‘Selfie Addiction’ Is No Laughing Matter, Psychiatrists Say
Dear friends,
I had observed a few people I know who obsessively must post pictures of themselves constantly. Social media has become their platform to express this obsessive need? At first I just thought it somewhat strange, but as time passed, I realized it could be a sign of a deeper insecurities, wanting acceptance, ‘advertising’ for something, re-affirming how ‘wonderful’ their lives are when it’s not, or simply a need for attention or more or a combination. I am not qualified to diagnose, but I didn’t feel it was positive. You don’t need to be a clinical professional to see animal abuse, or child abuse or obsessive selfie posting as a sign of something is wrong. I know people who never post pictures of themselves too-that is the other end of the spectrum. When months later, I started reading online that it is a psychological condition medically recognized, it all fell into place. I am not criticizing, but I just felt people who constantly post up pictures of themselves alone, with others or their body parts that something deeper was wrong although I could not prove it or word it. I guess selfies could be just a symptom of something deeper that needs help just like a bad cough is for a flu.
On a day to day practical observation, seeing someone’s social media page daily having hundreds of pictures of themselves or at least 9 out of 10 pictures have them in it makes me skip past it. LOL. It bothers me that is all they have in their lives. That their need for perhaps affirmation only drives them deeper in their unhealed needs. I feel bad for them. I hope this article will help a little. Our psychological conditions can manifest in many ways and we need to address them. If not, they only get worse. I wish no one to suffer.
Tsem Rinpoche
‘Selfie Addiction’ Is No Laughing Matter, Psychiatrists Say
“Selfie” may be the 2013 word of the year, but for certain at-risk people, taking selfies just may be dangerous.
It seems that some people simply can’t stop turning the camera their way for that perfect social media photo, and now psychologists say taking selfies can turn into an addiction for people already affected by certain psychological disorders.
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/selfie-psychology.mp4
That certainly seems to apply to Danny Bowman. The 19-year-old Englishman, who had been diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, developed a selfie addiction in which he took up to 200 photos of himself a day, Mirror News reported. He even became suicidal. Watch Bowman explain his addiction in the video above.
“Danny’s case is particularly extreme,” Psychiatrist Dr. David Veale, whose clinic helped treat the teenager, told Mirror News. “But this is a serious problem. It’s not a vanity issue. It’s a mental health one which has an extremely high suicide rate.”
Selfie addiction may not be so surprising since addiction to forms of social media, such as Facebook, has been known to exist. Researchers even have developed a psychological scale based on six basic criteria to measure risk for Facebook addiction.
And researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found in 2013 that college-aged and middle-aged adults who scored higher for certain narcissistic traits posted more frequently on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
“With modern technology, it can actually be quite severe,” Bowman says in the video above. “This kind of thing can happen to anyone.”
(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/selfie-addiction-mental-illness_n_5022090.html)
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Since people like to post selfies to show others how incredibly hot they are, or how they think they are. But as we all know, too much is a bad thing.There is a number of ridiculous selfies that gone wrong which i read from newspapers.Some embarassing selfies posted just needs attention of some sort and want to share .Most people are a little bit reserved when they’re taking a selfie.
Selfie addiction is becoming a more serious issue in these modern technology when it causes mental problems long term.
Danny Bowman,who developed a selfie addiction is more of a mental disorder and even became suicidal.Well ,hope more people will realise the danger of Selfie addiction which cause more harm than good.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing
Danny Bowman’s case is extreme, more of a mental problem instead of a vanity issue. However, many people around us are addicted to taking selfie. Even though it might be just showing off their beauty to gain attention, it should not be dismissed lightly. Because of their excessive love for themselves, they lack the empathy for others. This is the real issue. When someone place all the attention on themselves and expect others to do the same, it is against the practice of Bodhicitta. And if it not corrected at early stage, it will become a habituation and strong imprint that will also affect them in their next life.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing and pointing out this article. I find that many people LOVE to take selfies. Some even post pictures of themselves almost everyday in the Facebook which I now find very annoying and sad for them at the same time. In my mind, I am thinking “Don’t they have anything else better to do?” Taking selfies could actually leads to death when it becomes an addiction and many news reported that some people fell of the cliff when taking selfies. Why want to risk your life for something not beneficial at all. Those who like to take selfies must really take into considerations of the things that might happen to them before it gets worst.
With folded palms,
Vivian
Selfies are probably a way to get attention and some kind of approval.
I’ve personally seen this with some of my own friends. They might take several selfies over and over again until they find the right one. Picking out details about their eyebrows, skin, noses, smiles, teeth, hair and so forth, all in an attempt to find the perfect angle to make the perfect picture. now we are getting to know this serious problem..
I have never thought that being addicted to taking selfies can lead to so many consequences, and these people sure have to pay a great price. Now that I have read this article, it makes a lot of sense to me.
Selfie addiction is just like any other addictions, not to say selfies are bad per say. From what I understand, it’s not subject matter, it’s the addiction that makes things worse. It can be any kind of addiction, be it smoking, drinking etc, being too obsessed over something is not beneficial to us.
