: The second largest "culture" in the world, an aggressive, intimidating religious-political world power that claims superiority of its people, based on unchangeable scripture, should have been included, though that would have brought much condemnation of the book. This left the book incomplete.Second gap: Though Storr included a Christian group noted for self-hate, he did not include mine.I follow Jesus. I don't need self-esteem, because I have Jesus-esteem. He regards me with wonderful value. I am a unique creation, with no other like me ever. My body is wonderfully made (as I saw in my study of medical biochemistry) and it is to be treated well. He fills me with compassion for suffering people. Working together, we accomplish much worldwide in relieving suffering and offering hope. We live with joy and love.We are human, capable of all he evil that can be imagined, and every one of us has failed. We have also been forgiven, regenerated, and seek to live above those failures, in the here and now presence of our Living Lord.

This book is a decent read and has some good points. Storr’s writing style is accommodating and vivid. He is clearly a compelling writer and the best use of this book is a starting point for introspection. However, he provides almost no deep, unique insight into our self-obsessed culture or its historical/sociological/psychological roots. His conclusions are regurgitated, casual and uncritical. While it’s obvious that he has done immense legwork to make this book work, he is more committed to the imagery he creates with words than any deep thought he might provoke with them. To quote Will Storr himself, “Most of the general concepts in this book are relatively uncontroversial and broadly accepted.” Bingo.

Will Storr is a delightful story teller. The theme of this book has been gaining currency in the past few years largely in connection with our reliance on technology and the age of digitalisation. Storr’s book focuses on the concept of our ‘self’ and how we have changed the way we conceptualise ourselves in this new age. He begins with a little history of our sense of self-worth and the trends in suicide. We are increasingly becoming ‘social perfectionists’, having greater, perhaps inflated, sense of our self and our capabilities as well as our responsibilities. But because Storr fuses interviews with relevant people, he points out that some, do not think that the problem lies in our becoming more social perfectionists but that it is our environment that is changing. He quotes Professor Gordon Flett: ‘In part, that’s because of the internet and the social media. First, when a public figure makes a mistake there seems to be a much stronger, more intense backlash. So kids growing up now see what happens to people who make a mistake and they’re very fearful of it.’ Storr examines the self in context. He seems to incline to the modern view that we are not the result of nature versus nature. He thinks nature and nurture are ‘not in competition, but in conspiracy’. He examines the fact that easterners and westerners do not just think about the world differently, but they actually see different worlds. Storr discusses the vanishing of the era of ‘character’ and the ‘arrival of the age of personality’. His chapter on ‘The Digital Self’ digs into the acute problems we see in politics in the past couple of years and the rise of populism. ‘To many on the left, immersed in the shibboleths of identity politics, these were outrages appeals to old fashioned racism, so obviously abhorrent that surely no sensible people would be able to look past them. Yet different ears heard a different story. They heard change-making outsiders scorning the establishment. They heard brave rebels disparaging the smug and ‘politically correct’ educated class who routinely ignored them in favour of minorities and then patronized and insulted them when they complained.’ Some readers may find parts of the book a little rambling, some stories a little too long or disconnected, but that is the style of this book – weaving stories and interviews with Storr’s own ideas. A reader who is irked by this style may give this book a three-star review, but otherwise, the substance is lucid and full of information and insight.

Interesting insight into how the western world has become so self obsessed. I bought it as I thought it might be useful for my teenage daughter but there was a fatalistic theme to it which I thought would be inappropriate for her. But for an adult, it was a well researched and interesting journey of discovery, uncovering some of the reasons why we are the way we are.

Selfie is a compelling and immersive investigation into the rise of the Western world's love of the self. Starting in Ancient Greece with Aristotle, Will Storr tracks the rise of our self regard and the equivalent fall of our belief in community and the common good.It's always fascinating and highlights many things that I either knew nothing about or had never considered seriously before. More often than not is is also highly disturbing. He examines the Self Esteem movement that started in California (where else!). The belief is that many of society's ills such as alcoholism and unemployment are due to low self esteem and that by raising it in everybody we will create a society of well-balanced productive individuals. When backed up by some dodgy reporting of scientific research, this soon began to influence government policy in America and the UK. Unfortunately having self esteem that outstrips personal ability actually leads to narcissism and in turn to depression or violence and increasing suicide rates. He then links this to the self-serving neoliberalism so loved of Thatcher and Reagan; free markets, the reduction of state welfare, citizens redefined as consumers, the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer, and if you are one of the have-nots, then it's your own fault for being unenterprising. Depressing stuff that ultimately leads us to identity politics and the horrible mess we find ourselves in today where a repellent narcissist like Trump can become president.As well as being an in-depth, well researched and absorbing piece of reporting, it is clearly also a personal journey - in places it's extremely candid as he bares his soul in situations he understandably finds very uncomfortable. Highly recommended.

Storr writes extremely well, his book on the search for the self and the rise of narcissism in western culture is a good start. It is very easy to read and has huge number of facets, which some might regard as being overly rambling, drifting and lacking focus.The book tells us that there is not just one self but there are many selves all vying for control, and I am unsure why storr does not elaborate on this as a route to narcissism; suppression of the nurturing, loving selves and over expression of the aggressive, critical parts which conspire with an overly narcissistic culture. He completely ignores Carl Jung, whose work focused on these architeypes and their role in our behavior, Jungian therapists believe that some of these architypes are suppressed as part of our upbringing and socialisation and it is the role of therapy to reintegrate them - what Jung callled individuation or becoming whole. Reintegration is therefore about getting the various architypes to work together, rather than competing. I believe that had Storr integrated this into his book the direction it took might have been somewhat different. There is an interesting section on neo-liberalism and Ayn Rand which I believe is extremely valuable.

Full of information but written in compelling narrative form this book made clear the insidiously bad creeping feeling I was having about society and where it was taking us but weirdly made me feel better about myself. Exactly the opposite of what I expected. Well researched with enough personal insight to be interesting without self-indulgence, Storr is a gifted thinker and worth a read.