Selfie disease scientific research. Selfiemania: the influence of selfies on a person that you didn’t know about. Selfie is a mental illness

The trend of the 21st century was the so-called “selfies” (selfies) - photographs of oneself taken using mobile phone, tablet or other gadget. People all over the world post thousands of such photos on social networks. In the USA, a holiday was invented in 2014 - Selfie Day, and other countries picked it up. The manic desire to constantly post selfies alarms scientists and psychologists. “360” asked experts how dangerous such a hobby is and whether it can be classified as a mental illness.

Dangerous selfies

The self-photo format emerged with the invention of camera phones. In recent years, selfies have become popular not only among young people, but also among the older generation. Photos don't always leave a happy impression. Increasingly, they end in tragedy. A couple from Poland decided to photograph themselves and their children on the edge of a cliff. The man and woman tripped and fell into the abyss. The price of a selfie was life.

A 17-year-old fell to his death while trying to take a selfie while hanging from the roof of a nine-story building. The rope that was securing him broke. Another girl was filming herself on the edge of a roof and tripped. There are hundreds of such cases in the world. For the sake of photos that will get millions of likes, teenagers and adults forget about the most important thing - safety.

Selfie addiction

Russian psychologist Alexander Kichaev tells stories from his practice. Patients with so-called selfie addiction come to see him.

“A guy came to me who had a time management disorder. He didn't have time to do anything, failed assignments at work, and barely saw his family. The problem turned out to be not that he does not know how to manage time correctly, but that a large part of his life depends on whether he posted a photo or not,” Alexander Kichaev.

After the survey, it turned out that the young man spends 50% of his time sitting on social networks - discussing his life, photographing everything that comes his way. According to the psychologist, such a mania to show off everything is nothing more than an existential motive, that is, an attempt to show everyone that a person exists in this world. Kichaev notes that the patient is in this way trying to prove that he means something.

“This is a disease if a person has nothing else and cannot prove his right to selfhood in this life with anything else. And for a person it becomes a mania,” - Alexander Kichaev.

The psychologist notes that if the selfie hobby does not take exaggerated forms, then the entertainment will be completely safe. But if a pathological desire to take pictures of yourself everywhere develops, be it a waterfall, a park, an entrance or a trash can, then a harmless selfie develops into a real addiction.

To treat or not to treat

Experts are faced with the problem of treating such addiction. It has not been fully studied in science. Psychologists see the solution to the problem in harmonizing life balance. A person must understand why he has a problem, why it is necessary for others to evaluate himself and his life. But most importantly, people who suffer from selfie mania must themselves accept that they are sick.

Alexander Kichaev says that the most correct way out is to learn self-regulation and be able to get out of the state of dependence. If you can’t cope, then psychologists use sedatives.

How selfies became a disease

For the first time, the term “selfitis”, which is what people with selfie addiction are called, appeared on a fictitious news site. Then the American Psychiatric Association called selfie lovers carriers of a mental disorder. This disorder, according to foreign psychiatrists, is defined as mental. “Selfies” have become a real drug; according to experts, the longer you get involved in this, the more difficult it will be later. On Selfie Day, experts advise you not to post photos, but to enjoy your vacation with friends and relatives.

A NASA camera took a selfie against the backdrop of a raging storm. NASA continues to successfully operate a unique apparatus called Curiosity on Mars. The robot is capable of shooting in 360 degrees. He recently took a photograph against the backdrop of a raging storm.

A few years ago, a new word “selfie” came into the everyday life of modern people - photographing oneself. People take pictures of their faces and body parts and then post them on the Internet.

Causes

Main causes of addiction:

Low self-esteem, lack of attention. By taking photos, selfie addicts try to express themselves, to prove that they are no worse than others. Approval and recognition only strengthen the desire to do it more often and improve your skills.
Lack of communication. Due to the lack of live communication, teenagers go into the virtual world and find a circle of friends there, exchanging likes and comments.
Diffidence. This is often characteristic of teenage girls. Dissatisfaction with their own appearance and attractiveness makes them avoid face-to-face communication. They prefer to take selfies, because there is always the opportunity to remove any flaws in appearance using Photoshop.
Problems in your personal life. If there is no support and understanding in the family, then people look for it on social networks. By taking various pictures, they try to show their feelings, find compassion, or forget for a while.

