Love them or loath them, the ‘Selfie’ is here to stay. In fact, almost everywhere I look these days, I see the smiling, pouting or blank expressions of a friend or stranger. The debate of “the selfie” has sparked up again, what with the Oscars famous posting, David Cameron getting involved and even astronauts in space getting in on the fun! Suddenly, the anti-selfie gang has grown and it isn’t hard to understand why. They can be awkward, come across arrogant and sometimes a touch inappropriate.

HOWEVER, I still think they bring something to the table and I’m currently loving all the women out there who are stripping off their make-up and uploading a selfie all in the name of Cancer Research. Now the idea isn’t a new one; DareToBare which launched in September last year had a similar concept and countless celebrities got involved in order to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. However, there is something more unifying about the approach this time around. It is about you, your friends, your family and your social network connecting and posting selfies whilst also “nominating” each other to get involved too. Even the men are starting to get in on the action and make-upping-up for selfies all in the name of a good cause! 

So if you’d like to get involved text 70099 and the word BEAT to donate £3 – Upload your selfie onto the social media platform(s) of your choice and tag 3 others asking them to do the same. Lets all help #BeatCancerSooner and have a little fun in the meantime… 

Thank you to the lovely folk below who allowed me to use their selfies as perfect examples. Particular thanks to Jan Buonaiuto who took her selfie on the morning after she had a mastectomy and reconstruction. She has documented her experience in a series of films which can be found on her facebook page. 

Oh…and the next time you roll your eyes at a friends selfie, remember these three things:

1. It is nice to put a face to a tweet…or a post…or a status update. It feels more personal to see people as they are, in that moment. It adds an honesty and reliability factor that nothing else can. If someone is looking great, I don’t think “oh how narcissistic”! They are just sharing themselves and why not encourage that?
2. If you think about it, everything we do online is a form of ‘Selfie’. Your status updates, your likes, your comments, all give the world wide web a sense of who you are. Yes a picture is, quite literally, a little more in your face but you put that out there, you decide what the world learns about you and what you share. You do that because you feel you have something to add; something to say and something to share. A picture of someones face shouldn’t be less acceptable than a picture of someones dinner or someones view… 
3. Why care anyway? It is a tiny, insignificant element of life which adds some colour and fun more than anything. Don’t let something so small become annoying to you. 

So if you never rock a selfie or if your selfie crazy; grab your phone and work your best angle, judgement free.