8 Negative effects of Selfie Addiction on Teens Health
Negative effects of taking selfies “Selfie Addiction” on Teens Health
(Body Dysmorphic Disorder BDD Symptoms)
Negative effects of taking selfies on teens health, selfie addiction also called selfie syndrome a Body Dysmorphic Disorder BDD symptom creates liability to your personality. Selfies undermines young people’s self-confidence, self-esteem and body image. There are a lot of reasons why selfies are fun and engaging ways of communicating. But there are also reasons why selfie-taking is putting people into harm’s way. We increasingly hear reports of death and injury attributed to selfie-taking. The media emphasis on selfie-driven mayhem skews our fears and fans an underlying message that selfie-taking is inherently problematic.
Social Connection
Selfies are emotionally engaging because they are personal. Humans are social animals. We are hardwired to connect. We innately want to prolong human connection. Most selfies are taken to capture an experience with another person. Showcase being in an interesting or special location, or record a social moment. When we do this, our brains are very, very busy. We focus on the image in the camera lens, feeling the emotions that made the moment worth capturing. The “urgency” of a selfie—its fleeting quality—heightens our concentration.
We are, consciously or unconsciously, looking to see how we look, if everyone is in the picture, and if it captures the subjective experience. With our incredibly facile brains, projecting a little into the future. We are anticipating—imagining seeing, sharing the image and remembering the moment, the event, the people, and the feelings.
Selective Attention a Negative effects of taking selfies “Selfie Addiction” on Teens Health.
Humans have selective attention. When our brains are this preoccupied, we don’t see what’s around us. Projecting visually makes us hyper-focused. When we focus on one thing with great intentionality, it diminishes our cognizance of other things. It decreases our situational awareness. The well-known “Invisible Gorilla” study demonstrated this when video-watchers, asked to count how many times players passed a basketball to one another. 90% did not see a man in a gorilla suit walk into the center of the action, beat his chest and move on.
Other research has shown that people on a cellphone conversation don’t see objects plainly in their field of vision. Whether it’s context appropriate, such as warning signs, or humorously incongruous. We have all experienced the sense of presence when we talk on the phone to loved ones. in our minds’ eye, we are seeing them, and are not as aware of our own surroundings, even in someplace as busy as a trade centers. The number of people walking into signs or stepping off track in front of moving vehicles while engaged with a digital device is mounting.
Inability to Multi-Task
Contrary to popular mythology, our brains don’t multitask. We really can’t do two things at once but we can task switch very well. Some people remarkably well, although it takes cognitive energy to redirect our intentionality. Selfie taking therefore at the time takes most part of our brain cognizance.
Teen Selfies can trigger addiction – Selfie Syndrome
“A selfie creates an impact, more or less, on one’s everyday life, depending on each individual. Posting photos [on social network sites] to seek approval and ‘likes’ from peers as a reward is normal human nature. Whatever people do and then get rewarded for it, they will do again,” Dr Panpimol said.
“But the reward has varying degrees of emotional effects on each individual. Some people are happy after sharing a selfie and getting few likes, while others expect as many likes as possible and become addicted to being liked.
“Conversely, if they feel they don’t get enough likes for their selfie as expected, they decide to post another, but still do not receive a good response. This could affect their thoughts. They can lose self-confidence and have a negative attitude toward themselves, such as feeling dissatisfied with themselves or their body. This Predisposes them to Selfie Addiction.
“Paying too much attention to one’s shared selfies by continuing to check on who sees or comments on them in the hope of getting the most likes as possible is a sign that selfies are causing problems for people, including a possible lack of self-confidence,” Dr Panpimol said.
Excerpt: Selfie Addiction also called Selfie Syndrome creates negative effects on teens self confidence and body image, predisposes them to self obsession, insecurity and even causes health damages. All this and many more can be attributed to the negative effects of taking selfies.
Narcissism
Take one peek at Instagram’s ‘most popular’ pictures and you’ll see a worrying reflection of our society; it’s absolutely riddled with selfies. We often associate narcissism with vanity, but it also relates to feeling better than others.
Posting selfies online has also been linked to self-objectification, which is when you view your body as an object based on its sexual value, and tend to derive your sense of self-worth from appearance.
Negative effects of taking selfies on teens health, Such focus on looks can undermine young people’s self-confidence and body image. Young people can get caught up in how they’re portrayed on social media, seeking approval and affirmation from others in the form of likes and retweets. Relying too heavily on this as a means of boosting self-esteem will inevitably lead to unhappiness and low self-confidence when they’re not getting as much praise and approval online as they’d like.
Negative effects of taking selfies on Teens Health, predisposes one to Body Dysmorphic Disorder BDD Symptoms. Undermines young people’s self-confidence, self-esteem and body image.
Social media Impact
A few separate studies have demonstrated that a picture driven web based platform, for example, Facebook, can cause depressive side effects. This is a direct result of the way Facebook empowers and urges members to compare themselves with others.
Some people go to extraordinary lengths to curate the ‘perfect’ online personality. They remove or de-tag any unflattering pictures, only the most attractive selfies are posted, and the only moments which are recorded are the positive or happy ones, creating the illusion of a flawless existence.
