Why we take selfies

We asked a few self-portrait enthusiasts to explain themselves — and their answers are fascinating

Selfies
(Image credit: Statigr.am)

This past April, actress Amanda Bynes tweeted a blurry photograph starring — who else? — herself. The image itself is unremarkable, its main features being her primped cleavage and a face obscured by her iPhone's bright flash. That didn't stop critics — both professional and otherwise — from highlighting the selfie as "bizarre," even though it would eventually be forgotten as just one of the starlet's many.

The attention lavished on an otherwise ordinary arrangement of pixels prompts the question: Why are we so obsessed with selfies and, in particular, the people who take them?

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Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.