Most often, schoolchildren, students, and adults become victims of self-mania. The latter may be subject to pressure at work and uncertainty about their status. Desires to gain recognition and be no worse than other people turn into obsessions and actions.

Stages of addiction

In addition to the main reasons, there are also individual cases: envy, desire for revenge, ridicule. Experts call selfie mania a disease of the 21st century. The International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction has identified 3 stages of selfism:

Primary stage. The owner of the camera takes about three pictures of himself a day, stores them, but does not publish them online until a certain time.
Acute stage. The shots taken are posted on Internet sites. The level of attention to them is monitored very carefully and carefully. The author of photo cards monitors the number of likes and comments on his publications.
Chronic stage. An uncontrollable desire to constantly take pictures, post them on social networks and worry about their fate. Such a person is capable of taking about 50 selfies a day, changing angles, facial expressions and images.

Symptoms

In order to correctly recognize at what stage of the disease a person is, it is worth observing him. With the help of mirrors, people take pictures in all the places where they are present. There is an exposure of one's personal life. Gradually, photos appear in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the elevator, at work or in a restaurant.

Having caught a successful shot, the camera owner hurries to post it on his page and expects the coveted positive comments and ratings. These actions are repeated day after day.

There is narcissistic personality disorder. This is a condition in which a person is only interested in increasing the degree of narcissism. Taking various selfies, even in extreme conditions, with the sole purpose of capturing yourself against the backdrop of some landmark, soon becomes an obsessive need.

By exposing their lives to the public, selfie addicts face disapproving criticism and ridicule. At first there is a feeling of anxiety, dissatisfaction with one’s appearance and surroundings. Such a person feels depressed and develops depression against the background of deep emotions.

The disease of the 21st century has the following manifestations:

It happens that you want to take a photo, but your phone is not at hand or is empty, which causes a feeling of anxiety and loss;
during live communication, the meaning of the conversation is lost, because the person is busy looking for a better angle;
there is an aggressive reaction to comments under your photos on social networks;
the owner of the camera no longer monitors the quality of his photographs, he only cares good feedback about them and distribution on the network;
mass thoughtless photographing of one’s personality and display of even intimate things.

Gradually, the demands on oneself increase, the desire to take pictures arises best quality and dissatisfaction with one’s appearance and photos develops. After a series of unsuccessful photos, the patient’s lifestyle becomes destructive and meaningless. Doctors say that this behavior indicates the presence of a mental disorder.

Types of selfies

Today there are more than 20 types of selfies, the main of which are:

Liftoluk is a passion for photographing in elevators. Thanks to the mirrors inside the cabin, people can quickly take a photo while the elevator moves to the desired floor.
Duckface (duck selfie) - a photo with lips imitating a kiss. Girls suffer from this most often.
Hobbies: self-portrait photography with a guy or girl.
Belfie - photographing the butt from the most favorable angles.
Bath or toilet look - capturing yourself after wet procedures.
Shoes Selfie (shufis) - photographing your feet or shoes in various landscapes.

Improvements in mobile devices make it possible to come up with a variety of filming formats. Communication between people goes into the category of “look - evaluate”.

Consequences

Selfie mania, as a disease of the 21st century or a way of self-expression, is fraught with danger. To get an original shot, adults and children take dangerous selfies.

Doctors are concerned about the possible consequences of self-addiction:

People are distracted from important matters.
A reflex occurs when hands involuntarily reach for the camera, bypassing thought processes.
Speech degradation occurs in the absence of real communication. There is an automatic viewing of photos, without any emotions.
A person cannot overcome the disease on his own.

When the problem is realized, anger and uncontrollable aggression appears towards others and towards the one who pointed out this fact. Serious mental disorders may develop.

Treatment options

There is no universal way to treat such addiction. If a patient turns to a psychologist for help, then the doctor’s main task is to find the reasons and find out when the disease began. The patient can undergo individual or group consultations if desired.

Experts teach:

get distracted from your mobile phone;
find a new hobby;
spend more time outside, with friends and actively communicate with family;
make new friends.

