The Selfie Confidence

Dr Siva Kumar -

A recent Omani survey has revealed that the average daily usage of social media in Oman is as high as 360 minutes per day. When we compare this with the world average of 153 minutes, we can understand the perceived comfort and usefulness of the social media applications. Looking at the average human life expectancy of 77 years and assuming people start using from 10 years old, on average a person may spend a total of 146,730 hours (or 16 years and 8 months) on social media.

Karan a school kid in Muscat is popular amongst his friends for his selfies. Yesterday, it became apparent that he posted 38 selfies before going to the bathroom, I could not stop myself telling him that even Neil Armstrong took just five pictures upon landing on the moon. In return he showed his status on his phone, ‘Being famous on Instagram is like being rich on Monopoly.’

The world first selfie known to mankind was taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius, an American lamp manufacturer and amateur photographer, received no likes on those days. Dropping of front-facing camera by iPhone in 2010, Snapchat replacing mic with selfie videos in 2012, invention of selfie sticks that can capture in bird’s or worm’s eye view, all must have contributed to this selfie-evolution. By 2013, the word ‘selfie’ became Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year.

We don’t know yet what is next, tomorrow’s technology may convert these selfies into virtual snapshots that are interactive and simulate a world by creating feelings with a sense of immersion. This could be close to digital immortality like the portraits of headmasters hanging on Hogwarts’ walls in the Harry Potter novels.

In order to understand why we like selfie; we need to know about ‘mirror self-recognition (MSR) test’. This test is used by scientists to determine whether an animal has the ability of visual self-recognition. This test is simply giving a mirror to an animal and testing how it responds to its own image. Children of age two years and above, great apes, elephants and dolphins are the ones who successfully pass MSR test by identifying the reflection as their own image. Several other species of monkeys, pandas and some birds may attack their own reflections out of fear or curiosity and fail the test.

Researches show that there are six reasons why youth often take selfies:

1. Increases self-confidence, to make them

feel more positive

2. Informing about locations, to enhance

sense of pride

3. Social competition, to get more likes

4. Attention seeking

5. Modifying the mood, to feel better

6. Subjective conformity, to fit in a group

Few researches show that people who often take selfies do exhibit leadership qualities. However, psychologists warn about the danger of inflated self-views and attempting to seek attention and admiration means narcissism turning into obsession. They had to often treat people, without selfie-control, who take hundreds of selfies a day without any physical activities or even leaving their homes.

Psychologists don’t encourage continuous viewing of selfies and they found out that this can lead to decreased self-esteem and decreased life satisfaction. There are some reports that suggest taking excessive selfies as a mental disorder called ‘selfitis’ with three levels: borderline, acute and chronic. They encourage children to involve themselves in group activities that can help them enhancing self-worth and offer counselling to keep life happy without the need for selfies.

I remembered reading the following somewhere:

Dear Self,

You are a different kind of beautiful. Not everyone is fully capable of comprehending all that you are. God was being extremely creative when he created you. Focus less on those who try to dim your light – Pay closer attention to those who show you how bright you shine. These people are special. Like you.

Reyna Biddy.