If Selfies Make Us Feel Good, Why Are They Shameful?
Kim Kardashian shares a selfie. (Photo: Instagram)
In this social media era, selfies are everywhere. Whether you take them yourself or not, your feeds are likely flooded with selfies of celebrities and your peers. Samsung claims that selfies represent 30 percent of all photos taken by people between the ages of 18 and 24 and Phandroid approximates that 93 million selfies are taken every day. Given the culture of excessive photo sharing, everybody has developed a stance on whether or not a selfie a day is kosher. But what effect does the wave of arm’s length photos have on our sense of self?
A new Yahoo Health commissioned Ipsos survey among 13 to 64-year-olds found that young women (aged 13 to 34) find confidence from their selfies. 22 percent of teen females (13 to 17) and 17 percent of millennial females (18 to 34) say that they look at a great selfie to help get out of the funk of a bad body image day. Likewise, a Today/AOL study revealed that 65 percent of teenage girls say seeing their selfies on social media boosts their confidence, and 40 percent of all teens said social media helps “me present my best face to the world.”
But how can these young people know for sure how social media makes them feel? It may be clear to them that a good selfie makes them feel confident, but social media is known to perpetuate cyber bullying and anxiety. This demographic grew up with the internet and social media, so they know no other way. Actually, social media is one of the biggest contributors to body shame for young women, ranking second out of 21 sources. While selfies make us feel good, social media does not, so we shouldn’t necessarily be sharing our selfies online.
43% of teens aged 13 to 17 report that they have experienced some sort of cyber bullying in the last year. (Photo: Instagram)
Likewise, the effect of images on self-esteem is growing with the rise of social media. Young women cited seeing an unflattering photo of themselves as the third most prominent trigger that makes them feel self conscious about their bodies. The second trigger was “comparing yourself to another person you know personally,” which, too, is an increasingly easy comparison to make in the age of social media. Since the onslaught of social media, comparisons have shifted from models and actresses to peers, creating a potentially more problematic concoction. Nowadays, bad images are over-shared. “It used to be that, generally speaking, we all knew the occasions that required us to look good. Now? Every day is Class Picture Day. Every phone is a camera. Every picture, or video, ends up on the internet,” Jennifer Weiner wrote in the New York Times in May 2015. “For every real-size heroine like Mindy Kaling on the cover of InStyle or Rebel Wilson topping the box-office charts, it seems that here in the real world, the beauty culture has only gotten more demanding.”
Instagram celebrity Alexis Ren shares a selfie. (Photo: Instagram)
The fast-paced and demanding social media and beauty culture we live in amplifies people’s tendencies to compare themselves to others, as Yahoo’s study discovered. Despite our selfies helping to boost our own self images, they may also be responsible for making other people feel bad about themselves, as 41 percent of teen females and 54 percent of millennial females cited social media as a major contributor to their body shame. Social media was ranked the number two source of body shame for young women (number one was a direct comment from someone), with Instagram contributing to the most shame, followed by Facebook.
Justin Bieber shares a selfie. (Photo: Instagram)
But to those unaware of the statistical evidence showing the negative impact of selfie-sharing culture, why do some consider them shameful? A 2015 study conducted by Polish scientists explored the relationship between narcissism and selfie posting behaviors. The study found that narcissism was weakly correlated with the number of selfies posted to social media, but the correlation was stronger among men than among women, despite women posting more selfies than men. Still, followers, friends, and onlookers are likely to make the same deduction that the researchers did when they predicted a correlation between narcissism and selfie posting. The researchers were sure to add that not all people who post selfies are narcissists, but instead, narcissists are more likely to post selfies than their non-narcissistic peers — perhaps they have a greater hunger for “likes.” While there are obvious negative connotations with narcissism, psychologist Keith Campbell acknowledges that narcissists, with their high self-esteem, may in fact be happier, more satisfied, and more successful than their non-narcissistic peers. So, if you want to feel the best you can about yourself, post your most flattering selfies to social media, but know that what helps your self esteem may be harming that of your peers.
Body-Peace Resolution is Yahoo Health’s January initiative to motivate you to pursue wellness goals that are not vanity-driven, but that strive for more meaningful outcomes. We’re talking strength, mental fitness, self-acceptance — true and total body peace. Our big hope: This month of resolutions will inspire a body-peace revolution. Want to join us? Start by sharing your own body-positive moments on social media using the hashtag #bodypeaceresolution
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