Everyone today has either taken a selfie or at least seen and heard about them. A selfie is a picture of a person taken by themselves, usually using a smartphone camera or webcam which is then shared on social media. While it is now gauche to post multiple selfies in a short amount of time, June 21, when National Selfie Day is celebrated, is a pass for many to take as many selfies as they want.
History
Selfies became popular as more and more people, especially the younger generation got their hands-on smartphones with built-in cameras (and compact digital cameras that were also popular at the time). At the same time, the growing popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, MySpace and certainly Instagram allowed these nouveau photographers to showcase their blurry and often pixelated self-portraits to the world.
The word itself is thought to be an Australian slang and even got chosen as the Oxford Dictionaries' international word of the year for 2013.
While the first selfie or self-portrait is widely attributed to Robert Cornelius, an American chemist and the father of photography, National Selfie Day was only created in 2014 by a radio DJ from Texas.
Significance
Selfies are a cultural pillar today. The growing popularity of selfies changed how smartphones were designed with a greater emphasis on the quality of front cameras. Today, nearly every social gathering is followed with a selfie of one kind or another.
While selfies were denigrated for long as a sign of vapidness and self-centeredness, they are a form of self-expression that can be considered a valid art on their own. So be free and click a selfie on this National Selfie Day.
(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)
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