In Buddhism, we are supposed to learn to let go and that’s why there are monks and nuns, we are to renounce ourselves from materialism and get rid our strong sense of likes and dislikes. The reason why we are addicted to certain things is because we are very choosy over some matters, we ‘like’ something so much that we do it every day and it turns into an addiction.
I hope that more people will realise the consequences of being overly-obsessed with taking selfies. Not only it’s very time consuming, but it will also affect us mentally and physically. We don’t need a picture to tell us who we are, we don’t need hundreds and thousands of likes to determine our values. We are in control of our lives, I have always believed that even if the whole world abandons us, we should never despise ourselves.
1) In my opinion, most people who keeps on posting selfies are mostly people who are desperate, lonely and jealous. For example: People take selfies because they want to impress other people or hoping to give someone good impressions about themselves and their lives but deep down, they are doing it because they don’t want people to see themselves as a lonely and sad person so they would try to look cool or look rich by taking pictures of them hanging out with their friends and at parties as well.
2) It is really sad that a lot of people are actually very addicted to taking selfies. I totally agree with Rinpoche that it is not a laughing matter to be addicted at taking selfies. Do you guys also know that after selfies became more trendy, more people actually tend to get plastic surgeries? Of course it is okay to get plastic surgeries but what happens when it fails? The people who then have to be stuck with the fail surgery faces and some of them would even commit suicide because they regret too much about it. (It is just based on my opinion)
3) I wouldn’t say that taking selfies is all bad though, like sure it is a thing that should be lessened in many people’s daily lives but sometimes it will become a memorable time where we can keep it with us. For me, I would sometimes take selfies with my friends and family so that I am able to keep the pictures which shows the times we spent together and it also reminds me of the friendships and bonds we have for each other. That is why I take selfies.
It is just amazing how easily we can develop mental illnesses that we are not even aware of with the advancements of todays’ technological improvements.
I too agree with Danny Bowman the biggest issue that we face today is not the illness itself, but the views that people mistakenly have with regards to mental illness. If only we knew more about it, people will not be afraid to approach their “problems” that they may be suffering.
With that, they will then be able to solve the problem that they face earlier.
Personally, I just find it so scary how we mankind have advanced. Yet, with these advancements, we develop mental illnesses so easily compared to the earlier years before these developments were made.
I agree that selfie is just another form of narcissism. Nowadays, phone developers even develop mobile phones with camera functions that takes absolutely beautiful pictures of yourself.
If using pictures of oneself to bring awareness of greater meanings to others… Might be a good use of selfie.
Wow, I didn’t know that this was a serious thing and I didn’t know that these people were really disturbed mentally and I didn’t know that these cases could get so bad. It is like a drug addiction and the more temporary relief you give to that addiction mentally, the more posts and temporary reliefs you will need like a drug. That can almost destroy your life with addiction. Like a drug.
These people really need help if their addictions get very bad and if it is small and there is no real thing then it is fine but if it gets very bad that they are in a constant need for selfies all the time. They need to seek help from different forms of help. These can include professionals like psychiatrists or religious help.
Speaking of religious help, a great form of mental help and stability for problems is the Dharma, not to advertise, but the Dharma is a good form of help for someone for many different types of problems it can be mental even physical. but don’t go to the Dharma for your own needs only, go to practice the Dharma because it is good to learn and to change for yourself, not miracles. There is a difference. So with a good teacher and practice to a good holy being, there can be benefits for you if you practice the Dharma right. So you can get help from a good temple for great help with problems such as these.
Dear Rinpoche,
It’s quite funny on the surface, but thinking deeper yes it seems there is more to it on a deeper level. I note that usually those who are “prettier” tend to post more pics of themselves and those who are not usually don’t and hide behind their pet photos, ahem. The word “selfie” never existed till recently. There’s even a selfie stick nowadays! Maybe people want to capture themselves as much as they can while they still have it since the looks will be gone in a matter of time and we can’t turn back the clock, they must surely realise. But to have to post them on social media incessantly, that I can’t understand. I don’t think it’s a really safe move, just as when people keep updating on social media their current whereabouts. The whole world can check where they are, what they are doing at any time, quite scary what they are opening themselves to. But mobile phone manufacturers are cashing in on this phenomenon big time. Selfie camera is becoming one of the specs for mobile phones and is a must have for the new generation. Funny, I’ve never used the selfie camera on my phone before so far, maybe a sign of getting on in age, hehe.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thanks for sharing this article. Seem that with today’s modern technology. Mental problem have manifest into another level.
Come to think about selfie, it is actually true to get attention and recognition from others to themselves. When the photo of the person posted on his or her own Facebook wall. They gets a lot of likes. This lead them to have more self confident,and get the happiness they think they wanted. And this desire of wanting to be like and love, is not stopping at the stages. Desire will arise and the level to fulfill the desire have no ended. This simple acts of selfie eventually will lead to disaster to the person.
Will alert my friend around me on this matter. Thank you Rinpoche for the article
People may think they look hot in their selfies, but narcissism and vanity are always kinda ugly. lol.