A lovely candid shot John..............like Jean, I don't really "get" the selfie craze.

Thanks, Keith. The thumbnail that identifies my posts is a selfie, although taken with a camera rather than a phone. I don't make a habit of it, though. When I go sightseeing I'm the one who doesn't want to be in the pictures.

My theory is that selfies are age related, confidence related. If you're young enough then selfies are great records of moments, how you looked and felt, friends, lovers and places. When you get a little older, well...Rembrandt took some great selfies...

This is like a frieze, a kind of human hieroglyphics or a Toronto Bayeux Tapestry...without the fighting.

Thanks again, Steve.

The selfie may also be an example of McLuhan's idea that new technology is hypnotic -- you have to do everything with it. This hypnosis has lasted a long time, though, but then again there have been frequent new developments in selfie technology. But why is new technology hypnotic? Then again, it only hypnotizes some people.

I think we need to work up a research proposal.