The Driving Selfie: Meet Me at the Intersection of Narcissism and Stupidity

Railing against the fads of the younger generation is a favorite pastime of those of us, well, not of the younger generation. This time, however, it is a tad more serious. We are not here to simply grimace over the newest music, bare midriffs or skateboarding in the library parking lot. No, the new fad among today’s teens and younger 20 somethings is the Driving Selfie.

The Driving Selfie  is popping up all over social media sites and now the national news media has begun to ring the warning bell only after the 3 millionth example of this dangerous craze showed up on Instagram. We suppose the rest of us are blissfully out of touch?

For those of you happily out of the loop, the Selfie phenomenon is one that revolves around folks taking self shot photos with a smartphone and usually posting those images to their favorite social media site (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

The Driving Selfie? Yes, you guessed it.

So, if driving after midnight or lying about where one has gone with a parent’s car can result in a loss of driving privileges for a teenager, then what will the punishment be for kids who get caught hashtagging #drivingselfie?

Parents, we cannot keep them safe all of the time. However, we do owe it to our kids to protect them from themselves and, of course, unconscionably stupid fads. We know that most parents set strict rules regarding driving with our teens early on. No texting, calling, drinking, etc. Add this one to the list.