Your Selfie Addiction may Indicate Low Self-Esteem

By Vasudha Bhat , Onlymyhealth editorial team

Sep 20, 2014

Selfie Addiction A UK study has suggested that people who regularly take selfies are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem.

The study involved 2,071 men and women from UK who were aged between 18 and 30. These participants preferred taking photographs of themselves rather than clicking their family, partner, or pets.

When regular selfie takers were asked about their feelings towards their appearance and relationships, only 13 per cent were found to be confident in their own skin and 60 per cent admitted to have a low self-esteem.

The reasons why people liked to take selfies varied from capturing the moment when they looked the best to conveying their mood instead of updating a profile status. However, the most common reason was to get attention in form of likes and comments.

This research which was conducted by money-saving app VoucherCloud showed that more than half of young people click selfies at least once a week and 73 per cent get uploaded on social media.

According to a report of dailystar.co.uk, only 45 per cent people used their picture for online dating profiles and 32 per cent used them to file life vents in online diaries and blogs.

Matthew Wood, MD of vouchercloud.com said "what is important to remember is that a selfie is subject to lighting, Photoshop and a whole host of other factors, so often people actually look very little like they do in real life".

He added "equally, for the selfie addicts, it is important to make sure that they don't base all their self-esteem on a few comments or likes on a picture - there's a lot more to a person than their selfie!"