Selfie obsession is catastrophic

The camera in your phone doesn’t capture everything. It omits emotional blemishes, conceals physical hurt and masks psychological struggles, leaving you with a magnificently orchestrated projection of what you’re not. There is nothing wrong with taking a photo, don’t get me wrong. But there is everything wrong with the new-age social media obsessions that the selfie has become. Often followed by meticulous editing, it lowers self-confidence and increases anxiety about one’s looks. It also drives people to cosmetic surgery for no good reason, reveals a new study conducted by The Esthetic Clinics, with 300 patients from Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad opening up about their selfie fixation.

Stretching the boundaries of narcissism, selfies don’t discriminate. They are universally damaging if allowed be unregulated. “We found that the process of taking, altering and posting selfies, negatively affects body image as well as promotes body dysmorphia,” says Dr. Debraj Shome, co-founder of  the clinic. High body dissatisfaction is the primary risk factor for the development of eating disorders and is correlated with depression, he added, worrying that the addiction to phones and selfies may create a mentally unstable next generation.

In Delhi alone, 68 per cent men and 82 per cent women showed an increased level of anxiety after posting selfies on social media, and 71 per cent men and 80 per cent women showed a decrease in self-confidence. Their feelings of physical attractiveness also recorded a dip, according to the study.  Feelings of physical attractiveness recorded a dip with 76 per cent men and 77 per cent women feeling dissatisfied with their looks. This led to a desire to change appearance through cosmetic surgery in 64 per cent men and 77 per cent women.

Another startling finding was that men and women between age group 16–25 spend up to five hours per week taking selfies and uploading them to their personal profiles. “We found that the act of taking selfies and then posting them contributes to significant feelings of inadequacy and a strong desire to distort the body through cosmetic surgery. Frequent selfies could be considered a body checking behaviour, such as repeated weighing and recurrent checking of one’s reflection in mirrors,” he says.  
So the next time you’re tempted to take 10 selfies to achieve the ‘flawless’ one, try and drop the burden of perfection and embrace your authentic beauty.