Social Media and Age
Before social media, images of one self where either drawn or photographed, but were never viral. But, social media changed the world drastically, where images are instantly shared across the world. Ever since 2013, the term “selfie” became popular, in which the Oxford dictionary claim ed that it was the word of the year. Selfies are the modern version of the self portraits. The Oxford dictionary defines the word selfie as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website” (2013). Selfies were first introduced in 2002, where a drunk Australian accidentally takes an image of himself as he trips.
Selfies have been studied lately in which they are presumed to psychologically affect individuals either positively or negatively. A study has been done in the University of California in which they suggest that when individuals take selfies of events that make them happy, their mood will be reflected positively (as cited in Malacoff, 2016). This study claims that respondents feel at peace with themselves and are more confident with themselves when they are not influenced by social media. These individuals felt comfortable because they were not pleasing society or comparing themselves with others; they weren’t faking their smiles or their happiness. Additionally, the respondent’s positive selfies made others feel happy, resulting in more favourable comments. Therefore, the University of California proposes that in order to make selfies enjoyable, one has to neglect their surroundings and use selfies for their initial purpose, to communicate with others and have fun.
Yet, the world depends on social media platforms and the internet. This led selfies to alter their meaning in society and may negatively influence individuals. Recently, people look at other people’s lives and compare it to theirs, hence, assuming how the “perfect” life, body or selfie should be. Each society has a different ideology of selfies, and each individuals is expected to follow these implicit norms (Burn, 2015). According to Hu (2017), the more individuals tend to take selfies, the more likely they become narcissistic and self centred. Additionally, Doyle (2016) says that people’s narcissism is due to their obsession with posting the perfect selfie. Attempting to reach the desired selfie, applications are used to edit the images before them being posted online. Due to the presumption of what a selfie should look like, individuals tend to feel less of their bodies and use them as objects, deeply affecting how one views the worth of their body (Doyle, 2016). Furthermore, Morin (2018) claims that teenagers are most likely to post their selfies on Instagram rather than Facebook, since it is considered the new platform for youngsters to post the newest trends of selfies and bodies. Additionally, Morin (2018) compared parents to teenagers, where she noticed that parents tend to take selfies for fun, and may take less selfies than their children.
Selfies are currently the main source of communication between individuals, but this communication tactic has lead to having particular standards of what the perfect or ideal selfie should look like. The ideal selfie includes having the perfect smile, the perfect skin, and the perfect body. This figurative definition of what the ideal selfie should be has lead to negative drawbacks for different age groups. Several studies have noticed that teenagers taking selfies correlates with their ideology of their self image, worth, and mental or physical state. According to Diefenbach and Christoforakos (2017), posted selfies may lead to criticism and negative comments from others. These negative approaches can lead to one questioning their self presentation and lowering one’s self-esteem.
Selfies were initially unharmful methods to take images, but the rise of social media lead to self obsession. According to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 1 in 3 surgeons have claimed that the number of plastic surgeries has increased to please social media (as cited in Alonso, 2014). Many individuals have faced anxieties to look perfect within their society. For example, 19 year old Danny Bowmen faced many negative critiques about his looks on Facebook, that he began dieting, dropped out of school just to take selfies, and stayed at home for 6 months, taking around 200 selfies a day. After his failed attempt to take the “perfect selfie”, he faced depression, and later committed suicide (Alonso, 2014). Furthermore, psychiatrist Dr. David Veal said: “two out of three of all patients who come to see me with Body Dysmorphic Disorder since the rise of camera phones have compulsions to repeatedly take selfies” (as cited in Alonso, 2014). Mills et. al agree with Dr. Veal by saying that one frequently checks their bodies on the mirror or repeatedly checks their weight due to the ideology preserved from selfies of how one should look like to be beautiful (as cited in Mills, Musto, Williams, and Tiggemann, 2018). Moreover, according to Engein (2018), young women are most likely to experience depression, anxiety, body dissatisfaction, and obsess over their body, when they take selfies. This implies that people who regularly take selfies may be unsatisfied with their body figure that they become obsessed with the way they look and constantly think about their flaws, usually exaggerating them.
Dr. Pamela Rutledge, Director of the Media Psychology Research Centre in Boston, states: “Selfies frequently trigger perceptions of self-indulgence or attention seeking social dependence that raises the damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t specter of either narcissism or very low self-esteem” (as cited in Alonso, 2014). Individuals are likely to view their self-esteem based on the number of likes they get on their posted selfies. If one doesn’t receive the amount of likes expected, they will start to question what was wrong with the selfie and obsess over the way they look, hence, trying to change to please their surroundings. Engein (2018) claims that individuals take selfies to allow viewers to interpret oneself the way they want to be seen (impression management). A study conducted at York University consisted of 113 Canadian women between the ages of 16 and 29, where they were tested under 3 conditions. They concluded that no matter the circumstance that they are in, women taking selfies may face anxiety and feel less confident when they don’t share their experiences with friends and families or access social media platforms. As well, posting selfies online, may correlate to these women feeling less attractive (Mills, Musto, Williams, & Tiggemann, 2018).
A survey conducted in the UK shows that women between ages of 16 and 25 spend hours taking, editing, and posting selfies on social media platforms (Engein, 2018). Typically, Pounders, Kowalczyk, and Stowers mentions that these women spend 5 hours a week taking and posting selfies on social media platforms (as cited in Mills, Musto, Williams, & Tiggemann, 2018).
