The psychology of selfies or selfies as a disease of the 21st century.
It cannot be denied that today only those who live in the impenetrable wilderness, where there are no mobile phones, did not take a selfie. All other people regularly take pictures of themselves and actively share their own photos on social networks. Some people post 2-3 pictures a week, some – 5-6 pictures a day. And this, you see, is not the limit.
Such a massive hobby for narcissism (and a selfie in translation from English roughly means this) forced psychologists to investigate this problem and conduct a large-scale check. As a result, they managed to find out that an exorbitant love for selfies is a disease that is associated with a psychological personality disorder. It has its own name – “selfmania” or, as it is sometimes called, “selfitis”.
Selfitis stages
Moreover, the specialists managed to identify three stages in the development of self-addiction:
- initial – when a person takes no more than three selfies a day and does not post them on social networks,
- acute – addiction forces a person to take more than three photos daily and regularly post them on his page,
- chronic – characterized by the desire to take more than six selfies a day, each of which is waiting for mandatory publication.
Such a division into stages is relative, and according to some publications, it is completely fake, launched several years ago by one unreliable portal.
Nevertheless, we cannot but agree that the love for selfies, especially if it goes to extremes, can really affect the quality of a person’s life and his psycho-emotional state.
Selfies are a way of expressing yourself with dangerous overtones.
Even if we do not talk about selfitis, we can confidently say that constant admiration for oneself suggests that a person has certain problems with self-esteem and perception of his own “I”. Therefore, selfies are not always as harmless as they seem.
Yes, they help increase self-confidence, but not everyone. Along with this selfie:
Creates fear of being left without followers
The addiction to likes and hearts makes a person more and more often look for good angles and interesting places that could surprise his subscribers. If there are no such people, the person begins to get nervous and come up with all sorts of nonsense, just not to be left without subscribers and lose public interest in his own person.
Exacerbate social media addiction
The fight against addiction to social networks is one of the main problems of our time. And the selfie craze only exacerbates this task, making it almost impossible.
Make you risk your life
Some young people are so addicted to photographing themselves in the most unpredictable places that sometimes they are ready to risk their own lives in order to take a good shot and earn several hundred likes.
But in reality, they lose their sense of self-control and do not think about their own safety, which has more than once become the cause of dangerous injuries and even deaths.
Invade personal space
On the one hand, we all understand that each person takes a selfie himself. But on the other hand, the craze for photographs of everything and everyone has long gone beyond all boundaries, and now even a picture from a toilet stall is not considered something scandalous. Thus, little by little, modern people lose their sense of personal space, letting in more and more spectators. Over time, this affects their emotional state, and if they have nothing more to show to the imaginary Internet public, they fall into a real depression.
Make you underestimate your own life
Beautiful photos from beaches, selfies on expensive yachts, pictures from fashionable receptions – all this today is associated with a fun and beautiful life, which, unfortunately, is not available to everyone. Therefore, many users of social networks, having seen enough of such pictures of fun pastime, begin to hate their own life, considering it boring and monotonous. All this leads to the fact that they stop appreciating what they have, striving to live like everyone who posts beautiful selfies. But they forget that the beautiful life in the picture is not always so real.
Cause the development of narcissism
An unstable psyche and the desire to always seem better than others is not the best combination of qualities in a person who has a phone with a camera in his hands. Once he has taken his own picture, he will never be able to stop until he learns to take the perfect photos in which he, from his point of view, will look perfect. On the one hand, there is nothing wrong with that. Indeed, in pursuit of a beautiful figure, he will probably go to the gym and work out there quite diligently. But on the other hand, constant admiration for himself will lead him to nothing more than the development of narcissism, the obvious symptoms of which are narcissism and selfishness.
Good sides of selfies
Despite such an abundance of shortcomings mentioned above, I would like to note that selfies are not always as bad as they seem. If a person is completely healthy and does not suffer from mental disorders, a photo of himself can allow him:
Become more confident
Beautiful photos in which you like yourself and a few dozen likes under them are a great way to cope with self-doubt and look at yourself from the outside.
Get rid of an inferiority complex
Photos from the gym with a pumped up torso or just a photo in beautiful clothes that emphasize all the advantages of the figure, allow you to forget that you used to suffer from an inferiority complex. Therefore, selfies for those who do not believe in their own attractiveness can be a great way to reconsider their views on life and accept themselves as they are.
Make new friends
The more beautiful photos a person has, the more likes they collect. And the more likes, the more friends he has. Almost every student knows this, who already from the first grade knows how to take a selfie. Therefore, the number of subscribers is constantly growing for all people who like to take photos, and new acquaintances appear with them.
Open the mind
First, you take a photo just at home, then with friends. Then, find interesting places in your city, and then you start to seriously think about going somewhere in search of a beautiful shot. Thus, the circle of interests gradually expands, and you constantly learn something new.
Stop being afraid of judgment
A negative comment is, of course, unpleasant. But after the first ten dislikes, it’s not so scary anymore. And after a hundred offensive statements addressed to you, you simply stop taking them as a personal insult, realizing that you will not be nice to everyone. Therefore, the love of selfies is a great opportunity to learn how to work with negativity and correctly perceive criticism in your address.
As you can see, selfies can easily become a disease. But if you treat it wisely, then there is nothing wrong with it. Don’t go to extremes. Do not turn your life into a pursuit of a good shot, and then everything will be just fine for you. Let your pages be full of interesting photos, but they should remain only photos that do not oblige you to anything and affect your personal life. Happy staff!