Are You Really #Candid Online? Your Selfies Tell A Different Story

We as humans are very intriguing creatures. Add glam and addiction of social media to it and we are the perfect lab rats to be studied.

In recent times, especially with the rise in the selfie culture and Instagram, a particular hashtag has become wildly popular: #Candid.

At the time of filing this story, the hashtag had touched a staggering 9.9 million. That¡¯s a big number of people faking being candid. Maybe the same number of women are faking an orgasm with men who know little about pleasing a woman.

Instagram is filled with fake candids.

The other night when I took my lovely mother out for a movie, I stumbled across a pair of men in an amusing set up.

One of the two volunteered to be the photographer while the other maintained a pose of being a very busy person whom the gods had apparently granted the gift of being a multitasker. It allowed him to stare into his locked phone and freeze his foot midair. He had no time to look at the camera and needed his candid photo to embody an extremely hectic life at the mall. It¡¯s a surprise that he could schedule his round the clock breathing.

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Such instances look extremely silly in person and soon becomes a guilty pleasure for the observer.

Sillier still are the photos of celebrities that have choked our Instagram timelines.

If one is looking sideways and laughing, the next celeb is looking at the other side. Then there are some who look laughingly at their knees for no goddamn reason. Yet another looks up at the ceiling laughing as though the spider just crapped the funniest joke on them. It has turned into a pet peeve of mine. Whatever happened to looking right into the camera and making eye contact with the lens.

Standing under perfect lighting and bundling your hair to the side whilst looking dreamily into nothingness is not candid. It is possibly one of the most ¡®posed¡¯ lies of the 21st century.

Several reasons crop up as to why has candid become such a phenomena in its own. There¡¯s an obvious disdain for friends who can never photograph you right and then there¡¯s the constant need to upload something.

Locked in a room and clicking 6000 ¡®candid¡¯ selfies and portraits feels normal as opposed to asking a friend to do the same for you. Also, the need to portray a happy and a satisfied persona.

Hawk-eyed social media warriors have often spotted people in the act of having clicked a candid and passing it off as something their boo may have clicked. It's sad.

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The fleeting moments truly captured on camera can stand against the test of time, they turn into classics. A pose that has been doctored to a specific moment causes a disconnect between the viewer and the one who posted the image. But all said and done, it is still fun to punch at the like button when I see a candid fail.