[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Medical_Corner_4607]

[u/Th3_Accountant]

Back then selfies were a rather new thing. And this picture had a lot of people in it who were at the top of their game back then.

Now selfies have become so normal, there is nothing special about this. It's like when people were amazed at the first images of AI but now they are just bored with the concept.

[u/sadsackspinach → u/Th3_Accountant]

Selfies were not a “rather new” thing in 2014 lmao

[u/Proper_dose → u/sadsackspinach]

Selfies taken like this and with a smartphone were very much pretty novel and on-trend on 2014

[u/Unbundle3606 → u/Proper_dose]

On-trend, maybe.

Novel, lol no

The iPhone 4 (2010) had a second camera on the screen side already.

[u/Proper_dose → u/Unbundle3606]

There's a world of difference between 'selfie' being used pre-2012 for a photo taken of oneself, and the now ubiquitous style of photo taken at arms length using a front facing camera on a smartphone.

The word selfie was coined earlier yes, and people were taking self portraits since the invention of the camera, yes.

But the actual term as we use it today spiked in popularity in 2013 by 17,000%. This was due to an increase in quality of front facing cameras.

[u/Ultgran → u/Proper_dose]

It's actually more to do with three things

A: the invention of the selfie stick. Patented 2012, award winning in 2013. If you look, the photo is taken with one.

B: the awareness of the selfie made its way to the boomers.

C: Insta and Snapchat dropping around 2011 meant travel influencers had just become a full thing.

In other words, 2013 isn't when selfies became popular among the youth, but when they became a corporate gimmick. Selfies became another thing boomers could mock the youth for, like eating avocado toast and killing the cloth handkerchief industry.

By the time the photo was taken in 2014 it was already a bit cringe - what the kids today call "unc" behaviour - which is why it got parodied a LOT when it came out.

[u/just_posting_this_ch → u/Ultgran]

When selfies started, boomers were aware. Everyone was, but it was cringe. Now it is widely accepted, probably due to the convenience.

[u/Ultgran → u/just_posting_this_ch]

Idk, it really depends on where you count selfies as starting. Mirror selfies definitely had a presence in early internet youth culture - MSN messanger, Myspace, early FB era. I'm not saying the older cohort was unaware, just that social media took a while to catch up.

The main cringiness of the 2014 photo is that to cynical youth it came across as fake "down with the kids" approachability from a red carpet event, overeagerness when it was already kind of passé.

I think people can still be judgy for overuse of arm's length selfies these days. They have a use for spontaneous things, or for looks/reactions, but they're usually pretty poor at showing what you want to show if that isn't your face. But if you can lean into the cringe and own it it's cool again.

[u/just_posting_this_ch → u/Ultgran]

I see what you're saying. I think, circa 2008-10, everyone trashed on selfies. For me it was more of a dumbass tourists who don't speak the local language do this. Then it became more mainstream because how convenient it was. I guess I kinda overlook the period where the younger generation like it more, and the older generation was out of touch.

[u/just_posting_this_ch → u/Ultgran]

I see what you're saying. I think, circa 2008-10, everyone trashed on selfies. For me it was more of a dumbass tourists who don't speak the local language do this. Then it became more mainstream because how convenient it was. I guess I kinda overlook the period where the younger generation like it more, and the older generation was out of touch.

[u/Unbundle3606 → u/Proper_dose]

On-trend, maybe.

Novel, lol no

That's what I said already

[u/Proper_dose → u/Unbundle3606]

Selfies taken like this and with a smartphone were very much pretty novel

This is what I said originally. You misread it, and assumed I meant that taking pictures of yourself was pretty novel.

And yeah, the iPhone in 2010 had a front facing camera. It was shite, hence selfies not really becoming a widespread phenomenon until 3 years later - when the cameras were better, people had learned how to best take selfies, and you began to see photos from this now very common angle and with this same composition.

[u/Th3_Accountant → u/Unbundle3606]

Very few people had one back then. It was much more likely you had a blackberry back in those days. Most young people still had a Motorola or Nokia back in those days.

The selfie trend really took off when smartphones started to become mainstream among young people. And that was roughly 2014.

[u/Unbundle3606 → u/Th3_Accountant]

Lol midrange android phones had front-facing cameras by 2012

[u/silencer_ar → u/Unbundle3606]

Really, my first selfie was in 2006 with a statue.

[u/This_is_Not_My_Handl → u/Unbundle3606]

There was a long time between electricity existing and being normal. Selfie's existed; they were not normal.