But so much of what used to remain private has become public. And how does that change its purpose? I spent an afternoon on Instagram, looking through selfies. What I saw was a familiar pole dance—women posting hot pictures, men drooling in the comments section. Ur hot. Ur gorgeous. (If nothing else, looking at selfies will leave you despondent over the state of the apostrophe.) And herein lies the magic of selfies: They are an insanely effective delivery system for ego gratification.

Sara Hepolah offers this brilliant and refreshing meditation on the narcissism of selfies and the oft-neglected flip side of that same coin:A Good Angle Is Hard to Find