Self as in selfie. Self as in self-confidence and self-esteem. Self as in self-absorbed and selfish.

The selfie – a picture of oneself taken by that same self – is all about the self. But what do selfies do to one’s confidence and self-perception?

The first selfie was taken the same year as Charles Darwin’s wedding day, the first baseball game, and teas first arrival in the UK – 1839. According to The Huffington Post, Robert Cornelius, a future photography shop owner, took what he believed to be the first selfie in the yard of his parent’s Philadelphia lamp shop. A hipster looking young man, he posed with a blooming beard and unkempt locks for anywhere from three to 15 minutes waiting for the camera to adjust to light and take the photo.

The first teenage selfie, according to Business Insider, was taken in 1914 by 13 year old Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna and sent out to her friends. She kneeled on a chair and took a picture of her reflection in a mirror. She wrote to her friend, “… It was very hard as my hands were trembling.”

#Selfie first showed up on Flickr captioning photos of – you guessed it – oneself. However, the real selfie boom occurred alongside the release of the front facing camera on smartphones like 2010’s Apple iPhone 4.

Selfies soon popped up endlessly on people’s Instagram and Facebook feeds, in Twitter-trending hashtags, and those horrendous, and hopefully forgotten, Myspace profile photos.

Now with apps like Snapchat, inventions like the selfie stick, songs like #SELFIE, and scandals like the Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel’s selfie it is clear the selfie seems to be a mainstay in pop culture.

This is to the dismay of many and the approval of others.

The main argument against selfies has not changed much since the early days of the phenomenon.

Several, mainly of the older generations, blame selfies for the narcissistic and self-absorbed attitudes of the millennial generation.

A recent study done by The Ohio State University found that males who posted more photos of themselves on social media on average scored higher in measures of narcissism and psychopathy. Editing the photos posted correlated only with higher levels of narcissism.

The same is thought of girls who post too many selfies. They are written off as narcissistic or conceited.

Psychology teacher Ms. McMahon explained Narcissistic Personality Disorder – a disorder she cannot diagnose but feels it fits with the selfie craze.

“Basically, Narcissistic personality disorder is when people have an inflated sense of their own importance,” McMahon said. “People in this world are so competitive and are isolated behind these screens. They are assuming that people really care what they are doing every moment. People have to post pictures of them at the gym… they think people will be interested in that stuff, which back in the day no one really cared.”

Rialin Jose, Div. 577, who takes selfies in moderation, explained what she believes to be the difference between confidence boosting selfie posting and narcissistic posting.

“Selfies are a good way to boost confidence,” Jose said. “It shows that you have confidence enough to put pictures of yourself out there. But if you post 50 a day then you might have a problem.”

McMahon also explained the influence she believes social media has on the selfie craze and self esteem.

“People are becoming more and more competitive,” McMahon said. “They are thinking ‘ok I have to prove I am just as good as this person’. So they are posting these selfies all the time and it’s always when you look really good… I think people are feeling insecure, for the most part, and are just trying to compete.”

McMahon did acknowledge that selfies do have the potential to boost people’s confidence.

“When they post a picture that looks good and they get a lot of likes or it gets retweeted, or hearts on Instagram – I think that’s what makes people feel good… it’s that positive reinforcement that makes them feel better,” McMahon said.

McMahon quickly shut down the idea of her taking selfies.

“I don’t!” McMahon quickly answered. “I will do group selfies but I am really against individual selfies because I feel weird, like ‘No one wants to see what I am doing right now.’”

Mr. Fine – the Lane teacher who is best known for his 31 flavors theory of individual uniqueness and no hate zone – also does not take selfies.

Or at least he did not until the interview.

Fine was all for taking selfies to boost your confidence.

“Most people – especially young people – whether they put out the image of being confident or not … do not feel like they are good enough,” Fine said. “And I think that is a real problem today. For me, anything that is going to make someone more confident would be good.”

Fine explained that mirrors are not always the best way to see oneself.

“We never can really see ourselves because we live inside of ourselves [and] because of that, we don’t always see ourselves as good enough,” Fine said.

Fine believes that it is easier to see oneself in a picture rather than looking in the mirror.

“When you look in the mirror you might focus on what you think is wrong or what you wish was different. But when you post a selfie it allows you to hopefully focus on what’s positive about yourself…” Fine said.

Fine went on to explain that despite his support for the cause he has never taken a selfie. Sure he has done an “ussie” – a selfie of a group of people – but never alone. This is mainly due to his flip phone which does not have the most high-tech selfie technology. He did, however, say he would take his own advice and take his first individual selfie that day.

Lucky for him my phone has a front facing selfie camera. So without a moments hesitation I offered him my phone, asking him if he would be up for taking the selfie for the story.

Excited, he responded, “Awesome! I can take my first selfie right now!”

At first he was confused and opted for a simple peace sign.

“Where do I even look?” he asked.

Soon enough he warmed up and began moving around the room. At first standing atop a stool to try and get the “No Hate Zone” sign in the background. Then, after realizing he was still not tall enough, stood atop a desk. And after a few snaps and some help deleting the bad ones he choose the one he liked.

“Good enough,” he said.

Prior to taking his first selfie he offered this advice to people scared to take a selfie.

“‘Fear not moving slowly. Fear only standing still,’” Fine said. “If you’ve never taken a selfie take one selfie. Post it. See what happens…My philosophy in my classroom is it’s a hate-free zone and I believe that most people in this world are good and loving and haters are always gonna hate and lovers are always gonna love. I wouldn’t worry about the few people that might hate on you…I think you will gain a lot more from all the loving people.”

Jose also commented on this.

“Selfies are a good way to show ‘Hey, I like myself for who I am and I don’t care what anyone else thinks,’” Jose said.

Jose also added some selfie taking advice for those who might want to give it a try.

“Lighting is important in a selfie,” Jose said. “And make sure you are looking at the camera because sometimes it looks weird looking off camera. Yeah, that’s about it.”