It is a recognised word in the Oxford English dictionary and is popular with celebrities and children alike. Selfie - a photograph taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media site.
But now a new - and potentially dangerous - offshoot of this has started popping up, and that is taking a selfie while driving.
The world was added as a recognised noun from August of this year.
Road safety experts have warned motorists to think twice before engaging in the practice while behind the wheel.
HI CALGARY. #home #drivingselfie pic.twitter.com/PfU3Nvguac
— Cameryn Ehlert (@camerynehlert) July 6, 2013
The Irish Independent says there are already more than 3 million posts on Instagram tagged with "#driving", nearly 50,000 with "#drivinghome", over 9,000 tagged "#drivingtowork" and more than 3,500 tagged "#drivingselfie".
The same hashtags are also making the rounds on Twitter.
Naaaah we aren't naked #lakelife #drivingselfie pic.twitter.com/Dp2QUTih
— Mikey Solfelt (@MikeySolfelt) June 27, 2012
Research by the Road Safety Authority shows that driver distraction is thought to play a role in 20 to 30% of all road collisions, while some 40% of Irish drivers report using their mobile phone at least sometimes while driving.
While carmaker Toyota has taken out a poster ad campaign, urging motorists not to 'shoot and drive'.
