The Psychology of Human-Nonhuman Selfies: Why the Epidemic?

Why do humans come first?

It's Friday evening and I'm trying to enjoy a quiet evening sipping some good single malt scotch. Those who know me well, along with some others, know I like to do that at the end of a day. So, here I am doing just that, and my email inbox is overflowing with yet another example of people wanting a selfie with a nonhuman animal (animal), this time an endangered loggerhead sea turtle in Lebanon. It's Friday night, and aren't we supposed to be taking a break. My first response is the typical WTF? But the emails keep coming in, with people irate about yet another example of human's putting their interests, their selfish interests, first. Why does taking a selfie override what's really happening to the animal who's being tossed around as if she/he is an object?

The harming of this most lovely sea turtle follows rapidly on the heels of other situations in which humans were put first. For example, Harambe, a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, was killed when a young boy fell into his cage (please also see), a jaguar was killed at an Olympic torch ceremony in the Brazilian city of Manaus, six alligators where killed (they surely were not euthanized) looking for the one who had most tragically killed a young boy vacationing at Disney World with his parents, and two mountain lions were killed in my home state of Colorado after a young boy was attacked.

Let's face it, when a nonhuman animal (animal) attacks and harms or kills a human animal it's a tragedy. I fully understand this. However, when people intentionally engage in activities that harm or kill other animals, we need to come to an understanding of why this happens. Why people take selfies with animals that harm the animals needs to be studied so that it can be stopped. It's becoming epidemic.

Why the selfie phenomenon with other animals?

It's useless to get into battles about whether human interests should always trump those of other animals. People who take sides -- humans first or other animals first -- are pretty resistant to changing their views. But, what I'm interested in here, is, "What's driving the selfie phenomenon with other animals?"

But, I didn't mean to hurt anyone

I'm not a psychologist, but it seems to me that there is a lot of food for thought for those who are, especially, perhaps, for conservation psychologists and anthrozoologists, who are interested in studying human-animal relationships. I'm sure some of the people who take selfies would be very upset if they knew they were harming the animals; they aren't bad people. They aren't intentionally causing harm. However, there is harm nonetheless and some simply don't seem to care.

All I want to do here is to raise some questions about the rapidly growing "selfie phenomenon" because to stop it we need to understand it and perhaps provide alternatives. I fully understand that it's a way to connect with other animals and that many people are starving for these sorts of connections because they're so alienated from other animals and nature in general. But, the animals shouldn't have to pay the price for this alienation, that clearly shows, or strongly implies, that human interests trump those of the nonhumans.

When humans take "animal selfies" there frequently is harm, intended or not. And, the animals don't really care about having their pictures taken regardless of the human's motivation. As Walter Sinnott-Armstrong notes, "We need to pay more attention to known but unintended consequences and risks. We need to stop allowing the excuse that 'I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.'"

Putting an end to selfie narcissism

My Friday night is gone, however, I hope people will think twice or more about what they're doing when they take selfies with other animals who really prefer being left alone. I know we're living in an epoch called the anthropocene, also called "the age of humanity." However, we're decimating other animals and their homes at alarming and unprecedented rates, and the anthropocene really cashes out as "the Rage of humanity."

Taking a selfie isn't a life-death situation for the humans, so let's just let the animals be and put aside our own egos. Taking selfies with other animals is totally a one-sided affair and it's about time that it stops and the animals are allowed to live in peace and safety, or at least in as much peace and safety as they can, in an increasingly human-dominated world. Surely, there is no reason at all that other animals need to be part of our "nature fix" and suffer or die in these sorts of selfish, human-centered, narcissistic activities.

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Marc Bekoff's latest books are Jasper's Story: Saving Moon Bears (with Jill Robinson), Ignoring Nature No More: The Case for Compassionate Conservation, Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation, Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence, and The Jane Effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall (edited with Dale Peterson). The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age (with Jessica Pierce) will be published in early 2017. (Homepage: marcbekoff.com; @MarcBekoff)