For the most part these images look like anything else you would see on Instagram.
Two girls pose with peace signs and pouts. A group of guys, who look they’ve had a few too many, throw up gang signs. Another girl snaps a selfie sticking her tongue out, acting like any other 13 year old would.
But what makes these images less innocent than your average #shameless selfie?
The pouting girls are cuddled around an old man in a beanie. The girl snapping a selfie is posed in front of a passed-out man in a fast food chain. And the group of guys are kneeling around a sleeping man in a gutter.
The people pictured are posed with or around homeless people.
And the images they take and post online include hashtags like #homelessguy and #passedthefuckout.
Check it out:
The images have recently been collated into a new Tumblr titled ‘Selfies with Homeless People.’
Jason Feifer, the creator of the cringeworthy ‘Selfies at Serious Places’ and ‘Selfies at Funerals’, released the new blog last Monday with a tweet stating ‘Is there something worse than selfies at funerals. Oh yes.”
Personally, I was in defense of ‘Selfies at Funerals’ when it went viral.
While it was not the most well-thought-out decision to duckface and hashtag it with #grandma and #funeral, the majority of people pictured were teenagers. Teenagers who were probably really struggling with the complexity of emotion that an event like a funeral can trigger. Snapping a selfie could be both a means to find some normalcy in the occasion and also a confused outlet for sharing grief.