I'll try to be serious and answer this question the best way I can. I have never heard of this internet phenomenon of "Slav squatting" until now, and I find it absolutely hilarious. I thought the whole world was squatting just like we are. You may laugh, but I am actually squatting on my chair while writing this.
Now to the point. I will write from my point of view, and I don't know if it applies to the other people (Slavic people).
First thing first: squatting simply feels comfortable for me. I lay my feet flat on the ground, my knees bent, and I rest my whole upper body on my knees and hamstrings. Sometimes I also squat on balls of my feet, putting few of my fingers on the ground for aditional stability.
Sadly, most present day teenage and adult Slavs grew up in impoverished post-socialist countries. There were no videogames, and we didn't spent much time watching TV (There were only 3 channels in my country, none of them for the kids). We spent our time in parks and outdoors running, playing soccer, immitating cowboys and Indians, playing war games, and doing other silly things that (Slavic) kids do. When you get tired, you could either sit on the ground, as most parks and playgrounds didn't have benches, and get dirty, or squat. So squatting came naturally and became a habit for most kids.
Also, most toilets in schools were squatting toilets, so that had some influence too. Even today I squat on my modern flush toilet. It simply feels better.
Now for the photo thing. That comes from the pure utility: class photos were taken every year, and to make whole class of 30 student fit in one photo, boys were usually squatting in the first row, and girls were standing behind them in the second row. So the boys gained habit of taking photos in squatting position. Eventually, it became cool to take photos while squatting.
I am sorry for my bad english, and I hope I gave you some insight on this squatting habit of ours.
Written 15 Dec 2014 • View Upvotes