For the greater part of human history the only people who knew exactly what we looked like as individuals were other people. When the best we could do for mirrors were bowls of various metals filled with clear water, or still pools which give a slightly concave or convex view of our faces we never really knew what they saw. Then we invented mirrors, some very shiny but it was not until the silver and glass mirror we use today that near perfect if reversed images of ourselves became readily available to us. In a subtle way that changed human history.
Have you ever thought of your life as a series of places you want to be? As a series of accomplishments? As a planned or unplanned experiences all of which in our imaginations now carry a clear view of what we look like.Our sense of self has been enhanced by the invention of mirrors even more than any other invention where we can see ourselves in the characteristics of what we make. All our inventions tend to manipulate physical space in one way or another but not mirrors. They manipulate us.
I don’t for a moment suppose ego became bigger or more unmanageable with the invention of mirrors. But I do suspect our sense of self became markedly stronger.