When young people forget that this isn’t real, and compare their entire self, complete with flaws and down days, to other people’s curated, perfected versions of themselves, they can start to feel inferior and as though they fall short of everyone else.
It’s really important to remind young people of the Negative effects of Selfie Addiction on Teens Health and that comparing themselves to others on social media is unhelpful. As they’re comparing themselves to something impossible and unattainable. Most curated versions of people you see on the internet are 89% sham. Nobody looks fantastic all the time and everyone has bad days too. This they will never let you know to avoid undermining their already perfected versions.
As long as young people are aware of this, they can make the most out of all the benefits of social media. Staying in touch with friends, posting photos and organizing social events.
Selfie Addiction; Negative Impact on Teen Health, predisposes one to Body Dysmorphic Disorder BDD Symptoms. Undermines self-confidence and body image.
Read Also: Depression in Teenagers Increases Suicide Rate
Selfie Obsession
People’s growing obsession with posting the perfect selfie is evident in the existence of apps designed to allow the user to touch up and perfect their image before posting online.
Self-objectification – judging ourselves on the basis of appearance – thrives when taking selfies. It can lead to depression, eating disorders and is a sign of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Symptoms.
Teen Selfies damage friendships
The problem with social media is that we can start chasing fantasy, digital ‘friends’ and irritating our real friends who love us for who we really are. Real friends want to know what’s going on in our life, not how we look under the warm glow of Shoprite Environs or Obudu Cattle Ranch. I have come to discover that I value and cherish time I spend on social media with close allies than time spent replying and catching up with acquaintances on social platforms.
Taking Selfie decrease intimacy a Negative effects of Selfie syndrome on Teens Health.
A study from three business schools in Europe found that people who post the most selfies have shallow relationships. Four professors worked on the report, ‘Tagger’s Delight?’ and say increased frequency of sharing photos of yourself is directly related to a decrease in intimacy.
Can be linked to psychopathic traits
Good reason to check out someone’s social media feed before agreeing to a date: a study from Ohio State University found that men who share lots of selfies are displaying psychopathic traits, lack of empathy and score higher than average levels of anti-social characteristics. Psychologist Professor Fox who led research says, “Psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity. They snap and put the photos online right away, they want to see themselves. They don’t want to spend time editing.” Neither do they want to spend time in their actual relationships.
Negative effects of Selfie Syndrome on Teens Health can further trigger depression and eating disorders
We’ve become so focused on snapping ourselves; we’re distracted from the present and missing live moments of joy. Self-objectification – judging ourselves on the basis of appearance – thrives when taking selfies. It can lead to depression, eating disorders and is a sign of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Symptoms. Two out of three patients who see psychiatrists for BDD repeatedly take selfies. Belfies (butt selfies) and helfies (hair selfies) reinforce body images issues, and requests for cosmetic surgery have increased purely because people want to appear better on social media. Depression Management
Selfie Elbow a resultant of Selfie Syndrome
Yes, it’s a thing. American TV show host, Hoda Kotb, who’s a prolific selfie taker, revealed at a time that she’s been diagnosed with ‘Selfie Elbow’. Bearing in mind that tennis elbow and RSI (repetitive strain injury) stem from repeatedly making the same movement over and over again, it follows that holding our arm outstretched at a strange angle while we click away on our phones can and will cause damage. Having any of such symptom, consult a Physical Therapist for proper management.
Negative effects of Selfie Addiction on Teens Health, predisposes one to Body Dysmorphic Disorder BDD Symptoms. Undermines young people’s self-confidence, self-esteem and body image.
Selfie safety
There have been several worrying reports of children taking inappropriate selfies that then end up in the wrong hands. This has led to a panic around the subject of selfies and children.
But, taking a selfie rarely falls into the category of sexting, and starting a conversation about teen selfies with your child provides a good opportunity to raise the importance of their online reputation.
Remind them that what goes online stays online, and when they post a selfie, or send one to a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, the image is then out of their control.
For advice on what to do if your teen has sent someone a selfie they regret taking, or if it’s been shared online, have a look at this content on what to do.
Read Also: 12 Natural Home Remedies To Lose Weight On Tummy And Hips
Negative effects of Selfie Syndrome on Teens Health
‘Young people can get too caught up in their online presence, which tends to be more about gaining status and approval than individuality’
Psychologist Dr. Linda Papadopoulos has described how young people can get too caught up in their online presence, which tends to be more about gaining status and approval than individuality. This can result in young people being unsure of who they truly are as a person.
Dr. Papodopoulos encourages young people to be aware of this and to take time to foster an offline, real sense of self and identity, while also relying less on their online profile as a means of defining who they are.
Self-objectification – judging ourselves on the basis of appearance – thrives when taking selfies. It can lead to depression, eating disorders and is a sign of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Symptoms.
Therefore, its advisable to measure the time you give to taking selfies, social media and smart devices. Put the phone down at some point and spend time with yourself. Look out for real connections, real relationships that will help boost your self love. It is best to bear in mind that you have someone who values you the most hanging inside of you than a thousand of fake feelings you sort from social media. The truth is, you wont find them out there. Look happier with one or two true friends who appreciates you better than thousands of acquaintances that poses as friends but do not care for your existence.