You can try to fight this bad habit on your own. When you want to take a photo, it’s better to take a notebook, write down your feelings at that moment, or call someone you know. It is necessary to make a to-do list for the day and indicate in it the moment when you can take one shot. Registration for any sport is welcome: fitness, dancing, football or swimming. This will bring much more benefits and will keep you in good shape.

Conclusion

Selfie addiction has become one of the most common problems among people. The disease can lead to mental disorders, so at the first signs it is better to seek help from a specialist.

Technology development and emergence social networks provided us with an obvious way to increase self-esteem: just take a photo of yourself, post it for everyone to see and collect the coveted “hearts” - likes. In our purses or pockets there is always a smartphone or tablet that can be taken out at any time to take a good shot.

However, in some cases, seemingly harmless fun turns into an obsession. The desire to take an original photo leads a person to potentially dangerous places, and also motivates to take risky actions.

This is how the fashionable hobby got a medical name - selfie addiction, which American psychologists recognized as a type of mental disorder, but in Russia this manifestation is classified as addictive behavior.

How to recognize selfie addiction and what measures to take to cure this fashionable disease, you will learn in our article.

Selfie - fashionable self-portrait

First, let's understand the essence of the phenomenon. The fashion for taking photographs of oneself – selfies, which are also called “selfies” or “self-shooting” on social networks, became a trend in 2013 and are still very popular among social network users.

Manufacturers of mobile devices have begun to equip new models with a front camera so that everyone can take a self-portrait at any convenient moment. In addition, mirrors are used for selfies, and now special monopods are used, which allow you to increase the viewing angle of the camera by attaching the smartphone to a long handle.

Some types of selfies have also acquired a separate name:

photo with your loved one - selfie;
photo of feet in different shoes on a beautiful background - shufiz;
if in the photo the lips are folded into a tube and extended forward, it is called duckface;
frame-reflection in the elevator mirror - elevator look;
photograph of one’s own buttocks – belfie;
extreme selfie – photos taken during extreme sports or under dangerous circumstances.

Why does the obsessive desire to take selfies arise?

Why do you want to take a selfie?

Let's try to understand the reasons for the emergence of this strange fashion. What motivates young people to take lots of photos of themselves and fill their social media accounts with them?

First of all, teenagers became interested in “self-photography”. There is a simple explanation for this: in adolescence, the formation of a social self occurs. The question that comes first in importance is: “How do others (especially peers and friends) see me?”

Teenagers doubt their own attractiveness, their self-esteem is unstable, which is why they constantly want to know the opinions of society. Simple and always affordable way get feedback from those around you - take a selfie and post it on your social network page.

However, the virtual community very often gives an inadequate reaction in the form of insults, negative comments or indifference. Many people automatically like all photos in their feed. Thus, teenagers find themselves disoriented and looking in vain for ways to constantly receive a positive reaction, increasingly falling under the influence of the opinions of social network users.

If an adult is caught up in selfie mania, this may indicate low self-esteem, immaturity, and a similar desire to gain social approval.

Signs of selfie addiction

Having a large number of selfies on your account does not in itself indicate illness. Research shows that selfie addiction can be determined by the following signs:

taking at least three pictures of yourself per day;
constantly posting these photos on social networks;
tracking the number of likes and comments.

Another characteristic is also spending a lot of time taking selfies and giving it too much importance.

There are initial, acute and chronic stages of the disease. At the first stage, a person begins to take selfies more often and stores them on his phone; in the acute stage, he or she constantly posts self-portraits on social networks and monitors the reaction of society. At the chronic stage, creating “oneself” becomes an obsession, and the inability to take a photograph of oneself or post a photo is very painful and can cause changes in mood and poor health.

What does selfie mania lead to?

What are the dangers of taking selfies?

The obvious consequences of selfie addiction are unstable self-esteem and a tendency towards narcissism, as well as irrational use of time spent on creating and posting photos.

In addition, selfie mania can encourage risky behavior. In pursuit of a successful shot, teenagers and adults forget about reality and do not think about the possible consequences.

Being carried away by photographing oneself, a person may not notice warning signs or climb to a height where any awkward movement is a potential risk of injury. So, many get broken arms and legs.

Sometimes the desire to get a unique shot can even lead to death. In America, such a case happened with a 22-year-old guy named Meng, who wanted to take a photo with a box of fireworks on his head.

In Russia, accidents have now also begun to occur due to selfie addiction.

