Selfie is by definition a self-taken photograph of oneself. People usually post selfies on their social media accounts and the ultimate goal is to show people their best looks or what they have spend their time on. Really, there’s nothing wrong with taking a selfie. In fact you can do lots of great things with it: capture some memorable moments, boost your confidence and self esteem (sometimes it really does!), and more…
But when a 15 year old teenager says…
“One told me my nose was too big for my face and another picked on my skin. I started taking more and more (selfies) to try to get the approval of my friends.”
…the problem comes. And I mean SERIOUS problem comes.
Danny Bowman, started to take selfies at the age of 15, has committed suicide in his house to escape his obsession on getting the “right angle” for his selfie. Luckily, he was saved by his mother and send to the hospital for both physical and mental treatments.
Excuse me??? Suicide for what reason??? According to Danny, he posted over 200 selfies everyday in the past 4 years, and finally overdosed on pills because none of the shots were “PERFERCT”.
“I lost my friends, my education, my health and almost my life.”——Danny, age 19
The quotes that the news article embedded really brings the attention of the viewer to what an actual selfie-addicted teenager think and feel. You might say Danny’s case is particularly extreme, but when another 13 year old girl snaps herself 100+ times a day, another 15 year old looks at his social media account 200 times a day, and countless teenagers spend large portion of their valuable time on taking selfies, you can’t say Danny is just a bizarre one-off.
Danny's story was a breaking news in the UK 2 years ago. Several psychologists and doctors were interviewed to talk about their point of views on the wide spread phenomenon of teenagers getting selfie addiction. The knowledge and information provided by these authorities really adds on to the credibility of this news article, and in this case the seriousness of the story and the importance of knowing about the phenomenon.
Dr. David Veal, Danny’s psychiatrist, described selfie addiction as “a mental health issue which has an extremely high suicide rate.” -It’s more than a vanity issue! Psychologists today even put “selfie-addiction” as a factor of diagnosing mental disorder. There is a huge lack of understanding about the dangers social networking and mobile technology can pose if a young person already has any insecurities (this includes low self esteem, school bullying…) -which most do.
Now, here are some facts about selfie:
- There are nearly 300 million posts on Instagram that are tagged with the hashtag #selfie.
- Thousands of “selfie apps” exist to spice up your outlook, personal style and highlight your mood.
- Oxford English Dictionary named the word “SELFIE” as the word of 2013 because the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by 17,000% since the time in 2012.
—— You can tell that “taking a selfie” has become a huge part of our modern day life. But do you know that excessively sharing and posting selfies on social media can damage relationships with friends, family and colleagues? A study of the Heriot Watt University shows that a increased frequency of sharing selfie is directly related to a decrease in intimacy with others.
Scientists started to link “selfie” with “narcissism”. People started to care more and more about their outlook and how they present themselves to their friends, to other people, and to the world. And those are exactly what narcissists do —pursue gratification from vanity and admiration from their own physical attributes.
Next time when you take out your phone for a selfie, think about: Who are you trying to reach? What ideas are you trying to convey? Because really, “taking a selfie” just sounds like a trivial and harmless action, but a little snap can actually mean a lot more than that.
As said, live your own life instead of living before the eyes of others. You don’t have to live with comments and approvals from others via social media.
In case if you are wondering if you are selfie-addicted, why not take a moment for a narcissistic perosnality quiz?
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