Selfie obsession has been challenging norms since its inception. Just a simple act of taking your own photo when you don’t have a photographer changes into an obsession overnight. Taking a perfect selfie is no longer the goal, the goal is to take the most bizarre, most challenging and most unique selfie. Where this obsession has led to a whole new area of entertainment, it has claimed so many lives that now authorities are posting signs and launching campaigns to stop the visitors from taking selfies in dangerous places. From mastering the perfect angle to getting the perfect lighting most of us have tried cracking the code for the best selfie in our social media life. However, things are now taking a darker turn, selfie obsession is now becoming a booming industry.
People are now getting special lenses and equipment to get the perfect lighting and perfect angle, what even more dangerous is that most of the people are now taking it as a challenge. Selfie or it didn’t happen, do it for the gram, my perfect selfie everything is becoming the part of daily lifestyle. People are now willing to dangerous lengths just to get that perfect shot; this has also lead to a boom in the cosmetic surgery industry apart from getting the perfect gadget for the perfect selfie. People are now taking Snapchat filters as their ultimate benchmark for beauty. Without a perfect filter there is no selfie, and to get the perfect selfie people to spend hours and hours with their cameras.
By the end of these long sessions, they end up editing the photos and then posting it online on their social media accounts but the anxiety of posting the right picture at the right time comes later. An average selfie addict takes hundreds of photos and then spend hours shortlisting the best picture and the process does not just end here. Most of these users check their notifications again and again just to see if they are getting enough likes and if they are being liked by others. Neurologists and psychiatrists have highlighted that being on social media and reviving a comment or notification feel instant adrenaline rush due release the same happy hormone that most people feel by consuming cocaine or other drugs.
Socially, a selfie is a way of asking for validation, are we good looking enough, are we adventurous enough, are we following the right trends are we going to the right places? All these things contribute to the social circle of a person and add to their personality. By looking at someone’s social media accounts you can actually tell what are their interests and how do they perceive life. However, with the current rise of social media influencers, things have shifted drastically. Validation is becoming the key, people look up to influencers, adopt their ways and then fall into similar patterns. Although, validation is good but sometimes seeking validation can lead to loss of self-esteem and developing an inferiority complex. According to a recent study, there are multiple reasons for taking selfies, attention seeking, giving a boost to self-confidence, subjective conformity, social competition, mood modification, and even environment enhancement.
The first selfie was taken by Robert Cornelius in 1873, the idea was to take your own picture when you don’t have anyone. Since then selfie has become a global phenomenon. People are now becoming obsessed with filters, most of us have never taken a picture without a filter. The recent alarming trend is beauty filter or Snapchat/Instagram surgery. People are getting cosmetic surgeries to get the perfect filter look so they don’t have to apply filters and every time they take a photo they can look flawless. The problem has only become worse because due to these surgeries people are investing money to change everything. This has raised a serious complexity in people about their looks, this means that if you are not picture perfect you might not be the favorite person in the group. To seek validation is good but this obsession with the looks need to stop considering this has claimed the lives of hundreds of teenagers globally. Now is a high time to take a decision and address the issue, chances are that the coming generation may not be able to cope with these trends at all and might fall prey to depression, stress anxiety at a very young age.
Read next: Is Social Media Putting Us All In An Echo Chamber? (infographic)
People are now getting special lenses and equipment to get the perfect lighting and perfect angle, what even more dangerous is that most of the people are now taking it as a challenge. Selfie or it didn’t happen, do it for the gram, my perfect selfie everything is becoming the part of daily lifestyle. People are now willing to dangerous lengths just to get that perfect shot; this has also lead to a boom in the cosmetic surgery industry apart from getting the perfect gadget for the perfect selfie. People are now taking Snapchat filters as their ultimate benchmark for beauty. Without a perfect filter there is no selfie, and to get the perfect selfie people to spend hours and hours with their cameras.
By the end of these long sessions, they end up editing the photos and then posting it online on their social media accounts but the anxiety of posting the right picture at the right time comes later. An average selfie addict takes hundreds of photos and then spend hours shortlisting the best picture and the process does not just end here. Most of these users check their notifications again and again just to see if they are getting enough likes and if they are being liked by others. Neurologists and psychiatrists have highlighted that being on social media and reviving a comment or notification feel instant adrenaline rush due release the same happy hormone that most people feel by consuming cocaine or other drugs.
Socially, a selfie is a way of asking for validation, are we good looking enough, are we adventurous enough, are we following the right trends are we going to the right places? All these things contribute to the social circle of a person and add to their personality. By looking at someone’s social media accounts you can actually tell what are their interests and how do they perceive life. However, with the current rise of social media influencers, things have shifted drastically. Validation is becoming the key, people look up to influencers, adopt their ways and then fall into similar patterns. Although, validation is good but sometimes seeking validation can lead to loss of self-esteem and developing an inferiority complex. According to a recent study, there are multiple reasons for taking selfies, attention seeking, giving a boost to self-confidence, subjective conformity, social competition, mood modification, and even environment enhancement.
The first selfie was taken by Robert Cornelius in 1873, the idea was to take your own picture when you don’t have anyone. Since then selfie has become a global phenomenon. People are now becoming obsessed with filters, most of us have never taken a picture without a filter. The recent alarming trend is beauty filter or Snapchat/Instagram surgery. People are getting cosmetic surgeries to get the perfect filter look so they don’t have to apply filters and every time they take a photo they can look flawless. The problem has only become worse because due to these surgeries people are investing money to change everything. This has raised a serious complexity in people about their looks, this means that if you are not picture perfect you might not be the favorite person in the group. To seek validation is good but this obsession with the looks need to stop considering this has claimed the lives of hundreds of teenagers globally. Now is a high time to take a decision and address the issue, chances are that the coming generation may not be able to cope with these trends at all and might fall prey to depression, stress anxiety at a very young age.
Read next: Is Social Media Putting Us All In An Echo Chamber? (infographic)
