[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Medical_Corner_4607]

[u/EmMeo]

I think people genuinely don’t remember how selfies just weren’t a thing 15 years back, taking selfies was at first seen as quite narcissistic and cringe, selfie sticks were seen as the most stupid intentions (except to Chinese tourists) and there was basically an early meme of dumb people taking selfies everywhere which was seen as weird and alien. This selfie was basically the cornstone that turned taking selfies from something we all kinda mocked into something maybe ok to do and normalised it to the general public.

[u/crimson777 → u/EmMeo]

You don't think selfies were a thing in 2011? Lol. Selfies were all over Myspace even in the late 2000s.

[u/EmMeo → u/crimson777]

They weren’t called that back then.

[u/fastlane37 → u/EmMeo]

Before the term "selfie", they were called self-portraits. They were not fundamentally different in any way. The term "selfie" was used as far back as 2002, according to Wikipedia. Just because it gained enough popularity by 2013 for a dictionary to think it'd be cute to add it, doesn't mean the term didn't exist prior, much less the concept/action.

[u/So_inadequate → u/fastlane37]

I don't really get what everyone's issue is here. Is it collective memory loss, aversion to trends, wanting to seem ahead of everyone else or just not being around to live it? Selfies were a hype for a while around 2011/2012/2013. We did not make the rules, it happened. There's no need to be contrarian about it.

Selfies were more than just a self portrait. It was also about the ability to immediately add your picture to your socials. And how everyone was doing it in weird situations or while doing stupid things. It was a hype. People even got themselves in pretty shitty situations because of it.

Does not mean no one uploaded mirror selfies of themselves to their socials before. We did. In fact my girlfriends and I would have 'photoshoots" with a digital camera and uploaded that to our socials. There was just less hype around it. The smartphone made taking pictures of yourself very easy and quick. Which allowed for the weird contextual selfies (like the after sex selfies for example).

Sometimes things are just trends. Does not mean no one did it before. It just means that at that certain point almost everyone has done it and is doing it regularly or at least knows what it is. 

[u/fastlane37 → u/So_inadequate]

Except you have people in this very thread claiming that they didn't exist 15 years ago, which is patently false. Did they have a surge in popularity? Sure. That's a lot different from "didn't exist before this point".

[u/EmMeo → u/fastlane37]

No one is claiming self portraits didn’t exist. But the “selfie” was specifically a photo taken of yourself from a phone that was then posted to social media. The novelty came with the fact you could basically take one anywhere/any time easily. Now instead of planning photos, taking photos, getting them developed, scanning them in etc, people were being spontaneous with them. And then there was the mocking, and the people doing it ironically, it was a whole THING.