How to cure selfie addiction?

How to get rid of selfie addiction

If you find all the signs of the described disease in yourself or someone you know, we recommend immediately contacting a psychologist. A qualified specialist will help you understand the reasons for its occurrence and give recommendations that will help you change your attitude towards selfies and forget about obsessive thoughts. In especially severe cases, drug therapy may be prescribed.

However, if you wish, you can try to overcome the developing addiction on your own. To this end, psychologists recommend taking the following actions.

Get a notepad and pen or keep notes on your smartphone in which to write down your feelings and thoughts, especially in those moments when the desire to take a selfie arises.
Make it a habit to plan your time - make a daily schedule and a to-do plan. It is important to limit the possibility of photographing by setting a time limit and a fixed number of frames.
As an alternative to virtual communication, you should try to find hobbies and like-minded people in real life. This could be dancing, creative or sports activities, meeting with friends, classmates, and so on.

If your real life is rich and interesting enough, there will be no room for selfie addiction. The main thing is to actively spend your time so that you simply don’t have time to pick up a smartphone.

07.11.2019

Interesting facts about selfies

What is the most popular word in the world? The English think the word is “selfie”! Anyone interested can read about it in the Oxford Dictionary. The Internet did not appear yesterday, many years have passed, so the word has acquired various derivatives...

Statistics show that more than 2.5 million selfies are taken in just a minute in the world. The number of phones that allow you to take such photos is constantly increasing, and the production of selfies is growing exponentially.

– Scientists are researching and trying to understand whether self-mania exists? People can't stop themselves from constantly posting their photos online. Some assert themselves, others try to get rid of uncertainty.

– According to estimates, about 50% of all adults have taken a selfie at least once in their lives, about 40% of young people surveyed take selfies regularly (at least once a week).

– Gyms, fitting rooms and beaches are the subjects of the most popular photographs. However, this is within 5% of all selfies that turned into social media posts. Selfies with other people are no less popular. Food, pets and nature remain very popular.

– Women here have taken the palm from men, which is logical. Selfies are more interesting for social network visitors than regular photos.

– Heated discussions are caused by selfies taken in an inappropriate place (cemetery, Auschwitz).

In the Australian version in English there is a tendency to form words with the suffix “-ie”, giving the words an informal connotation.

note

For example, "barbie" instead of "barbecue", "firie" instead of "firefighter", "tinnie" instead of "tin" for a metal can of beer. It was in Australia that the word “selfie” appeared, and its first use on the Internet was recorded back in 2002.

Although the widespread dissemination of the term “selfie”, first in the English-speaking world, and then in other countries, did not happen until ten years later.

– There are two versions of the question of who took the first selfie. It was either Robert Cornelius (1839), or she successfully pointed her camera at the mirror, opposite which Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna herself stood (1914).

- Background Eiffel Tower was most popular in 2014. Time magazine thinks so.

Every day it becomes more and more difficult to surprise friends on social networks with an unusual selfie. But people constantly fill their profiles with colorful photos that speak of fun and memorable moments in their lives. A selfie truly conveys a person’s emotions and the world around them at the same time. Often they are identical, sometimes contrasting.

According to photographers, selfies have become a special type of photography. Various festivals, competitions and exhibitions of similar works are held. The popular hobby of selfie photography has turned into a real competition for the craziest and most extreme selfshots. Users of social networks compete in resourcefulness, courage and madness.

Psychology of selfie or Self-mania as a disease of the 21st century

News feeds are full of photographs of friends and acquaintances. Some people manage to post dozens of pieces a day just for themselves. It’s more interesting to watch photographs of people traveling, there’s at least some variety there.

Have you ever wondered if it's a disease to constantly post photos of yourself?

Modern psychology follows closely fashion, modern trends and new disorders of the human psyche. Of course, the love for “selfies” has not escaped the attention of psychologists.

Today we will talk about the psychological characteristics of people who are passionate about selfies. So, the psychology of selfies. Selfie is a disease of the 21st century.

“Selfism” allows you to identify several psychological problems of an individual.

Selfie (from English self - “oneself”), or “self-love” or narcissism. Excessive narcissism leads to the development of a narcissistic personality type, when a person is unable to love anyone but himself.

