Selfie Generation

You go out with friends, go to a concert, get ready for an interview, or perhaps you just finished getting ready for the day and you look great.

But what, lemme take a selfie. #lookingreat

So what is it about selfies? Let’s take a look at the good in the bad, I mean we’ve all seen the article floating around about people who take selfies are narcissistic. But can we really base everything off one article? Let’s check in with our scientist and psychologist friends.

I realize most everyone reading this blog knows what a selfie is, but in case you don’t, I’ll tell you. A selfie describes the act of taking a photo of oneself and sharing on social media. It has been reported that 24 BILLION selfies were taken last year alone.

SELFITIS- the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.

Nothingham Trent University in the UK conducted a study to create a scale to measure the motivation for taking sefies. This allowed them to create twenty statements for selfitist behavior scale. The top six were the most important though. So let’s look at the top six motivators for selfies.

1. Attention Seeking- The acting of taking and posting selfies across various social media platforms made people feel more popular. Obviously, if you’ve posted a selfie you see the likes, comments, sometimes even shares. It’s an easy and obvious way to gain attention through a very large audience.

2. Mood Modification- Taking selfies are another way for people to enhance their mood which in turn increases the need to take more selfies. Similar to a drug addict. Any experience that makes someone feel better will most likely be repeated, this is also part of what defines an addiction.

3. Self-Confidence- Selfies may actually increase self-confidence. With apps that allow us to edit and enhance our photos, we obtain a closer ideal of the self we want to be before posting online.

4. Social Competition- Taking selfies to increase one’s social status or simply to get social media likes and follows.

5. Subjective Conformity- This refers to the human tendency to copy what others do. Social media allows users to create different groups and feel a sense of belonging to that particular group. Every human craves to belong somewhere.

6. Environmental Enhancement- Taking selfies to create memories or “trophies” of oneself, such as going to a concert or doing an activity such as running a marathon. Selfies also allow us to express ourselves more freely.

Then, from the list they create three categories of selfitis.

• Borderline- Taking selfies up to three times a day, but not posting on social media. The motivation for this group is self-confidence and mood enhancement.

• Acute- Taking selfies at least three times a day and post each on social media. The motivation for this group is subjective conformity.

• Chronic- Possessing the urge to take selfies all day and posting these to social media at least six times a day. The motivation for this group is attention seeking, social competition, and environmental enhancement.

Another study was conducted in India (India has the highest number of social media users) that confirmed there were users obsessively taking selfies. This means selfitis exists but none of that data showed negative psycho-social impacts.

Put simply, Selfitis cannot actually be considered a mental disorder.

During their research they also began to look to see if the people taking and posting selfies on social media possessed narcissist, psychopathic, self-objectifying, Machiavellianism, or all four traits.

Narcissism, psychopathic, and Machiavellianism combined are known as the dark triad. The Dark Triad is associated with a callous and manipulative way of interacting with others.

Psychopathy- A mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, a lack of the ability to truly love and establish meaningful personal relationships, show extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from past experience and other symptoms.

Machiavellianism- Refers to the personality trait where a person is so focused on their own interests they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to achieve their own goals.

Narcissism- exhibiting a lack of ability to empathize with others, inflated sense of self-importance, grandiosity, need for admiration, belief they are superior or special compared to others, and incredibly manipulative.

Self-Objectifying- When a person views themselves as an object for use instead of as a human being, a great example is when a women internalize people’s objectification of their bodies viewing themselves as a sexual object for others, basing their worth only on their sexual worth.

• In India, 1,000 men between the ages or 18 to 40 were assessed based on the amount of selfies they took and posted on social media in one week.

• Along with how many other photos they posted, how much time they spent on social media, and how often they used various methods the make themselves look via editing or filters.

The results showed the following:

• Narcissism and self-objectification were associated with more time on social media and photo editing.

• Posting numerous selfies related to higher narcissistic tendencies and psychopathy.

• Narcissistic individuals were more likely to show off with selfies and make extra effort to look their best in photos.

• Psychopathic men posted more selfies but edited selfies less.

Moving on from our study in India. What else do we need to know about selfies.

Another reason people take selfies has to do with finding fulfillment.

A few decades ago, people with as much exposure as we have today, were celebrities. Once the current generation were out of college (or the same time period), they realized notoriety had to be found elsewhere.

The rise of social media was in perfect unison with these desires, creating a portal through which regular people could accomplish the extraordinary with minimal effort.

Social media was created as a means to connect with people. Sharing photos is part of that. From sharing graduation, wedding, engagements, new baby, new house and ourselves. To connect with people we hadn’t seen in years, curiosity would arise as to what we look like now.

But when asked, nearly everyone said they would never post a bad or unflattering photo of themselves. People tend to un-tag unflattering photos or ask them to be taken down.

This simple statement shows most people are seeking a self-esteem boost. Every like, comment, share is a boost to their confidence and fuels their desire to take and post even more selfies.

The act of taking selfies has been put into a negative light recently. Articles floating around claiming people who take selfies are merely narcissists and have a mental illness that makes them take these photos.

But they’re forgetting the positives of selfies:

• Selfies help people portray a version of themselves they want the world to see.

• Selfies can even be a powerful statement to inspire people on to great things in their lives, have photo proof of better times, or simple something that helps them get through the day.

• Selfies allow us to show that we’re part of something. As seen by the viral hashtag challenges such as #nomakeup or #stopdropselfie where we are able to belong to a group. While not a selfie, usually a self-taken video such as the #icebucketchallege, which raised awareness and money for ALS.

• People have ambition to stand out in the crowd as shown by our clothing, hair, or friend choices. Selfies are no different. It’s a statement to the world, allowing you to stand out among the crowd.

• Selfies are an expression of a person’s identity, capturing a moment in their life that meant something to them.

• Selfies are also a way of find oneself or getting to know oneself.

• People love to see pictures of humans and animals (more so with rescues or disabled pets) interacting. These pictures show the best of humankind. It portrays humans as selfless, kind and even courageous. Everyone wants to believe in the kindness of humans because they want to believe in their own goodness.

So that’s the science behind selfies, the good or bad. How you view it, is all up to you. But from my personal experience, for me, selfies began in late middle school and really caught on after high school. In high school I was bullied, told I was ugly, I had terrible self-confidence. But once Instagram really picked up, even facebook, I began to really get compliments, even making friends all over the world. So while you may catch me taking a selfie or a video on snapchat, feel free to laugh. I know it looks silly, but also consider that the friends I’ve made online and through my blog now, care about what I’m posting.

To selfie or not, that’s all up to you. Do what makes you happy, who cares about the rest.

Vibe Higher,

Lobeless

#selfies