Long ago, in a time before iPhones and selfie sticks, the only way to snap a photo of yourself was to stop a kind-looking stranger and optimistically hand over your disposable camera. Having emerged from these dark ages in a somewhat narcissistic fashion, the world is now full of people switching on their front cameras and doing the deed themselves, striking pose after pose in an endless stream of do-overs. Oxford Dictionaries made “selfie” the word of the year in 2013. US consumers responded by making the selfie stick the gift of the year in 2014.
In fact, 2014 can be called the Year of the Selfie. According to the BBC, the word “selfie” is part of the Twitter trends of the year. It was used more than 92 million times, which is about 12 times more than the previous year. Celebrities who strive to protect their privacy usually came out openly with their selfies on social media. Several well-known personalities of the world like Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Narendra Modi, and many more seemed obsessed with taking “selfies” and “groupies”. Of course, some selfies are less noble in their intentions, but are no less entertaining. The most famous selfie of the year was taken by Bradley Cooper at the Oscars and shared by host Ellen DeGeneres on Twitter.
The craze for autographs has been replaced with selfies. Even friends gather for group selfies and bigger group selfies become the news stories in the print media. The trend of selfies even caught up with the international cinema personalities and a giant selfie of Hollywood stars was published and tweeted around. Taking good selfies has also become a part of photography skills and short courses are being held on photography with smart phones and practice for supporting the right expression during clicking selfies. A selfie with a message is being seen as way to cheer up one another these days.