Do you take selfies?

I'm going to guess that you don't find that how you look influences how much you get harassed walking down the street. You haven't had decades of having your presentation linked to your perceived worth/value.

If you did, maybe you would find it a lot harder to "live in the moment" and wouldn't perceive it as "very narcissistic and staged" to inspect your own presentation from time to time. To engage with communal acts of sharing and positive reinforcement. It's not like something as minor as failing to smile as you walk somewhere will result it people breaking off from their own walk to interrogate you.

But in the end it all comes down to very similar elements to that discussed in Why Do People Hate A Hobby?

I think I did once to check how the front facing camera on my phone worked in low light, then I deleted it. Turns out it wasn't very good.

Do you mean, I have ever taken a selfie?

Yes, I have. It is not something that I do with some regularity so I wouldn't even consider it a hobby, and I find the sticks to be intrusive and dumb, but I have taken self portraits from time to time. Mostly because I like traveling alone, but not being in any photo of my travels feels impersonal...

Sure, I do it from time to time. Occasionally it's to share some new item of clothing I got and want to show people. Sometimes I'll do it when I'm out somewhere - I do occasionally just take a picture of the landscape but a photo with me in it makes far more sense to me than just one of a field or some trees or a river, because that picture has nothing personal about it. When I saw the WWE live with friends we took some photos from the audience, but we made sure to take a selfie with the arena behind us to capture ourselves in that moment rather than just having more photos of an event documented in a hundred other places. Or on occasion I just particularly like my hair, or am feeling good, and fancy sharing it.

I'm certainly not wandering around doing it all the time, but I like do looking back through photos and remembering moments, whether it's a grand occasion or just that one rainy day I walked to the neighbouring village and fed some ducks. And I enjoy seeing other people's pictures and seeing what they've been up to - my friends in particular, but also just people I follow. Perhaps that feeling is exacerbated somewhat because I work from home, so I don't always talk to someone "when I get into the office" about the fun thing or the beautiful horizon I saw on the walk in. Instead it's a different way to share those moments.

Yes, I'd say on a weekly basis.

I've a tattoo on my part of my torso that a friend wanted a picture of so I took a picture of it myself. Does that count?

I've never taken one other than that.

Every now and then, usually just messing around making dumb faces and all that.

No, never have. Probably never will. Personally don't see the point. I have no desire to show off to any one be it friends, family or strangers. Also friends and family see my face regularly enough that it makes it seem even more redundant, also i would feel gross for shoving pictures of my self in other peoples faces.

I don't really like getting my picture taken period, much less one that is just me by me.

Usually when I'm taking a shit.

Nope. I'm not really photogenic in the first place, let alone from point-blank range.

I've taken two or three photos of myself in the past to use as avatars or whatever, but not in the last few years (unless you count passport photos and such), and I'm not even sure if they qualify as 'selfies' anyway. I hate looking at photos of myself; I look even worse than I do in the mirror.

Also, posing for photos always feels unnatural and embarrassing, whoever is taking it. The only way I think I'd be comfortable is if we went back to how people posed in Victorian era photography. Y'know, black and white, miserable and super-serious - dignified.

Depends on what qualifies as a selfie. I have taken some front facing camera ones in a mocking fashion - maybe two to three of these a year. If for some reason, I want my picture taken with something, I'll ask someone to take the photo for me.

When on vacations, I have no problem setting down my actual camera with a self timer or asking a stranger to take a picture for me. I'll frame up a shot with my girlfriend in it and get in on some of that photo action.

My father passed away some years back, and going back through the photos that I have of my childhood, he's not in any pictures, because he was taking them. Going through photo albums, there's this 30 year gap where I can't see what my dad looked like because there just aren't any pictures of him. Though, I'm sure I'd be just as disappointed if there were thousands of pictures of my dad wearing giant aviator glasses, with a pink polo with a double popped collar, making duck faces, with his shirt lifted up to show off a six pack that doesn't exist, in front of what I'm supposed to assume is Big Ben, but because he took it with a camera three feet from his body, you can only see the top above his head.

If I see a group taking selfies at a vacation spot, if I'm not busy, I'll stop and ask them if they'd like me to take their picture for them.

I just checked my Photos app and it looks like I've taken 140 "selfies" in the past two years, so yes, I do take self-portraits, but I don't particularly like doing it. The majority of those photos are with my girlfriend, so yeah.

Ya I do, I take them in work when I'm bored and send them to my partner usually with a stupid caption :) She does the same. Or we'll take one when we're out and send them to friends to say hi! I send some to my sister in the states some times cause I only get to see her maybe once a year. I don't see anything staged or narcissistic about it. Except for the ones that I take so that I can stare longingly at my gorgeous face.

Man I'm so pretty.

Don't take them, but also don't mind them. I don't like how I look.

I personally don't take more than one in a blue moon, but my girlfriend likes to take selfies that include both of us.

Only if I really need to (got to fill my online dating profile with something...).

yes i do. but only when my gf asks for it since she works in a different country 3 months at a time. so we dont see each other all that much in that time span except for the occational skype call.
so other then that i dont.

