But whatever reason people feel the need to hold a camera at an unnatural angle and pose, there is no denying that 2013 was the year of the selfie.

Oxford Dictionaries even named the phrase as the word of the year, beating tough competition from twerk, binge-watch and showrooming.

Strike a pose: U.S. President Barack Obama (right) and British Prime Minister David Cameron pose for a selfie with Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt (centre) at Nelson Mandela’s memorial

Who’s the dummy? Peaches Geldof and son Phaedra pose for a selfie

Actor Hugh Jackman (left) posts a picture of himself after he is treated for skin cancer and Joey Essex (right) saying in these social network pictures ‘Safe though’ and ‘SELFIE with my mate Ed’

 

 

One of the most famous selfies of the past 12 months was the Pope posing with teenagers at the Vatican. The picture went viral on social media and was widely speculated as being the first ever ‘Papal selfie’

Instagram fodder: The Kardashian family are now synonymous with selfies – one of the most famous selfies of the year was Kim Kardashian’s post-pregnancy bum shot, gaining nearly a million likes on Instagram

Chillaxing: An eye-brow raising selfie was taken by Samantha Cameron’s sister on the morning of her wedding day, revealing David Cameron napping on a four-poster bed in the background

A schoolboy took this selfie with Prince Charles when they Royal visited a church centre earlier this month

One of the most famous selfies of the past 12 months was the Pope posing with teenagers at the Vatican.

The picture went viral on social media and was widely speculated as being the first ever ‘Papal selfie’.

Among the most controversial of the year was earlier this month when U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron posed for a selfie at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg.

Not that it will ever be seen – when the Danish prime minister was asked if she’d reveal the photo she said, resoundingly, no and admitted ‘it isn’t a particularly good picture.’

Kylie Minogue posting a ‘belfie’ – that’s a bottom selfie

Tasteless: A news photographer captured this shot of a tourist gettign a selfie in front of a Brooklyn Bridge jumper (seen top right)

Strange: Florida student Malik Whiter saw that his teacher went into labour during class and pulled out his phone, positioned himself just so in front of the pain-stricken woman and smiled for the camera

Close shave: Reporter Kelly Nash captures the moment a baseball flew narrowly past her head at Fenway Park stadium in BostonThe Kardashian family are now synonymous with selfies – one of the most famous selfies of the year was Kim Kardashian’s post-pregnancy bum shot in a white swimsuit, which garnered nearly a million likes on Instagram.

An eye-brow raising selfie was taken by Samantha Cameron’s sister on the morning of her wedding day, revealing David Cameron napping on a four-poster bed in the background.

Not to be outdone Labour leader Ed Miliband later posed for a selfie with popstar Lily Allen which she posted on her Twitter page.

Cara Delevingne’s lion tattoo (left) and Madonna with a gold teeth brace (right)

 

 

Harry Styles wearing a blonde wig and having fun taking a selfie with Sienna Miller

 

While the world watches: Tom Hanks and Steve Martin take an onstage selfie at the 2013 Governors Awards

Mustachioed Fox host Geraldo Rivera, 70, left,  tweeted a very revealing nude self-portrait, which he later deleted… but it was too late. Right:  Actress and reality star, Helen Flanagan seemed to spent most of 2013 pouting at any given opportunity in her long list of selfies

 

One small step for man, one big step for selfies: Astronaut Luca Parmitano uses a digital still camera to take a photo in space

Video selfie: Juistin Bieber was caught out yet again this year, this time on a grainy video ‘selfie’ that has been posted online by a girl who had partied with the star. The video shows Bieber sleeping peacefully, wrapped in a brown blanket on a large striped day bed in Brazil

An example of a tasteless selfie was when a news photographer captured a shot of a tourist snapping a selfie in front of a Brooklyn Bridge jumper, while one of the luckiest was when reporter Kelly Nash captured the moment a baseball flew narrowly past her head at Fenway Park stadium in Boston.

One of the strangest was when Florida student Malik Whiter saw that his teacher went into labor during class and pulled out his phone, positioned himself just so in front of the pain-stricken woman and smiled for the camera.

‘Selfie with my teacher while she having contractions,’ Whiter tweeted in October.

Supermodel Gisele posts a photo on her Instagram page being pampered as she was breastfeeding

 

Memento: Sasha, left,  and Malia Obama, daughters of US President Barack Obama, take a photo of themselves during the Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington in January

 

Brave selfie: Kayleigh Hill taking a selfie mid-tackle. She posted a Vine of herself running on to the field during the College World Series as a dare

 

She caused outrage at this year’s MTV VMAs so it’s not surprising that Miley Cyrus chose a memorable outfit from the same event for Halloween. The controversial star tweeted a picture of herself dressed up in Lil’ Kim’s daring outfit from the 1999 awards show, with just a nipple pastie protecting her modesty

 

Pop singer by day, unintentional animal activist by night: Thai police arrested two men for selling photo ops with protected-species the slow loris after Rihanna posted a picture of herself with one on Instagram

 

The photo featuring Whiter’s grinning mug with mirrored sunglasses and a beanie on his head in the foreground, and his terrified-looking teacher in the background, became an instant viral hit.

But one would-be Romeo’s unusual attempt to woo a woman he met in Starbucks spectacularly backfired after his selfie video went viral.

