Twitter declared 2014 as the year of Selfies. But since then selfies have evoked extreme reactions owing to the intensity and idiocy associated with the same.
The social media age has meant that one is bombarded with selfies every now and then. At some point you feel like the person has no other work except for clicking and posting selfies. Smarphones are their best weapons for shooting selfie volleys. The sheer intensity (number and repetitions) of selfies are nothing short of a social nuisance.
Selfies have driven people to the level of idiocy bordering on recklessness, insensitivity and even madness . People have clicked selfies at all the wrong places, wrong times and in wrong ways. When couple of heads of nations clicked smiling selfie during the funeral of Nelson Mandela, it was clear that mindlessness is not the sole proprietorship of commoners alone. People have lost lives in attempting to click selfies in front of moving train, cliff edges, perilous water currents and what not...
Selfies and Mental Disorder
University of Georgia Psychology Professor Keith Campebll study revealed that people take selfie for three major reasons - a) Self Absorption; b) Social Connection; and, c) Art.
Another study by Fox and Rooney has pointed to the fact that posting high number of selfies is related to high level of narcissism (extreme self-centerdness, grandiose view of oneself, sense of entitlement and excessive need to be admired by others) and psychopathy (impulsivity and lack of empathy). And those who tend to even edit their pictures have been found to have high degree of self-objectification (viewing one's body as an external object and basing one's self-worth on one's physicality).
What has been long suspected has been proved to be true by some other studies that go further and relate behavior of excessive selfie clicking and posting to narcissistic mental disorder. The easy and abundant access to mobile devices is only making the problem worse.
From a psychoanalysis view point narcissism is “self-centeredness arising from failure to distinguish the self from external objects, either in very young babies or as a feature of mental disorder.”
The studies indicate that selfie habit could be an indication of high levels of anxiety and depression in a narcissistic person. The desire to get attention and praise of others that would fill the otherwise emptiness in one's life triggers selfie. Such people may laugh and behave normally as any other person but within themselves they may be really feeling bad. Their compelling need to feel good about themselves by what others think pushes them towards such selfie behaviour that is nothing short of a mental disorder. And like any other mental disease such people need help. The problem however remains that most people do not accept mental disorders or seek help. Perennial Selfie-clickers are no different.
What worries most is the fact that many selfie clickers are not only causing harm to themselves but also at times putting others in peril. The poor baby dolphin is the latest casualty to this selfie madness.
Will we see beyond selfie sticks and selfie songs, please!!!
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