Selfies weren’t a thing in my younger years. The technology didn’t exist for cellphones then, but along with all the gizmos like selfie-sticks, cables, stands, mini clip-on ring lights..you know all that stuff that inevitably will end up in second-hand stores and yard sale tables, it’s here now.

My first cell phone from the early 2000s has no camera, no email, no web browser, no GPS. It’s a basic just-in-case-of-emergency appliance that gives me a sense of security as I drive on rural roads. It’s 2008 I graduate to a smart phone but instead of taking a walk or reading a book like I used to do when waiting for the ferry to Seattle, I find myself scrolling and clicking buttons that take me down rabbit holes—some of which are good—as email, news, and work follow me everywhere. I wonder what is so smart about something that takes up so much attention.

black and silver desk phone on white knit table mat — Photo by Hansjörg Keller on Unsplash

When I graduate to a smart-er phone it has a camera on the back. No selfie option. To take a photo of myself I must turn the phone around so the camera faces me. I can’t see the actual screen, fumble and finagle with my fingers trying to gauge just where the click button is on the other side, and the resulting images many times have partially or fully cut off heads and are out of focus. Do you you remember those?

Kate McDermott's Newsletter

#90: What Selfies Reveal

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