In an apparent attempt to secure a date, the man  – dubbed ‘StarbucksDrakeHands guy’ online – sent the ‘seductive’ video to the woman.

But the 16-second clip, in which he gazes into the camera, did not have the effect he intended set to the song Hold On, We’re Going Home, by Drake, the man stares intently at the camera pulling his best model pose – it  sparked dozens of ruthless imitations after being posted online.

Rosy cheeks: Cheryl Cole unveils her utterly astonishing tattoo

Mask shot: The Star Wars Instagram account was kicked off with a selfie from Darth Vader, which amassed over 23,000 likes in the past 24 hours

Lilliband: Lily Allen tweets a picture of herself and Labour leader Ed Miliband

One would-be Romeo’s unusual attempt to woo a woman he met in Starbucks has spectacularly backfired after his selfie video went viral . It begins with ‘StarbucksDrakeHands guy’ staring intently into the camera

One to treasure! Beyonce photobombed a fan’s selfie midway during her concert in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park in October

The moment Beyonce joined a fan in a selfie

Even space saw its first selfie and astronaut Luca Parmitano used a digital still camera to take a photo while the Star Wars Instagram account was kicked off with a selfie from Darth Vader, which amassed over 23,000 likes in the just 24 hours.

Popstar Rhianna caused more of a storm than she realised when she posted a selfie on Instagram of herself with a slow loris in September.

After she posted the picture Thai police arrested two men for selling photo ops with protected-species.

Rihanna poses with two huge roll-ups in Amsterdam. She posted the snap on Istagram with the words: ‘I’m just a girl… #Amsterdam’

Bizarre: Victoria Beckham tweets picture of herself as she gets ready for New York Fashion Week

Dog tired: Tulisa shares a picture on her Instagram page of her and her pet

 

 

And singer Justin Bieber was caught out yet again, this time on a grainy video ‘selfie’ that has been posted online by a girl who had partied with the star – the video shows Bieber sleeping peacefully, wrapped in a brown blanket on a large striped day bed.

Social networking website Facebook is the place where the most selfies are uploaded.

Half of us (48 per cent) post pictures of ourselves that we’ve taken on Facebook, 9 per cent post to Twitter and 5 per cent use the app Snapchat – although most celebrities opt for Instagram.

Selfie was added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online in August, but is not yet in the Oxford English Dictionary, although it is being considered for future use – maybe 2014 will be the year it arrives in the print version of most esteemed guardian of the English language.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524515/Top-20-selfies-year.html#ixzz2pkpDPwLa

Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year for 2013definitely captures a snapshot of our social-media-obsessed moment.

That’s right — it’s “selfie.”

If you don’t know what a selfie is, Oxford Dictionariesdefines it as:

(n.) a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

It’s not a new word — its origins date to a 2002 posting in an Australian Web forum,according to Reuters — but that doesn’t matter. “The Word of the Year need not have been coined within the past 12 months and it does not have to be a word that will stick around for a good length of time,” Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, tells Reuters.

While it’s totally cool to snap selfies in most places, there are certain situations where it’s just not OK. Read on to find out where you should NEVER snap a selfie.

The selfie, also known as the “lonely and desperate shot,” occurs when a person holds up a camera and awkwardly takes a picture of him or herself.  These often encompass a “duck-face,” a peace sign and a completely misguided sense of pride and satisfaction. Sure, there are few occasions when a selfie is appropriate, such as hiking in a forest all alone where the only living creature within close distance to you is a 200 lb bear. Otherwise, the selfie is a big no no.

Masturbating > Selfie

For Generation-Y, the first cameras we got our hands on were disposable. From Kodak to Fuji, we were constantly winding up and snapping pics. The best part about disposable cameras (or arguably the worst) was that you couldn’t see a picture immediately after it was taken. You had to just assume it was a good shot, and move on. (Sidenote: the only “selfie” we took was when we’d steal one of our friends cameras and quickly snap a shot of our genitals — there was no way they could ever identify you. The perfect crime!).

Today we analyze every single picture like it’s a f*cking crime scene investigation: studying everything from our hair, to our smiles, to our postures. We have become virtually obsessed with the way we look in each shot. And for good reason, too. Now with the Internet and social media taking over our lives and consuming everything we do, if we don’t look good in a picture EVERYONE will see it! (Oh, the horror!).

So why take a selfie if you know you’re just going to look like the biggest tool on social media? It seems there is this bizarre sense of satisfaction some get from taking a selfie. Even Aaron Hernandez felt the need to take one that may go down in history as the dumbest f*cking selfie of all time.

Really, Aaron? You didn’t see at all why this may not be a good idea? You just had to have this solo shot of yourself holding the murder weapon? How could anyone possibly be this stupid!?

Could you imagine OJ taking a selfie!??

Whether it’s after committing a crime or you’re just in the bathroom during a pregame: if you take a selfie, you’re guilty!

So Gen-Yers, please stop taking these horrible pictures. They are pretty much the most embarrassing photos you could ever take, and everyone thinks lesser of you because of them. I don’t care where you are, if you feel the desperate need to take a picture, find someone else to hold the camera! Give it to the bear for god’s sake! Hopefully he just eats you instead!

Ultimately, if you’re one of these people who constantly feels the need to snap a selfie, good chance that in the end, you’re going to wind up alone.