Love selfies? Are you crazy?

Reshma Trilochun Monday 18th December 2017 07:23 EST
 
 

In today's day and age, it isn't an alien sight to see someone taking pictures of themselves, or their food. “Selfies” have become a phenomenal norm within our society and is not an activity frowned upon. If you follow your favourite celebrities on social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you will get to see your most-loved stars posing and uploading their selfies pretty much on a daily basis, some more than once a day. However, according to psychologists, people who feel compelled to post images of themselves on social media may need psychological help. They have suggested that “Selfitis”, a term coined in 2014 to describe obsessive selfie photography, is a genuine mental condition.

Researchers at Thiagarajar School of Management, India, and the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) claim that “Selfitis”, in fact, does exist and have even developed a “Selfitis Behaviour Scale” to assess how severe the symptoms and the “disorder” is. 400 participants were tested on in India to figure out the scale of severity. Incidentally, India is the country with the most Facebook users, as well as the highest death rates as a results of attempting to take dangerous selfies. The scales are split into three levels according to the severity- “borderline”, “acute”, and “chronic”.

The term was first invented in a spoof news story, however, researchers now claim that in actuality, taking selfies excessively is a disorder. Professor of behavioural addiction in NTU's psychology department, Dr Mark Griffiths said, “Whilst the story was revealed to be a hoax, it didn't mean that the condition of selfitis didn't exist. We have now appeared to confirm its existence.”

It could be understood that the findings suggest that those who take many selfies were attention, often lacking self-confidence, who were hoping to hike their placement in within social media.

On the other hand, professor of psychological medicine at King's College London and a formal president of The Royal College of Psychiatrists, Sir Simon Wessely, is not convinced. He states, “The research suggests that people take selfies to improve their mood, draw attention to themselves, increase their self-confidence and connect with their environment. If that is true then this paper is itself an academic 'selfie'.”

Spokesman for The Royal College of Psychiatrists, Dr Mark Salter added, “Selfitis doesn't exist, and it shouldn't exist. There is a tendency to try and label a whole range of complicated and complex human behaviours with a single word. But that is dangerous because it can give something reality where it really has none.”

Celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, Priyanka Chopra and Sonam Kapoor are known for their selfies on social media. And even the girl or boy next door is now an avid selfie lover. There is no denying that it has become a very big part of our daily lives and not a concept that makes one raise an eyebrow. To suggest that selfie-takers are suffering from a mental condition lacks credibility until more thorough investigations, tests and analysis takes place. Until then, we can only suggest that selfies are a form of artistic and personal expression, rather than a lunatic posting images of themselves.

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Three levels of “Selfitis” according to the study:

Borderline: When one takes photographs of themselves at least thrice a day but doesn't post them on social media.

Acute: Taking photographs of themselves at least thrice a day and posting each picture on social media.

Chronic: When the person has an uncontrollable urge to take photographs of themselves constantly throughout the day and posting them on social media more than 6 times a day.  


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