I encountered this descriptor in an essay about "bitcoin carnivores":
The idea is simple: Use only Bitcoin, eat only meat. The espoused benefits are as much spiritual as they are financial and physical, and its advocates are self-serious. source
None of the dictionaries I ordinarily consult have a definition for self-serious, though Wordnik has some examples:
the show is ostensibly set in Portland, OR, but acts more broadly as a parody/homage to the "self-serious liberal" culture that can be found in many towns.
Presented without commentary, the most absurd, comical, self-serious and/or humorless moments from the pilot episode of "Smash."
After all, if ribbing of the sort Huddleston gets from @PrezHuddleston whose true identity remains a mystery to its muse stakes its humor on the notion that college presidents are stodgy and self-serious, then attempting to silence those satirists outright might reinforce the stereotype.
It seems like it has something to do with how seriously something takes itself, but I'm uncertain how self-seriousness is different from regular seriousness. Can something be self-serious but not serious, or serious but not self-serious?
Is self-seriousness actually a descriptor for a distinct kind of seriousness, or is it more a way for the writer to demonstrate a negative opinion about the seriousness? That is, by describing something as "self-serious" does a writer mean to say the subject takes itself seriously but the writer does not?
Is there a formal definition of self-serious in any particular field of study or inquiry, or is its use entirely informal?
Best Answer
In the contexts you provided, self-serious seems to mean "take themselves too seriously." In other words, they are pretentious, and lacking in self-awareness.
The most pertinent definition of serious according to Merriam-Webster is
So while both serious and self-serious imply sincere belief, self-serious also includes a lack of self-awareness and a degree of seriousness that is worthy of mockery.
A programmer who believes he's doing important work is serious about his job. A programmer who believes he's doing the most important work in the history of the world is self-serious.