My wife and I take a fair amount of family selfies, but very few selfy selfies.

I dont like looking at myself enough to take selfies hahaha.

Every now and then I'll take a picture of myself.

This is a hell of a thread huh

Define "selfie."

I take a fair few pictures of myself, but am I thinking "Let's take a selfie"? No. I'm thinking "Ha, this is a dumb t shirt, I should show my friends via snapchat" or some other stupid bullshit.

I have been known to selfie. Nowadays most of my selfies are for my girlfriend via snapchat. but I have taken a couple for the social networks.

It's a silly, harmless thing. The fact that so many people take issue with it as some sort of moral problem is weirder to me than people who take a selfie once a day.

Yep, I'm a cute-ass girl. I work hard on my hair and makeup and since a lot of my friends graduated before me, instagram means I can show them when I'm lookin' good since I don't see them daily anymore.

Also, taking selfies with my friends (especially long distance friends, who I see even less) when we go out gives me a digital photo album and having those memories is really important to me. Selfie culture is awesome.

Yeah, the whole "selfie" thing, and just the word alone rubs me the wrong way. I'm fine with just looking at myself in a mirror.

no, they're universally cringe worthy

Agreed. I take selfies with my cats or inadvertently my iPod Touch snaps a selfie when I'm running somehow. Most selfies I'm usually just thrown into depending on the social situation.

I took 3 or 4 pictures of myself with a webcam years ago for display pictures on msn messenger, i'm using one of those as my GB profile pic, besides someone taking a picture of me at someones birthday party 9 or 10 years ago those are the only pictures of me.
Not quite a selfie, but i recorded myself playing Tool's The Grudge on guitar and put it on youtube ages ago, but i removed it after i got better.

I've probably taken some when like, testing my phone camera or something, but delete 'em soon after. I can see why people would do it when traveling and stuff though. Cuts out the middle man of someone else taking a picture.

Yes, took one just last year to update the picture I use in job applications.

I've voluntarily asked to have my picture taken exactly once in, uuuh. Ever? I'm gonna say ever. Needed one to use for job stuff.

I don't hate being in pictures, it just happens often enough that I don't really ever need to initiate it myself. Or rather I don't feel the need to.

Yes. There's no problem taking a selfie. I do it with friends or my girlfriend and there's no one to take the photo for us.

It's silly to demonize someone for taking a selfie, just a silly reason to get upset and angry. If someone is doing it habitually or nonstop then yes, that's vain. But there's no reason to hate the way someone takes a private photo.

Despite how handsome I am. NO

Only if I need a quick profile photo.

I took one a few weeks ago but that's it. I would put myself in the no camp.

I did once for a profile photo, although I typically prefer using my drawings for that. It was very uncomfortable. My general aspiration in life is to never be in a photo. @cale is my hero.

I have taken maybe one selfie in that last five years....I feel that was perhaps excessive.

I tend to not look at myself at all so no.

I don't take them often cos I hate being in photographs, but I don't have a problem with them at all.

As an aside I do find the concept of thinking of photographs as "memories" odd, but I don't know why. I have zero attachment to any photograph, ever. I fully realise I'm the weird one in this case, cos everyone else seems to link them to memories. It might be cos most photos are staged and not really an accurate representation of reality? I dunno. Weird tangent finished.

No, personally I've never found the concept of photographing me nor any other people interesting. When I on the rare occasion snap a picture, it's of a location, and I generally try to keep myself and any bystanders out of frame.

Sure. I don't understand the hate.

Why is taking a photo of yourself so different from someone else taking a photo of you? What if another person held a camera close-up to you and took a photo so it looked like a selfie, but you weren't holding the camera, so it wasn't actually a selfie?

What about camera timers and remote shutters, so you can take a photo of yourself with the camera further away so it looks like someone else is taking it but it's really just you taking a photo of yourself, hence a selfie?

I mean, selfie just means taking a photo of yourself, right?

If it's about it being experience halting, narcissistic and staged, then that just sounds like you hate photos.

I took a selfie of myself once, just to see. I didn't do it again. I hate being photographed. I hate seeing myself in photographs. I like photos of other people & of landscapes & things generally, just no interest of seeing photographs of me. I've got mirrors for that.

I find it inherently conceited, so I personally don't, but I have no issues with people doing it.

I have taken selfies - not sure that's quite the same thing.

@hamst3r: I kind of do hate photos in general. There's something about the act of stopping what you're doing to pose for a photo that irritates me, I prefer the idea of taking a photo of what is actually happening that documents it rather than a strange produced version where everyone huddles together and smiles.

I'm an odd person, I don't dispute that and I don't really begrudge normal people for taking their selfies or jumping on Facebook to share banal non insights about things - I just want to know why, what is the appeal?

I don't take selfies. I don't have a problem with people that do, except when it's endless picture after picture. And even then, it's not so much a problem as a, "I don't get it."

At one point I would refuse to pose for photos because I thought it was just about the lamest thing, but I've kind of dialled back on that a bit now. It's kind of a downer for other people and I stopped taking myself so seriously.