With the coming of smartphones and tablets having cameras, taking selfies has become a new phenomenon as well. More people are taking selfies than ever before. Taking selfies is okay, but a study shows that viewing them is not.
Many people like taking selfies. Smartphones make taking selfies much easier, as well as more common. Social media has also exploded because of the many selfies being posted on them. Some, though, view selfies to be taken by self-absorbed people. There are those who view people taking selfies to be narcissistic and inauthentic.
Psychologists are also taking a look at the selfie phenomenon. Sarah Diefenbach, lead author of the study and professor at Ludwig-Maximillians University Munich, has made a survey of people on why they take selfies and how they view those who take them. The survey was done on 238 people coming from Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
The survey has found that as much as 77 percent of those asked had taken selfies. Diefenbach has said that people who took selfies usually also were self-promoters. Motivations for it might be to have others sympathize or have people identify with those who take selfies.
While many of those surveyed took selfies, many of them also agreed that there are negative aspects of selfies, according to Science Daily. 82 percent of those said that they would look for other images rather than selfies on social media. Diefenbach calls these different perceptions as selfie paradox, wherein people like to take selfies but would not want to view them.
Diefenbach has noted that understanding how the paradox works lies on how selfie takers view their own images, as Eureka Alert reports. Those interviewed see the selfies of others as self-promotional and less authentic. However, they viewed their own selfies to be more authentic at the same time.
Such paradox might explain in part what the selfie phenomenon is all about. The study finds that taking selfies is okay, but viewing them is not. Harsh parenting can lead to low grades, as another study has shown.
