People have been taking photos of themselves and sharing them with friends, family and Internet strangers for years. Yet it wasn’t until 2012 that a name for these self-portraits, typically made to post on a social networking website (or send in a text message), really hit the big time. Selfies are often snapped at odd angles with smartphones and include some part of the photographer’s arm. The crowd-sourced definition for selfie, courtesy of Urban Dictionary, includes a helpful note: “A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.” A so-called “hipster selfie,” one that strays from mainstream practices, may not even feature the person’s face at all—perhaps because it’s eclipsed by the old-fashioned camera he or she used to take the portrait in a mirror.
