REASONS FOR ADDICTION TO SELFIE UPLOAD ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Selfie is a photo of yourself that you take, typically with a smartphone or a webcam and usually put on social networking media such as facebook, BBM, WhatsApp, Baddo etc. This act started some years ago as a result of high usage of smartphones and the introduction of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). It’s common among the youths, both male and female. Though some adults also engage in it.

Nevertheless, a news went viral on the internet that selfie has been confirmed by American Psychiatric Association (APA) as a mental disorder called ‘selfist’. The news was posted by many blogs in 2015 but the source of the news posted it in 2014. The source of the news is Adobo Chronicles which is one of the well-known fake news websites. The news is fake and the claim has never been posted on APA website till this moment.

Although selfie may not be seen as a mental disorder, there are some psychological reasons that cause addiction to selfie upload on social media. The reasons vary from one person to another. Some of these reasons are explained below.

Self-obsessed: Obsessed about one look and body. One will always want to show-off his look and body. Some of those people, especially women don’t care about moral and they can expose sensitive parts of their body.

Narcissism: Extreme self-esteem and a grandiose view of oneself. Narcissists have an excessive need to be admired by others and have a sense of entitlement. They always feel that they look better than most people and they are more likely to show-off with selfies.

Self-objectification: This is a tendency to view your body as an object based on its sexual worth. Those high in self-objectification tend to see themselves in terms of their physical appearance and base their self-worth on their appearance. They make extra effort to look their best in these photos, i.e. Photo editing.

The above are common psychological reasons for addiction to selfie upload on social networking media. However, narcissism is correlated with high self-esteem while self-objectification is associated with low self-esteem. Those on high self-objectification don’t post more selfies but they are always more conscious about their appearance in the ones they will post. Thanks for reading.