The selfie is everywhere. From celebrities to astronauts in space, preening politicians at a funeral and even "selfies after sex", everyone is just one smartphone away from a selfie.

Originating in the early 2000s, selfies took hold when digital cameras were first used for arms-length self-portraits or a photo in a mirror.

But with more dictionaries now picking up the word, the ubiquitous selfie says more about how technology is changing behaviour and even our perception of events.

On the tech front, digital cameras - now usually smartphones - make it possible to shoot multiple takes of ourselves, immediately proof the pictures and then pick the right one.

Back in the time of film cameras, why would anyone pay for film developing and then wait for several days only to look at multiple pictures of themselves? But more than technology, who wanted to take self-portraits when there was other stuff and people to

photograph? And when pictures of one's self were required, the camera was usually handed to a bystander who obliged.

In an era when social media is how we show off ourselves to the world and when everyone is the biggest star of their own hit movie, it shouldn't be a surprise that taking pictures of ourselves has never been so popular.

And it is an extension to the culture of how smartphones are used to chronicle our lives.

It recently occurred to me at a concert when all around us people stood, smartphones over one eye, shooting video of each song, sometimes panning the camera around to film themselves mugging as the band played behind them on stage.

I wondered about the smartphone's ability to deprive us of an authentic sense of experience.

See the rest here:
Gormley: Focus on selfies misses the big picture