Former US president Barack Obama loves a selfie.
Whether it's posing alongside the World Champion United States Women's National Soccer Team, controversially squeezing in alongside Denmark's former Prime Minister for a snap at the memorial service of South African former president Nelson Mandela, or taking time to practice his 'Blue Steel' pout with his supporters, the former politician just can't get enough of showing off his contagious smile.
So, on Monday afternoon, the 44th president of the US delivered his first major public speech since leaving office in January to students at the University of Chicago and decided to give them a lesson on what he's learned about selfie-taking and the dangers of social media of the years.
According to Mashable, first he jokingly asked the audience, 'What's been going on while I've been gone?' (boy, where do we start Obams?) before taking part in a discussion about his political career and the future of American's millennials.
With two young daughters himself and a love of social media, Obama was then asked to share his thoughts on the failure and inflect of social media on young people, to which he responded:
'In terms of how to deal with the fact that as you grow up you're going to learn and change and evolve in all kinds of ways ... the problem now with the internet is that that past is always there. One way to think about it is just to own it.'
He then joked: 'If we had pictures of everything I've done when I was in high school I probably wouldn't have been President of the United States, so I would advise all of you to be a little more circumspect about your selfies and what you take pictures of.'
*Deletes embarrassing Myspace account from circa 2007 and 10-year-old selfies in the school toilets with classmates*
On a slightly more serious note, the 55-year-old American then touched on the echo chamber on social media which help skew young people's perception on voting patterns, and the results of the past US presidential election and Brexit vote.
'If this generation is getting all its information from phones, you really don't have to confront people who have different opinions or a different experience or outlook,' he revealed.
'If you're liberal you're on MSNBC, you're reading The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times or whatever your choices are — or maybe you're just looking at cat videos, which is fine,' he joked.
Basically, what Bar-Bar is saying is that watching kittens fall over themselves is all good and well, as long as you're engaging with the wider – and sometimes controversial – conversations happening in the wider context of society, in order to gain a larger understanding and picture of the general sentiment about political and sociological issues.
However, if you think Barack is concerned for our futures, fear not, because the former president described the next generation as 'sharp, astute, tolerant, thoughtful, entrepreneurial' who he hopes to prepare to take on their own leadership roles to change the word.
'If that happens I think we'll end up being just fine,' he concluded.
We just want to give him the biggest bear hug right now and never let go.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
