--- title: Why My Selfies Look Weird: Science Explains Ugly Selfies description: And it's not just your face canonical: https://time.com/40254/selfies-science/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-27T16:30:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:00.083Z og:title: There's A Scientific Reason for Why You Look Weird In Selfies og:description: And it's not just your face og:url: https://time.com/40254/selfies-science/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There's A Scientific Reason for Why You Look Weird In Selfies twitter:description: And it's not just your face twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # There's A Scientific Reason for Why You Look Weird In Selfies > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: This Is What the Future of Instagram Looks Like [Watch (HLS stream): This Is What the Future of Instagram Looks Like](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tIyzRJcR.m3u8) (2:55)  _Published 2015-10-01. As Instagram turns 5, the co-founder and CEO talks about where the app is headed_ by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 27, 2014 4:30 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 27, 2014 4:30 PM UTC There are many reasons why you look weird in selfies. Sometimes it’s simply because you have a weird-looking face (sorry, guys.) Sometimes it’s because you’re a trend-following [_New York Times_ Style Section reader](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/fashion/selfies-the-uglier-the-better-technology.html) who knows ugly ([and preferably monocled](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/fashion/the-monocle-returns-as-a-fashion-accessory.html)) is the new pretty. Sometimes it’s because you posed like this: > [](https://twitter.com/newscomauHQ/status/446891880916062208) But [Nolan Feeney at ](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/why-selfies-sometimes-look-weird-to-their-subjects/359567/)[_The Atlantic_](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/why-selfies-sometimes-look-weird-to-their-subjects/359567/)says that there’s a completely separate reason why photo subjects think they look a little off in their selfies. And that reason is science. Specifically, science of the brain. We are used to identifying with our faces as they would appear in a mirror, but when we take a selfie, the camera captures our faces as strangers would see us from head on rather than we would see ourselves in a reflection. Emotionally unprepared to see our unsymmetrical faces tilting in a slightly different way, we sometimes approach selfies with confusion and disdain. There’s also the technical issue of our [close-range camera phone lenses distorting our faces.](http://bakerdh.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/face-distortion-is-not-due-to-lens-distortion/) But is this a reason to say no to the selfie for self preservation’s sake? Hogwash. While some say [selfies make people narcissistic](http://time.com/35478/how-can-i-make-this-news-linking-selfies-and-narcissism-about-me/), others say that they actually make them more comfortable in their own skin. Because the more times you take a selfie, the more comfortable you are seeing your face in all angles. And as long as your hair looks good, who cares about the other stuff, anyway? ## Transcript You can see the world happening in real time through instagram and I think that's true whether it's Taylor Swift's 1989 tour which trends on instagram all the time, or an important moment like a protest over seas, or a march like Je suis Charlie, in Paris. [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] When we launched Instragram nearly five years ago now, October 6th of 2010, we tapped launched Right before midnight, thinking, ok, everyone's asleep. But, you know, we were a little naive and we didn't realize that midnight Pacific time actually meant that it was morning in Europe and midday elsewhere. And, all of a sudden, people just started rolling in in droves. The stress of keeping servers up was actually Literally what kept us up at night. [ MUSIC ] When I was a junior in college, I got to take a really awesome photography class. And my photography teacher the day I arrived, I had this new fancy camera with a fancy lens, and he took it away and he said no, today you're gonna use this. And it was a Plastic Holga camera. And it took pretty blurry photos. They were square. And he taught me you could add chemicals to the development bath and it would change the tone of the actual developed photo. It was just a lesson I just applied later when we started creating Instagram. We had to create something that incentivized you to take photos and filters for it. So I'd say that class really put its mark on Instagram in the long run. I wanted, and Mike my co- founder wanted to as well, create something where we could share what we were doing in the moment. Images can be an international language. You don't have to speak English to understand someone's photo. Really pivotal moment for us was Hurricane Sandy. An entire coast of the United States came together on social media in a way that I don't think you really saw before. At the end of the day, there's no better way to consume what's happening in the world, other than images. And video and I think Instagram's at the natural nexus of both of those. The next decade, at least on Instagram, will the be decade where we realize the power of a collective group of people capturing the world in real time through their phones. I don't think we quite understand how that will Disrupt industries. I hope, in a hundred years, that I'll be around to see what people think about Instagram. But I know that human nature to connect with other people and the human need to communicate visually and To see what's happening in the world, will never go away. 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