Selfies date back to 1839, when photographer Robert Cornelius produced a daguerreotype of himself. The slow process allowed him to uncover the lens and step into the shot, thus creating the first selfie.

@coolshotsselfiemuseum
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The modern selfie has roots in Japanese kawaii culture, which focused on photographic self-representation, particularly among females. A telescopic extender, now known as a selfie stick, was patented in 1983. Posting self-taken photographs on the internet dates back to an Australian web page in 2001. The Australian internet is also where the word “selfie” first appeared in 2002. Now, everyone takes hundreds of selfies every year.

The latest development in the selfie world is selfie museums. Opened March 1, the Cool Shots Selfie Museum in Orange Beach at The Wharf in Alabama is one of the newest and coolest.

@coolshotsselfiemuseum
www.coolshotsselfiemusem

Despite the name, it’s not really a museum, but it does have selfie facts and info sprinkled among the displays. The Cool Shots Selfie Museum has more than 50 unique, colorful and wild scenes, perfect for selfie-taking and posting on social media.

In addition to the immersive backdrops, the Cool Shots Selfie Museum hosts dance parties every Thursday night. A live deejay plays pop, hip hop and country dance mixes to entertain attendees, who, of course, take selfies and make TikTok videos of themselves dancing and singing.

Selfie museums are all over the world, and more open all the time. Other selfie museums include

The Selfie Kingdom in Dubai
WNDR in Chicago
Seattle Selfie Museum
The Color Factory in New York
CandyTopia in Los Angeles . . . and other cities coming soon.

Google reports 93 million selfies are taken yearly on its Android devices. Places like the Cool Shots Selfie Museum are helping the cause by providing the coolest, hottest and hippest backdrops.

— John Wroblewski, online writer

@coolshotsselfiemuseum
www.coolshotsselfiemusem

@coolshotsselfiemuseum
www.coolshotsselfiemusem

@coolshotsselfiemuseum
www.coolshotsselfiemusem

@coolshotsselfiemuseum
www.coolshotsselfiemusem