Why you just can't help but selfie.

We all do it! Either from the comfort of our bedrooms and offices or at special occasions like high school prom or beach vacation. The selfie has taken over our culture-- and our smartphones. The rise of the selfie has become universal-- between presidents, popes, celebrities and citizens alike, and the trend is growing continuously.



 Currently there are nearly 62 million tagged selfie photos on Instagram, the social media tool that has significantly contributed to the personal portrait's popularity. That figure, which continues to rise every day, doesn't even begin to include the selfies shared on Facebook and Twitter.

What makes the selfie so captivating -- and why do we feel compelled to take one? According to Dr. Pamela Rutledge, psychologist and director of the Media Psychology Research Center, the desire to take, post and get "likes" on selfies goes back to a biological behavior all humans are wired for.

The birth of the selfie didn't begin with the first smartphone. As the BBC points out, it could be argued that the first selfies were captured in the 1800s with mirrors or by using a self-timer. These proto-selfies fit the orthodox definition in that the photographer was also the subject and, if one were to look at the technology of the time, the camera was as new-fangled a gadget as our contemporary iPhone. While many of these self-taken photos included large groups of family and friends (as opposed to the contemporary solo selfie), some people from the era did get creative when it came to capturing images of themselves, posing in front of mirrors in order to get an individual picture.

But with the digital age, selfies have taken off in a way that no one could have predicted. The humble beginnings of the Internet selfie had social media users flipping their cameras or, like in the late 1800s, using mirrors to capture personal photos of themselves for early social media networks like Myspace -- or just to send to their friends or for personal enjoyment.

 Whether it's through a camera lens from the 1860s or in front of your iPhone, Rutledge theorizes that both a sense of control and relief come into play when it comes to taking a personal photo. "In a sense, it allows you to explore in a way that most photographers don't," Rutledge said. "[You] can control your image going out there, or it can be looked at as you are the photographer and the subject, which can be a very freeing feeling."