Ever took a selfie? I cannot see anyone raising their hand but I can tell who has! Hey you ! Yes, you in the corner, you’ve already taken selfies, right? I can recognize embarrassment when i see it 😉
Alright, you might never have taken a selfie, or a photo of yourself, since they started calling it that way. The term #selfie was introduced in the mainstream media not so long ago, and with the name came a huge increase in the tendency of all of us to post self-taken pictures of ourselves on Facebook, Instagram and other special media. But did you know? Selfies are muuuuuch older than you think !
The first selfie
The first selfies ever were taken decades ago, when the first cameras made their apparition. And before that, it was still common for artists to paint their own face with the help of a mirror, like the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo did in the 1940’s: selfie or not?
The first known selfie was taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839, but there are other example of those first selfies, like this women taking her own picture in the 1900’s or these fives photographers of the Byron Company in 1892 in New York.
Self-portraits, whether painted, sculpted or as pictures, always were quite common, but the term #selfie appeared in 2005. Although taking selfies at the time when Myspace was the #1 Social media was considered as an indication of bad taste from ego-centered teenage girls, it became quite a big thing in the early 2010’s and the term entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013. Quite a while after the first actual selfies, don’t you think?
Today, the #selfie is now a big part of social media, such as Instagram, Facebook or even Tumblr. It’s been hard to resist taking a selfie, especially in special occasions, such as parties, travels around the world, when buying a new T-shirt or even when meeting a celeb. Some people don’t even need a reason to post their selfies !
What do you think about selfies? Do you have a crazy selfie story, or do you think they are embarrassing?
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