A selfie is a photograph you take of yourself. That is the entire definition. And yet it changed everything.
Before smartphones, self-portraits existed but were rare. You needed a camera with a timer, or a mirror, or a very patient friend. Then front-facing cameras arrived, and suddenly everyone could photograph themselves instantly, infinitely, everywhere.
The word itself predates the iPhone. It first appeared on an Australian forum in 2002. But it took until 2013 for “selfie” to become the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. By then, it was already a global phenomenon and a source of endless debate.
Are selfies narcissistic? Are they empowering? The answer depends on who is taking them and why. A teenager experimenting with identity sees the selfie differently than a celebrity selling a product. The selfie is a mirror, a microphone, and a marketplace all at once.
Love them or hate them, selfies are not going anywhere. The front camera is now the default. The selfie has become how we introduce ourselves to the world — one awkward angle at a time.