 |
| MC is editing a selfie of her new haircut before posting to Instagram. |
Over a million selfies were taken a day in 2014, according to Techinfographics.
There's no denying this phenomenon: selfies are dominating the newsfeeds of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media platforms.
Dr. Brenda Alpert Sigall, a psychologist at the University of Maryland who specializes in self-esteem, body image, eating disorders, and women's development, recognizes the potential implications of this new and overwhelming selfie trend.
Laura Gonson, a senior at the University of Maryland, is an avid selfie-taker.
"In the beginning of Instagram I used to post a lot of selfies and even though I got good feedback I also got people joking that I've only taken pictures of myself. So as time has gone on I put up only socially acceptable selfies, so there's a point to the selfie," Gonson said.
In a survey taken by 100 sorority women ages 18 to 22 at the University of Maryland 35% said they take selfies more than once a day. There are several different reasons people take selfies including: a scenic background, doing an activity, out with friends and or because they think they look good.
Mashable reports, "A new study conducted by Dove revealed about 82% of women believe social media is influencing how we define beauty today."
Media is a powerful influence and social media is unique because people are connected 24/7 and making it challenging to avoid unrealistic beauty pressures.
They are "unhealthy images that girls and women aspire to conform to and that has a lot of negative effects...I can talk about movies and magazines, the media in every one of its forms, and I think social media is rising to the top of that," Dr. Sigall said.
Girls and women are constantly bombarded with images, like the carefully selected and edited selfies, on social media. While movies, print media, and music can influence society's concept of beauty, according to a recent Dove study 63% of women surveyed actually believe social media, like Facebook and Instagram, is the greatest influence on the standards of beauty.
The use of social media creates the opportunity to compare oneself to a celebrity, peer and even receive peer feedback.
The selective self-representation and the ability to edit photos can contribute to the unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by social media. These 'perfect' images are what girls and women compare themselves to.
Techinfographics reports 14% of selfies taken in 2014 were digitally enhanced. There are countless mobile photo editing apps and even articles with tips on how to improve your selfie.
Although some take natural selfies and even hashtag #nofilter, a majority of the UMD women surveyed said they edit their pictures before posting. There are apps to edit redeye, stretch the photo to appear leaner, adjust the colors, remove blemishes, whiten teeth, look tanner, and more.
MC, a senior at UMD, said she edits and saturates her photos to bring out the colors; she also thinks editing selfies is particularly popular on Instagram.
MC VIDEO
"If you upload a selfie of yourself and get no likes then you will question yourself because you thought you looked good in it," Gonson said.
Gonson says now she'll only post selfies where she looks good and with a cool background because the goal is to get likes.
Brooks Leitner, a senior at UMD, also participates in the selfie trend. While he takes selfies for reasons like to capture a cool background, he recognizes the potential risks and vulnerability of the trend.
In the survey with UMD women 71% said the amount of likes received on a selfie affects their self-esteem.
"If one posts a selfie with the expectation that certain people, or a certain number of people will 'like' it and that doesn't happen, their self-esteem may suffer," Dr. Nathaniel Herr said, an assistant professor of psychology and lab director of the Interpersonal Emotion Lab at American University. "Others may post a picture purely with the expectation that others will read and now where they've been or what they've done. This type of person seems less at risk for a self-esteem drop because their goals when posting the photo are different."
Selfies aren't necessarily unhealthy; this trend can possibly be used in a positive way to change the beauty standards set by social media.
Although there are also studies linking an obsession with selfies to mental disorders like narcissism, others view the trend as an opportunity for change.
For Dove's 10th anniversary of its Campaign for Real Beauty Cynthia Wade created a short documentary on selfies in which daughters and mothers take selfies owning their insecurities to redefine the conventional word and standards of beauty.
Alexandra Rodriguez, a participant and in the top 15 for the Miss Maryland Teen 2013, takes selfies with and without makeup because it's easy when no one can take the photo and sometimes it's spontaneous.
If groups of young women can take selfies and promote good self-esteem, self-acceptance and body image or if more celebrities were seen posting selfies without makeup, like when the singer Lorde posted a selfie with acne cream, then the selfie trend can be a form of empowerment.
"I'll be optimistic and say yes it can be used as a positive vehicle. I think in general or certainly right now they're not nearly as positive an influence as maybe they can be and I think there is some negative fallout," Dr. Sigall said.
Although it depends on the individual, there's some vulnerability in posting selfies to social media to both the person posting and the viewer. Whether the person posting the selfie expects a certain number of likes or a follower is comparing themselves to this perfect and edited selfie of a peer, there's a chance the selfie phenomenon can negatively impact self-esteem.
