It’s that time of the year when you can take pictures of yourself with impunity and post it with abandon on all your social media handles sans the judgy stares accusing you of vanity. National Selfie Day is observed on June 21, in celebration of the day when you mastered the art of pointing the camera at yourself. Selfies have existed since the invention of the camera, but with the advent of the cell phone and social media, human vanity has no bounds. Everyone loves a good selfie. Even if you’re hating on peeps on social media for taking selfies all day long, you know deep down that you’ve also ventured down that road at least once or twice in your life, if not often.

The word selfie might be the invention of millennials that took a life of its own in 2014  after the Selfie song and the video was released by Chainsmokers. However, humans have been in the business of self-portraiture ever since they discovered a miraculous contraption known as a camera. On this National Selfie Day, let's learn interesting facts about the age-old art to share and post with our selfies.

  • In 2014, the word selfie officially made its debut in the Oxford English Dictionary. In the same year, BBC officially declared a selfie Day.
  • Photography enthusiast Robert Cornelius is credited to have taken the world’s first selfie in 1839. Apparently, the man had to stand still for at least 3 minutes to take the said picture.  
  • It's not just human who are fond of this art. Even Monkeys will get in on the action if you leave your camera around. In 2011, a photographer David Slater left his camera for a macaque monkey who then proceeded to take a selfie which became quite popular at the time.
  • Ellen Degeneres' 2014 Oscar selfie became the most retweeted picture ever and broke the internet with 3.4 million retweets, But it's Bradley Cooper who owns the copyrights to the selfie since the rule of selfie clearly states - whoever shoots a picture, gains its copyrights.
  • In 2014, selfies stick was the hottest selling merchandise in the market. Did you know that have been banned in several popular tourist destinations including Disneyland parks, museums and certain music concerts?
  • According to Kylie Jenner -  who has the most number of celebrity selfies on her Instagram page - she takes at least 500 selfies before she posts the picture-perfect portrait on her social media handle.

So on this National Selfie Day, all you have to do is click a picture yourself and post it on social media, mainly Instagram and add #NationalSelfieDay in the caption and perhaps on these interesting facts to raise your selfie game.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2021 01:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).