You can’t scroll through any social media news feed without coming across at least a few selfies. The integration of front-facing cameras has effectively replaced the need to rely on a friend to capture your best angles. It’s a narcissist’s dream tool, but one that has proven to have embarrassing results when the snap-happy user doesn’t look beyond themselves. Sometimes the background of a picture can end up stealing the show, which isn’t usually the photographer’s intention.
From revealing reflections to unintentional photo bombs, these people could have saved themselves from embarrassment by reviewing their pictures a little more closely before posting them online.
While attention is usually the goal when uploading a selfie, it’s safe to say that these ones received it for very different reasons. Here are 24 people who should have really considered the background of their selfies before sharing them.
1. Posting a picture of yourself all dressed up doesn’t really have the same effect when it’s in the midst of a room that looks like it was just recently ransacked. Not only does this woman seem to be careless to any potentially compromising floor items, she also seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that there’s a mouse just perusing through her stuff.
2. Before you take a group selfie, you might want to make sure that everyone in the picture is aware it’s happening first. There’s nothing wrong with a celebratory team picture, but it’s probably best to choose any other location than in front of the showers.
3. Everyone knows that sunglasses are like a real-life cool filter, but you should really be careful what your shades look like both ways. Not even incognito mode is going to help this girl now, she’s already unintentionally shared her browsing history, and you don’t need to see the text to know what she’s been looking at.
4. It’s all fun and games until you realize mid-selfie photo shoot that there’s one more subject than initially intended. It was probably only a few seconds before the expression on the selfie-taker matched her friend’s look of utter horror. It’s safe to say this sleepover probably ended with an impromptu location change.
5. Taking a selfie with a baby can be quite a challenge and there’s a very limited window when said baby is actually looking into the lens, which is why sometimes you have to snap regardless of if it looks like a background dog is defecating on the infant’s head.
6. If this girl paid as much attention to her dog as she did to herself, her selfie would probably not look like it’s a still from some sort of Pet Sematary reboot. Barking at the door is one thing, but this is a dog who has clearly had it with being outside.
7. Cell phones have truly replaced the bathroom read. We’ve all given our phones a good scroll while doing our business to pass the time, but usually, a selfie can wait until the sink mirror at least. Unfortunately for this unusually chipper mid-pee girl, the mirror ended up being her downfall.
8. If you’re going to lie to your social media followers that you’re stuck in traffic, you might want to make sure that your sunglasses aren’t reflecting the deserted road ahead of you. Taking a selfie, regardless of traffic, while driving is pretty ill-advised, but clearly, this girl was just looking for a little attention.
13. When this girl asked her friend to take a picture of her sporting a new pair of shades, she probably didn’t realize that she’d also end up capturing a guy who should probably be wearing some. He most likely thought he got away with his not-so-subtle gaze, but little did he know, a rear mirror would expose his rear gawking.
14. For whatever reason, there seems to be a trend of people who think the epitome of romance is your significant other taking candid photos of them. Whether this girl is in a relationship or not, the mirror makes it very clear that she is showering alone in one very sad failed setup.
15. Before deciding to take a picture of his son prior to some sort of formal event, this father should have really been more conscious of the reflection in the wall mirror. I guess just because his son is all dressed up and ready to go, doesn’t mean he has to be.
16. “That awkward moment when you’re trying to take a selfie and a mother decides to beat her child with her sandal,” shared Reddit user PolarLight. Taking pictures in a public bathroom is pretty frowned upon due to it being potentially invasive for others, but usually, that has nothing to do with sandals.
Reddit /u/ PolarLight
17. If you climbed a mountain, chances are, you’re going to want people to know you climbed that mountain, which is why it makes a lot of sense that this apex would be selfie central station. However, it’s not too often that you see a selfie get photo-bombed by another selfie.
18. The selfie generation has definitely given their parents a whole new reason to groan, but usually, that’s only once they’ve stumbled upon the photos after they’ve been uploaded and the damage has been done. However, apparently, the level of parental disappointment is the same even when catching the selfie mid-action.
19. You should really re-evaluate your level of commitment to your cell phone if you can’t even pee at a urinal without seeing it as a potential photo op. For whatever reason, bathrooms have become quite a hot spot for selfies, but not every second of the experience needs to be documented.
20. Just because it’s called a selfie doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take into consideration the other people who are in the same room as you. Normally, this girl’s friend would probably be leaping towards that phone’s delete button, but considering her bracing positioning, it looks like she’s dealing with much bigger problems.
21. Muscular shirtless guys posting pictures of themselves to boast about their bodies is definitely nothing new, but this one manages to become instantly less macho due to the mirror in the background. Having your mother take a picture of you flexing shirtless isn’t very intimidating, it’s just a little weird.
22. One would think that with front-facing cameras purely for selfies, there would be no need to resort to the bathroom mirror to take a picture of yourself. However, maybe this guy just wanted to share with the world his makeshift shovel selfie stick. Considering there’s no button, he must have had to use some self-timer action.
23. The objective here appears to have been to make it seem like her boyfriend took a picture of her sleeping so people wouldn’t think she’s sad and lonely, but unfortunately for her, a poorly placed mirror ended up creating the opposite effect. If you’re going to do this, you should really check your surroundings first, but also, just don’t.
24. When you’re still living at your parents’ house, there are some selfies that end up becoming unintentional family photos. This girl might want to invest in a lock for her bedroom door before she decides to have her next photo shoot. However, this dad seems game to be a part of it.