Women's selfies. For women, the first priority is to demonstrate external data, the second is social life.

Men's selfies. For men it’s exactly the opposite. Social life comes first: his achievements, purchases, travel, cars, meetings with friends and colleagues, restaurants, etc. In second place are external data: a beautiful torso, biceps, a new suit and just facial expressions.

In any case, everyone who uploads their photos online is driven by the desire to gain approval and admiration from others. “Selfism” poses a threat only in advanced cases. As they say: everything is good in moderation.

Selfie syndrome. IS SELFIE A BAD HABIT OR MENTAL ILLNESS?

Selfie(English) "selfie" from “self” - oneself, oneself, names are also found selfie, crossbow) is a type of self-portrait that involves capturing yourself on a camera, sometimes using a mirror, a cord or a timer.

The term gained popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s due to the development of built-in camera functions in mobile devices.

Since selfies are most often taken at arm's length holding the device, the image in the photo has a characteristic angle and composition - at an angle, slightly above or below the head

Selfie addiction is officially recognized as a mental disorder. Scientists from the American Psychiatric Association came to this conclusion, reports a publication that specializes in “incredible” news.

The association, according to the publication, presented a classification of a new disease called selfies in Chicago.

Thus, selfies are defined as an obsessive-compulsive disorder characterized by a constant desire to take photographs of oneself and post them on social networks in order to compensate for a lack of self-esteem.

The note notes that there is currently no cure for selfies. However, one of the users of the Global Trend News portal, commenting on this news, proposed his own solution to the problem: simply destroy the mobile phone.

RIA News

Psychologist's opinion:

Selfies have gained immense popularity recently. Now they not only stare from the pages of social networks, but often appear on advertising posters and force people to talk about themselves on television.

All this looks like an outbreak of a disease and, perhaps, every modern person has formed a clear attitude towards this phenomenon. Someone got infected and doesn’t post their self-portraits only when they’re sleeping.

And there are those who are disgusted by the influx of this kind of creativity.

The epidemic began after actress and presenter Ellen DeGeneres and actor Bradley Cooper took a selfie at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony, in which they were captured in the company of many Hollywood stars.

Oscar is an event for which they prepare for months: the stars, in tandem with their stylists, carefully select an image, order outfits from famous couturiers, make all kinds of braces, and even get special injections so as not to sweat, since during many hours of filming they are forced to be under spotlights The ceremony is the quintessence of human striving for an ideal.

Many tend to consider constant posting of selfies to be a disease, a psychological disorder that requires treatment. When does a way of expressing oneself become a disease? Where is this border?

Typical selfie, photo from the website sovets.net/3022-pozy-dlya-selfi.html

Taking a photo of yourself

It’s no secret that the word “selfie” itself is translated as “himself” or “self.” Essentially, in modern language it has become synonymous with self-photography. There is nothing special about taking photographs of yourself that indicates psychological illness. It is quite logical that a person will take photographs of himself, for example, on a trip, since there will simply be no one to ask about it - in this situation, this is the only way to capture all the significant moments of the trip. Other photographs taken to preserve important events in memory have a similar meaning. Posting photos on social networks is also not a sign of addiction either to selfies or to social networks themselves. Who doesn't post their photos? Almost everyone does this.

Psychological disorder

The problem arises when a person wants to take selfies all the time, when he simply cannot help but take photos every day. This state of affairs can only be described as narcissism. IN last years Many teenagers suffer from selfie addiction. Constantly photographing oneself and posting almost identical pictures on social networks is becoming the norm for most members of the younger generation. But what is the meaning of these actions?

Almost identical selfies, the number of which in the memory of gadgets increases every day, do not represent any aesthetic value. Selfie mania is similar to a drug: a person takes pictures of everything and takes pictures of himself, he wants to take as many pictures as possible.

It's worrying that people are risking their lives to take a selfie or trying to commit suicide because they can't take as many photos as they want.

Experts are divided on what selfie mania is. Some people think it's a disease. Those at risk include those who take more than five selfies a day. Scientists associate the concept of “selfie mania” with adolescence and an unstable psyche, and also identifies it with narcissism and selfishness.

Other researchers are of the opinion that the constant desire to photograph oneself is just a way of self-expression, allowing one to establish oneself in one’s social circle.