Research Findings
Not much research has been conducted in Lebanon about the correlation between age and selfies, therefore, a small study has been done to analyse how Lebanese perceive selfies. A survey was distributed to 26 individuals in which 20 of them were female and 6 were male. The respondents were based in Lebanon and ranged from the age of 17 years old and above. The results conducted established that selfies have no age limit, but each age group take selfies for different reasons. Besides having a different purpose for each selfie taken, each society or culture may set different norms and standards for the taken selfie. Most of the respondents claim that teenagers post selfies to please society, whereas grandparents do not. Therefore, the ideology of what a selfie should look like alters between both age groups. Individuals tend to start taking selfies from the age of 3, in which the child may notice several selfies having similar body and face features and may presume that one should look like these featured individuals to look beautiful. Furthermore, gender plays a vital role in selfie taking, where females tend to start taking selfies at an earlier stage than males, and females take selfies more seriously than males do. That is why women are more likely to be affected by selfies. Most of the respondents agree that selfie taking may negatively harm individuals in ways that may lead to narcissism or observe their body as objects. Furthermore, the respondents claim that they have doubted their body at least once ever since they were exposed to social media platforms because they tend to look up to other selfies of individuals, trying to look like them. Lebanese believe that if they don’t post the perfect selfie, they will face criticism and cyberbullying, especially if they post revealing selfies. The social pressures that Lebanese face, especially women, are that their selfies should not be too revealing due to religious influences. Selfies mostly tend to negatively influence users below the age of 27, and any age above that is considered to be immune to society. Therefore, there is no age limit for selfie taking since at one stage or another, one will face criticism, jealousy, or negative comments, whether they go online before the age of 27 or after. Lebanese are rather aware of what is happening on social media platforms, and most consider that the perfect image is affecting teenagers the most. Age does play a role in the area of selfie taking, but negativity in these selfies is spread to all age groups, but each in different ways. Teenagers may be judged more on their physical appearance than grandparents. The respondents are more aware that the perfect body does not really exist and that everyone is unique in their own way, but when teenagers see several selfies of one’s “beauty” or “body”, they may compare their selfies to their; hence negatively influencing their views of themselves. When these teenagers see such images, they may feel pressured to change, therefore, they may face eating disorders or narcissism to please society and to look “perfect”. Grandparents do not face such issues because they don’t intent to please society or look like models. Grandparents may feel pressured to change their lifestyle and how they live their lives by comparing their everyday habits with others. Parents may experience pressure due to the majority of selfies that they see of their friends on vacation or the children of their friends doing activities that their own children are not doing. This research concluded that Lebanese do not take selfies to please themselves, they look at others and try to imitate their happiness. Therefore, this leads to a negative vibe in social media, since most are trying to fake their happiness rather than making it natural. So, social media and “influencers” play a major role in one’s happiness, which may negatively correlate to one’s health.
The research conducted confirmed previous researches that selfies negatively influence individuals at any age, whether they are 10 years old or 50 years old. Each age group is exposed to criticism and negativity from others, but in different ways. These criticism may direct individual into having eating disorders or by allowing one to alter the way they spend their time. In the Lebanese society, people are aware of the outcomes that selfies may cause, but they cannot stop what is happening. Previous research confirms what Lebanese are facing, but depression was not mentioned in the conducted research, most were complain on the perception of their self worth and body image, but none thought of suicide.
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References
Alonso, D. (2014). The Societal Obsession with Selfies (and What’s Wrong With It) — PsychAlive. [online] PsychAlive. Retrieved from https://www.psychalive.org/obsession-with-selfies/
Burns, A. (2015). Self(ie)-Discipline: Social Regulation as Enacted Through the Discussion of Photographic Practice. Eprints.whiterose.ac.uk. Retrieved from http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/83965/2/WRRO_83965
Diefenbach, S. and Christoforakos, L. (2017). The Selfie Paradox: Nobody Seems to Like Them Yet Everyone Has Reasons to Take Them. An Exploration of Psychological Functions of Selfies in Self-Presentation. [online] NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5239793/
Doyle, L. (2016). Selfies: the good, the bad and the downright irritating. [online] ParentInfo. Retrieved from https://parentinfo.org/article/selfies-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-irritating
Engeln, R. (2018). The Unexpected Psychological Cost of Sharing Selfies. [online] Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beauty-sick/201809/the-unexpected-psychological-cost-sharing-selfies
Hu, N. (2017). Let Me Take a Selfie | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson. [online] Thecrimson.com. Retrieved from https://www.thecrimson.com/column/femme-fatale/article/2017/3/2/hu-let-me-take-selfie/
Malacoff, J. (2016). The #1 Thing You Should Do In Every Selfie. [online] Shape Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/why-selfies-might-not-be-such-bad-thing-after-all
Mills, J., Musto, S., Tiggemann, M. and Williams, L. (2018). “Selfie” harm: Effects on mood and body image in young women. ScienceDirect. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144517305326
Morin, A. (2018). Think the Teenage Obsession With Selfies is Harmless? Think Again. [online] Verywell Family. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/teens-and-selfies-what-parents-need-to-know-2608943
Paxton, S. and McLean, S. (2016). Social media can damage body image — here’s how to counteract it. The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/social-media-can-damage-body-image-heres-how-to-counteract-it-65717
Rutledge, P. (2013). #Selfies: Narcissism or Self-Exploration?. [online] Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-media/201304/selfies-narcissism-or-self-exploration
