ISSUES
: Body Confidence
Chapter 1: Body Image
6
Selfies: the good, the bad and the
downright irritating
The selfie has become a huge part of modern life. It has transformed the simple self-portrait
into something more immediate and has grown in cultural importance – it’s been linked to
identity, self-exploration and narcissism. Something as simple as putting a camera on the
front of a mobile device has created a cultural trend that looks set to last.
Fears about the impact of the selfie generation were recently brought to the fore with the
story of Essena O’Neill – the popular Instagrammer who claimed she quit the platform after
her online presence started to impact negatively on her life. So is it something to worry
about, or just a bit of harmless fun?
By Lucy Doyle
S
elfies are everywhere. In 2013
it was named word of the
year by Oxford Dictionaries,
in 2014 a song was released called
#selfie,[1] selfie sticks were banned
in Disneyland in July 2015 and you
could argue that the world would be
seeing a lot less of Kim Kardashian
and her clan if the selfie had never
been invented.
Recent figures show that 91% of
teens have taken a selfie and over
one million are taken each day.[2]
Let’s get it right: sexting vs
selfies
Sometimes the actions of ‘sexting’
(sending sexually explicit words,
videos or images to somebody,
known as ‘nude selfies’ and ‘nudes’)
and sending someone a selfie
become confused. Sending a selfie
only moves into the territory of
‘sexting’ when a naked, suggestive
or sexualised image is sent.
A selfie, on the other hand, normally
refers to a non-sexual self-portrait,
taken on a mobile device, either with
friends or alone. It may or may not
involve at least one of the people
featured making a ‘duck face’ at the
camera.
Narcissism
Some people worry that selfies
are helping to create a superficial
generation who value their looks
above anything else.
People’s growing obsession with
posting the perfect selfie is evident
in the existence of apps designed to
allow the user to touch up and perfect
their image before posting online.
Posting selfies online has also been
linked to self-objectification, which
is when you view your body as an
object based on its sexual value,
and tend to derive your sense of
self-worth from appearance.
Many worry that such focus on looks
can undermine young people’s self-
confidence and body image. Young
people can get caught up in how
they’re portrayed on social media;
seeking approval and affirmation
from others in the form of likes and
retweets. Relying too heavily on this
as a means of boosting self-esteem
will inevitably lead to unhappiness
and low self-confidence when
they’re not getting as much praise
and approval online as they’d like.
This appeared to be the case with
Essena O’Neill – the teen famous for
her incredibly popular social media
presence, particularly on Instagram.
In November 2015, she famously
quit the platform, stating how social
media wasn’t real, that the focus
on gaining likes and followers had
made her feel “miserable” and that
it was simply “contrived perfection
to get attention”.
“When you let yourself be defined
by numbers, you let yourself be
defined by something that is not
pure,”[3] she said.
She added new captions to her
photos, stating the truth behind
them: many were PR shots and it
often took hours to get that “this is
me just hanging out” look just right.
PsychologistDrLindaPapadopoulos
has described how young people
can get too caught up in their online
presence, which tends to be more
about gaining status and approval
than individuality. This can result in
young people being unsure of who
they truly are as a person.
Dr Papadopoulos encourages
young people to be aware of this
and to take time to foster an offline,
real sense of self and identity, while
also relying less on their online
profile as a means of defining who
they are.
Selfies on social media
Several separate studies have
shown that an image-centric social
media platform, such as Facebook,
can cause depressive symptoms.
This is because of the way Facebook
enables and encourages the user to
compare themselves to others.[4]
Some people go to extraordinary
lengths to curate the ‘perfect’
online persona. They remove or
de-tag any unflattering pictures,
only the most attractive selfies
are posted, and the only moments
which are recorded are the positive
or happy ones, creating the illusion
of a flawless existence.
When young people forget that this
isn’t real, and compare their entire
self, complete with flaws and down
days, to other people’s curated,
perfected versions of themselves,
they can start to feel inferior and as
though they fall short of everyone
else.[5]
It’s really important to remind young
people that comparing themselves
to others on social media is
unhelpful, as they’re comparing
