Trust
Are Selfies and Smartphones the New Comfort Food?
How Millennials satisfy the "empty self"
Posted October 2, 2014

A man named Lester Wisbrod claims that he invented the selfie in 1981. Wisbrod is a former Hollywood cameraman. He always carried his Canon camera with him, and would extend it out with his arm to take pictures of himself standing next to the movie stars he worked with. He called these photos “Lesters,” and over the years took more than 150 of them.
Now consumers hold their smartphones, extend their arms and take more than 1 million selfies every day. Currently, it’s estimated that more than 35 million selfies are posted to Instagram.
Two factors are responsible for the explosive transition from “Lesters” to selfies. The first is the smartphone. The second is Millennials. Over 80% of Millennials own a smartphone, and over half of them have taken a selfie.
But Millennials’ devotion to smartphones goes far beyond selfies. These consumers almost always are attached to their phones day and night. Research shows they check their smartphones 43 times per day. And 83% of Millennials report that they even sleep next to their smartphones.
So what is going on in the minds of Millennials that is causing this smartphone and selfie behavior?
One way to think about consumer behavior is to focus on individual motivations and aspirations. Another way is to focus on the influence that brands, advertising and promotion have on the consumer.
A third, lesser known theoretical framework is the concept of the ‘empty self.’ This approach is based on societal and cultural factors.
The concept of the ‘empty self’ and consumer behavior was developed by psychologist Phillip Cushman in a paper published in American Psychologist.1
Cushman’s premise is based on the societal and cultural changes that have taken place since World War II, especially in the US. As society became more industrialized and urbanized there was a decline in the family, community, tradition, and shared meaning. He argues that this change diminished the cultural context necessary for humans to understand themselves and their world. Thus, “the self yearns to acquire and consume as an unconscious way of compensating for what has been lost.”
While caused by external factors, the core of the ‘empty self’ construct is the individual. Cushman’s analysis holds that the decline of institutions and the family shifted focus inward, to the individual living a life that is increasingly secluded and secular. “Personal fulfillment is seen to reside within the purview of the individual,” who is … “self-sufficient and self-satisfied.”
What gives the ‘empty self’ special relevance today is research about the Millennials consumer segment which suggests that this concept may be influencing their attitudes. While post-World War II cultural change influenced consumer behavior during the last half of the twentieth century; a continuation of this change may be influencing the behavior of the young consumer segment associated with the twenty-first century.
These consumers were born into the culture and society which Cushman described. However, the trends that produced the ‘empty self’ in previous generations have continued. The percent of the Millennial age cohort that is married has dropped to around 25%; trust in government hovers around 20%; trust in the press is down to 11%, trust in corporations declined to 17%, and trust in religion is at 25%.2
And these declines in societal and cultural structures continue to shift focus inward. Millennials describe themselves in terms that are even more individual than previous generations, and they score high on individualistic traits and attitudes. These traits contribute to observations that Millennials are self-centered and feel entitled, and often lead to the characterization that they are narcissistic.
However, what most definitely sets Millennials apart is their adoption and use of digital technology. This generation has an almost compulsive attachment to all-things digital. As we search for explanations of the Millennials’ high participation in social media, taking and sharing selfies, sleeping with their smartphones, and other digital activity that previous generations consider over-the-top; we should consider whether this behavior maybe unconscious compensation for the society and culture they face – their attempt to satisfy the ‘empty self.’
1Cushman, P. (1990). Why the Self Is Empty: Toward a Historically Situated Psychology. American Psychologist, 45, 599-611.
2Sources include the Pew Research Center and National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago
© 2014, Peter Noel Murray, Ph.D.