It’s been a decade since selfies took over the internet. While it’s clear that they’re here to stay, the way we take and post them has drastically shifted.
I thought my days of writing about selfies were over. My book The Selfie Generation (2017) had done its job: It chronicled the form’s rise into the mainstream, from becoming Oxford Dictionaries’ “Word of the Year” in 2013 to transforming TV shows, pop psychology, marketing, and visibility for marginalized people. Today, the selfie has become so normalized that, like the texts I send and the air I breathe, I’d almost forgotten about it.
Then, the selfie resurfaced at the most basic of places — Chicago’s massive Six Flags Great America amusement park— in a most unusual way.
On a warm afternoon last autumn, my partner and I were riding the Logger’s Run, a watery roller coaster-esque ride that involves sitting in an oversized fiberglass log as it floats down a “river” — a metal slide filled with water. After many twists and turns, it ends with one big drop and a giant splash.
A few minutes later, smiling and soaked, we headed to a contraption with flying chairs. We were swinging through the air with other fairgoers when my partner discovered that her phone wasn’t in her pocket. It must have flown out during the Logger’s Run, so we raced back to it. We cut the line, weaving our way through sweaty bodies until we reached the log-dismounting area. After about 20 minutes of asking around, a guy wearing a soaking-wet blue shirt hopped out of his log clutching my partner’s iPhone. Moments later, it was back in her hands.
Read the full story on Hyperallergic:
https://hyperallergic.com/1025225/why-take-a-selfie-in-2025/
