(Newswire.net— January 9, 2018) –How many selfies per day is considered normal?
According to psychologists, taking selfies has become a genuine disorder which indicates a mental issue of a person being addicted to self-promoting on Social networks.
The obsessive taking of selfies was initially mentioned as an addiction in the form of a hoax, however, the fake report propelled scientists to look closer at the topic. Psychologists Dr Janarthanan Balakrishnan and Dr Mark D. Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University conducted an actual survey that showed how deep the rabbit hole goes.
The study conducted on 625 university students revealed that there are layers in the obsessive selfie taking which psychologists rate under 3 levels of abuse: borderline, acute, and chronic – and they developed the Selfitis Behavior Scale.
‘Borderline’ cases are defined as people who take selfies three times a day (at a minimum), but do not post them on social media. ‘Acute’ sufferers actually post the selfies they take, and those suffering in the ‘chronic’ category of the condition feel compelled to take selfies round the clock and post pictures online more than six times a day.
“Typically, those with the condition suffer from a lack of self-confidence and are seeking to ‘fit in’ with those around them,” said Dr Balakrishnan, the coauthor of the survey, adding that obsessive selfie taking subjects “may display symptoms similar to other potentially addictive behaviors.”
There are, however, authorities in scientific circles who deeply oppose qualifying obsessive selfie taking a medical condition. According to Sir Simon Wessely, Professor of Psychological Medicine at King’s College London, the research paper itself is an “academic selfie.”
“The research suggests that people take selfies to improve their mood, draw attention to themselves, increase their self-confidence and connect with their environment,” he said.
Spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists Dr Mark Salter backed Wessely’s skepticism saying that obsessive behavior is too complex to be easily qualified for people who are posting a lot of selfies.
“There is a tendency to try and label a whole range of complicated and complex human behaviors with a single word,” Dr Slater said. “But that is dangerous because it can give something reality where it really has none,” he added.
Is modern psychiatry readiness for a new digital age full of related mental conditions is yet to be officially accepted. By now, psychologists have classified several new conditions such as Nomophobia – a fear of not being near a mobile phone, Technoference – which refers to a constant intrusion of technology in everyday life, or Cyberchondria – the compulsion of googling symptoms instead of visiting a doctor.