You’ve
seen it thousands of times on Facebook and other social media outlets,
there is even a song on the radio about it! Selfies have become a huge
trend in social media and psychiatrists and mental health workers are
linking them to mental health conditions related to narcissism and a
person’s obsession with their looks.
“Cognitive behavioural therapy is used
to help a patient to recognize the reasons for his or her compulsive
behaviour and then to learn how to moderate it,” he told the Sunday
Mirror.
I’ve personally seen this with some of
my own friends. They might take several selfies over and over again
until they find the right one. Picking out details about their eyebrows,
skin, noses, smiles, teeth, hair and so forth, all in an attempt to
find the perfect angle to make the perfect picture. Even looking at how
most of us choose our profile pictures on Facebook and other social
media sites is a huge process. Believe it or not, as harmless as these
acts all seem, they build up over time to create and create great forms
of self consciousness and false sense of confidence. Instead of being
okay with who we are no matter what, we strive to find the right picture
with all the perfect details. The more likes we get on social media
sites the happier we feel. Is this sustainable? Basing our happiness on
our profile picture or selfie picture performance?
How far can the selfie obsession go? A British male teenager went to
the extent of trying to commit suicide after he was unable to take what
he felt was the perfect selfie. Danny Bowman
became so obsessed with capturing the perfect shot that he would spend
roughly 10 hours per day taking up to 200 selfies trying to get the
perfect shot. As things got more and more intense for Danny, he lost
nearly 30 pounds, dropped out of school and did not leave the house for
six months as he kept trying for the perfect picture. During his suicide
attempt, Bowman was saved by his mother.“I was constantly in search of taking the perfect selfie and when I realized I couldn’t, I wanted to die. I lost my friends, my education, my health and almost my life,” he told The Mirror.
While this is an extreme case, it isn’t too far off from what goes through many of the minds of young, and even older, people as they take pictures of themselves for social media. Seeing other peoples pictures, seeing the attention they may or may not get, we end up comparing ourselves and the fine details of our looks. Overtime, an obsession builds and our looks become increasingly more important to us. Something I feel we should be focusing less and less on versus more and more.
“Selfies frequently trigger perceptions of self-indulgence or attention-seeking social dependence that raises the damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t spectre of either narcissism or very low self-esteem,” said Pamela Rutledge in Psychology Today.
Narcissism, being obsessed with
receiving recognition and gratification from ones looks, vanity and in
an egotistical manner, is becoming a big problem in our digital age. I
personally feel a big part of this stems from judgement of self,
judgement of others and pop culture. There is a huge lack of addressing
these personal issues within the education system or other programs
youth and other young people have access to. We focus so much on
educating a person to become a trained member of society, but we do
nothing for their own personal development as a person. This is a very
important aspect of personal development that I feel should be at the
forefront of our education system.
The addiction to selfies has also
alarmed health professionals in Thailand. “To pay close attention to
published photos, controlling who sees or who likes or comments them,
hoping to reach the greatest number of likes is a symptom that ‘selfies’
are causing problems,” said Panpimol Wipulakorn, of the Thai Mental
Health Department.
The doctor believed that behaviours could generate more mental issues
in the future, especially those related to lack of confidence.
The next time you go to post an image of
yourself online, or even when you go out for the day, observe yourself
and find out how much of your thoughts are based on how you look, what
you think others will think of you and how you might be using your looks
to try and make you feel good for a short period of time. From there
you can work on accepting every aspect of who you are as being perfect
and as it needs to be without needing to look outside yourself for
self-love. You are much more than your looks.
Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/selfie-addiction-mental-illness_n_5022090.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thVR5oAMix0
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