It is the name given to the photos that a person takes of himself, alone or in the company of others, in order to share on social networks. In Spanish it is also known as selfi or selfie.
By extension, it can refer to any selfie taken with a cell phone or camera without the reason for sharing it on the internet being implicit.
SYNONYMS FOR SELFIE
- Selfi
- Autofoto
- Self portrait
ORIGIN OF SELFIE
Selfie comes from the English term self which means “oneself”. This term was applied to selfies for the first time in 2002 in an Australian forum. Then, since 2003, it began to become popular with the social network “MySpace” and later became part of the daily life of the internet.
The popularity of the term selfie caused it to be listed as the word of the year in 2013 by the Oxford Dictionary. Also, in that year it was part of the English language as an official word.
In the Spanish language, the neologism selfie has been accepted by the RAE since 2018. Also, it is recommended to use the synonyms self-portrait and selfie.
CURIOSITIES OF SELFIE
For psychology, the excess of selfies is a sign of low self-esteem. However, in the correct amounts, it meets people’s inherent need for recognition.
Barack Obama, Pope Francis and many other personalities have made use of selfies in their communications through different media.
The most famous selfie has been that of the presenter Ellen DeGeneres taken at the Oscars ceremony in 2014. The interaction of this selfie was impressive.
“Selfie” is the name of several songs, including the artist’s 2020 theme song “De la Ghetto”, Reykon’s 2016 song, and the group’s 2014 production “The Chainsmokers”.