Funeral 'selfies'? Yes, people actually do that

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Published: Tuesday, 5 Nov 2013 | 11:32 AM ET
Jane Wells By: | CNBC Reporter
RubberBall Prod. | Agency Collection | Getty Images

No moment in life is either too serious or too trivial to pass without someone providing a rapid, vapid response through social media.

"Love my hair today. Hate why I'm dressed up #funeral," reads the caption of a self-portrait snapped by a young woman dressed in black. Another photo of a blonde pouting in her pink bedroom with a "Keep Calm and Rock On" sign is titled, simply, "depressing funeral selfie."

(Read more: This app makes your selfies look ... complete)

Yes, that is depressing; we don't even know how to be depressed anymore. There is tedium in every social medium to the point where even death becomes boring.

I go on Facebook if I'm bored: Teen
Ruby Karp, Mashable op-ed writer, foresaw Facebook's teen troubles months before the social media giant's CFO confirmed the trend. The 13-year old middle school student says there are many new apps like Instagram and SnapChat; Facebook is old. She also says TV has lost her attention, and watches most shows from Netflix.

A collection of strangely un-sad Instagrams, Tweets, and Facebook posts have been gathered together at a Tumblr blog (naturally) called "Selfies at Funerals."

"Killin the selfie game at pop's funeral," tweets a joyful young man mocking a piece of statuary. Pop's gotta be proud. So proud he may rise up from the dead and slap you. (I hope so!)

Harsh? Katy Waldman at Slate.com says I should calm down a little.


(Read more: Who's viewing from your Instagram, and profiting?)

True, if you're hurting or if you're sad. But if you're just amazed at how much you're rockin' the outfit while Cousin Jamie is laid out in a coffin, well, that's not grief; it's a symptom of our collective cultural death wish, a bad case of Kardashianitis.


(Read more: Instagram, other sites go down)

An article from New Zealand teaches us there are five places where you should not take selfies, including holocaust memorials, especially when you're smiling and giving a thumbs up.

One other suggestion: don't take a selfie dressed up as a robber before you go out and (allegedly) commit robbery, like these two teenage girls did.

Where's Darwin when you need him?

So what's next? What annoyingly self-absorbed Everest is left to climb? "Colonoscopy selfies," joked @jakejakeny.

Too late.



