The selfie craze speaks volumes about the era in which we live: how images race around the globe and can dominate public discourse, eliciting strong emotions and even blurring the lines of reality.

Sometimes, that can be a very toxic mix, experts say.

"We are truly in the age of the picture, of the fleeting image," said psychoanalyst, essayist and philosophy professor Elsa Godart.

"The selfie marks the arrival of a new sort of language that plays on the way we see ourselves, on our emotions."

Selfies are everywhere you look on social media.

Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter are flooded with the knowing poses: a teenager with her kitten, a Chinese man in front of the Eiffel Tower, newlyweds at Disneyland, a fan with a movie star.

Selfies "put us in touch with a lot more people," said Brazilian psychoanalyst Christian Dunker.

For Pauline Escande-Gauquie, an expert in the study of signs or symbols, "the goal is above all to create or strengthen one's links with a particular community -- with your fans if you're a celebrity, or with everyday citizens if you are a politician."

The selfie is designed to create a heightened memory of an experience: usually snapped from above, at flattering angles, with an interesting background, selfies allow the total control of one's image.

Selfie-takers often put themselves at the center of all things.

"It is not a narcissistic problem, because narcissism is very positive, but a problem of ego, and overvaluation of the self," said Godart, author of "I take selfies, therefore I am."

That overvaluation craves as many "likes" as possible -- and can betray a self-centered me-me-me mentality.

- From urban climbing to 'chinning' -

Spectacular selfies allow a person to show off their best side because they are often staged in phenomenal settings.

Russia's Angela Nicolau -- the queen of urbam climbing -- is known for her risky selfies at dizzying heights -- atop the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, or the vertigo-inducing Shanghai Tower.

For Godart, "this is high-risk behavior and gives the feeling of flirting with death."

At the other end of the spectrum is the selfie that actually devalues the person taking it -- a trend seducing more and more people, most of them young and scornful of societal ideals about beauty.

Some of these people have started "chinning" -- taking unflattering shots of themselves from below, creating double chins.

Even deeply depressed people are part of the selfie phenomenon, "which allows them to exist too," said Godart.

There is also a growing trend of photobombing other people's selfies -- sabotaging their message without them knowing.

Selfies are also a tool for activists -- environmentalists posting 'before' and 'after' pictures of beaches for clean-up campaigns or supporters of breastfeeding posing with a suckling infant.

"It's very intimate but there is a real message behind it," said Escande-Gauquie.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has used selfies as a political tool, to challenge the communist rulers in Beijing or show support for migrants risking death to cross the Mediterranean.

Celebrities deploy the selfie to promote their business interests -- every time Kim Kardashian poses nude for her 141 million Instagram followers, it makes headlines.

More edgy are the "beautifulagony" selfies on flickr, which show the faces of people masturbating.

"It is by being seen by another that they will finish masturbating. One makes love by a look, with the screen in between," said Godart.

Selfies snapped near the remains of relatives can challenge the concept of death -- it's "a way of making a person who is no longer with us live again," said Godart.

"In the virtual world, there is no death."

- Selfie addiction -

In the end, selfies can become a powerful -- and dangerous -- addiction.

"Just like with any other phenomenon, there are excesses," said Escande-Gauquie, author of "Everyone selfie!"

"For some people, it can become compulsive, developing into a dependence on being seen by others."

Some apps allow selfie-takers striving towards some ideal of beauty to use filters that will eliminate wrinkles and refine features.

"It's a travesty," said Escande-Gauquie.

"If not dealt with in a playful manner, it can become something of a disease ... an identity dissonance that can be dangerous, especially for teenagers."

From Rio to Rome, a battle for selfie supremacy
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) June 27, 2019 - Under the immense Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks Rio de Janeiro and its picturesque Guanabara Bay, dozens of tourists jockey for position to get selfies with the stunning panoramic view illuminated by the setting sun.

A tangle of arms and selfie sticks are lifted for solo shots, couple snaps, family photos: getting the perfect picture with the statue or Sugarloaf Mountain in the background is the goal.

The only definite fail? Ending up with other tourists taking selfies in the frame.

Brazil is a selfie-mad country. But it is hardly alone.

Around the globe, selfie culture has become a facet of daily life -- social media sites are flooded with pictures, tourist attractions are overrun with those seeking selfie nirvana.

In some cases, that quest for the ideal happy snap has been deadly, when amateur photographers take the hobby too far. For celebrities, it can be a moneymaker.

But for the average tourist, it's a way to make memories.

Philippe, a young French engineer on holiday in Brazil who has Christ-like long hair, positions himself in front of the imposing Christ the Redeemer statue, an Art Deco work made of reinforced concrete and soapstone.

"My colleagues laughed, saying I look like Jesus. So I needed to take a selfie to send them," he said.

But he isn't all in on the idea.

"On social media, it can give a false impression. People only post pictures of beautiful things -- the sun, Rio, the beach," he said. "People end up getting depressed because they have the idea that their life is crappy."

For Brazilian Daniela Lemes, taking selfies is "a happy moment, shared with family (...) in marvelous places like this one."

On the other side of Rio, at the waterfront Museum of Tomorrow, aesthetician Tatiana da Silva de Paula admits she takes 100 to 200 selfies a day.

"First I take some to see how I look. Then I post them on social media for my friends and family," she said.

- Selfie wars -

About 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) away, in the heart of Rome, the Trevi Fountain is the must-have selfie spot.

Sarah and Fivos, a British couple from Manchester who came to the Eternal City to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary, were part of the selfie scrum.

"We are happy with the selfie we took, but with so many people, you have to wait for the right moment to get the good shot with no people in the frame," said Fivos.

Nearby, Elia and Chiara, two young Italians, took a selfie with their parents in the background... taking a selfie.

On this day, as on most days, there is such a huge crowd at the fountain, immortalized by Fellini in "La Dolce Vita," that tensions can mount.

In August last year, police had to separate two groups of tourists who had come to blows when they wanted to take a selfie at the same spot.

In Athens, even celebrities join the millions of tourists seeking romantic mementos. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg showed up at the Acropolis with his wife in May, after music legend Paul McCartney did the same.

- Practically a national sport -

In Egypt, before the Great Pyramid outside Cairo -- the last of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World still standing -- Bangladeshi tourist Sheila Ahmed uses her smartphone to do as so many have done before her.

"Generally, I am not a fan of selfies but it's easier to just hang up your phone and take a picture of yourself at whatever place you want," she said.

"Especially here I am in front of the Great Pyramid -- where would I want to take a selfie if not here?"

In the United States, at Mather Point on the majestic Grand Canyon's south rim, picture-taking is constant, but some go to extremes -- and the very edge of the cliff.

"We can see well enough from here," British tourist Kathryn Kelly said, looking at a woman in an especially risky spot. "I don't see the point stepping closer to the edge."

In South Korea, taking selfies is practically a national sport. To mark his 100 days in office, President Moon Jae-in shot a selfie video message.

North Korea seems to be the last place on Earth immune from selfie fever, where people prefer more traditional pictures.

Nevertheless, the country's leader Kim Jong Un has posed for two selfies -- with a Singaporean minister and a Russian journalist.

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