DEFINITION:

A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or camera phone held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They are usually flattering and made to appear casual. Most selfies are taken with a camera held at arm's length or pointed at a mirror, rather than by using a self-timer. A selfie stick may be used to widen the angle of view1.

HISTORY:

Robert Cornelius, an American pioneer in photography, produced a daguerreotype of himself in 1839 which is also one of the first photographs of a person. Because the process was slow he was able to uncover the lens, run into the shot for a minute or more, and then replace the lens cap. He recorded on the back "The first light Picture ever taken 1839.

The debut of the portable Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900 led to photographic self-portraiture becoming a more widespread technique. The method was usually by mirror and stabilizing the camera either on a nearby object or on a tripod while framing via a viewfinder at the top of the box. Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 13 was one of the first teenagers to take her own picture using a mirror to send to a friend in 1914. In the letter that accompanied the photograph, she wrote, "I took this picture of myself looking at the mirror. It was very hard as my hands were trembling.

The first use of the word selfie in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on 13 September 2002. In Karl Kruszelnicki's 'Dr Karl Self-Serve Science Forum, a post by Nathan Hope stated.

Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer (sic) and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.

The concept of uploading group self-taken photographs to the internet, although with a disposable camera and not a Smartphone, dates to a webpage created by Australians in September 2001, including photos taken in the late 1990s (captured by the Internet Archive in April 2004).

The Sony Ericsson Z1010 mobile phone, released in late 2003, introduced the concept of a front-facing camera. The Z1010's front-facing camera had a sensor for selfies and video calls2.

POPULARITY:

Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider popularity over time. By the end of 2012 Time magazine considered selfie one of the "top 10 buzzwords" of that year although selfies had existed long before, it was in 2012 that the term "really hit the big time". According to a 2013 survey, two-thirds of Australian women age 18–35 take selfies—the most common purpose for which is posting on Face book. A poll commissioned by Smartphone and camera maker Samsung found that selfies make up 30% of the photos taken by people aged 18–24. By 2013, the word "selfie" had become commonplace enough to be monitored for inclusion in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. In November 2013, the word "selfie" was announced as being the "word of the year" by the Oxford English Dictionary, which gave the word itself an Australian origin.

Selfies have also been taken beyond Earth. Selfies taken in space include those by astronauts an image by NASA's Curiosity rover of itself on Mars, and images created by an indirect method, where a self-portrait photograph taken on Earth is displayed on a screen on a satellite, and captured by a camera.

In October 2013, Imagist Labs released an iOS app called Selfie, which allows users to upload photos only from their front-facing smartphone camera. The app shows a feed of public photos of everyone’s selfies and from the people they follow. The app does not allow users to comment and users can only respond with selfies. The app soon gained popularity among teenagers.

In January 2014, during the Sochi Winter Olympics, a "Selfie Olympics" meme was popular on Twitter, where users took self-portraits in unusual situations. The spread of the meme took place with the usage of the hashtags selfiegame the and selfieolympics .

In April 2014, the advertising agency Strategy Labs produced a two-way mirror capable of automatically posting selfies to Twitter, using facial recognition software.

The popularity of selfies in social media has been astounding. Instagram has over 53 million photos tagged with the hashtag #selfie. The word “selfie” was mentioned in Face book status updates over 368,000 times during a one-week period in October 2013. During the same period on Twitter, the hashtag #selfie was used in more than 150,000 tweets.2

TAKING TOO MANY SELFIES IS A MENTAL DISORDER:

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has officially confirmed what many people thought all along taking ‘selfies’ is a mental disorder.

The APA made this classification during its annual board of directors meeting in Chicago. The disorder is called selfies and is defined as the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.

TYPES OF SELFIES:

Selfies are of two types – group and individual. The individual selfie-addiction is a matter of concern. With good cameras on phones, people are seen clicking themselves multiple number of times.

LEVELS OF THE SELFIES DISORDER:

APA said there are three levels of the disorder:

• Borderline Selfitis: taking photos of one’s self at least three times a day but not posting them on social media

• Acute Selfitis: taking photos of one’s self at least three times a day and posting each of the photos on social media

• Chronic Selfitis: Uncontrollable urge to take photos of one’s self round the clock and posting the photos on social media more than six times a day3 .

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

A Sion Hospital study among school students on selfie-obsession showed that a majority of selfie-addicts are girls. The study, conducted by Dr Era S .Dutta and Dr Payal Sharma, showed that 55% selfie-takers were insecure or self-obsessed. The study was surveyed 230 students of class 11 at an urban Mumbai school .

Perezhogin tells Russia Beyond the Headlines, "Selfies manifest themselves as a form of dependence on electronic devices. For example, a person cannot post photos when there is no internet and starts to experience withdrawal symptoms like they would with heroin. Of course, this is an addiction, and it should be treated, including with medication.

Dr D' Souza said that such people lack self-gratification. "They strike different poses as they are not happy with one picture. They then upload them on social networking sites to get approval in the virtual world".

Dr Yusuf Matcheswala, head of department at PD Hinduja Hospital, said that teenagers spending a lot of time on social networking sites is a problem that is on rise. "APA has confirmed Selfitis as a mental disorder. Clicking selfie is a habit and a fad," said Dr Matcheswal.

Dr. Harish Shetty, psychiatrist from Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, said that clicking selfie is a magnified way of seeing oneself in the mirror. "Teenagers are more concerned about how they look and how others perceive them. Generally, individual selfie-clickers are seeking identity and meaning in the world."

February, an 18-year-old college student on a class picnic lost his balance while taking a selfie atop a rock near a dam near the central Indian city of Nashik. He fell into the water and drowned, along with a classmate who jumped in to try to save him.

According to Social News Daily, The story on Adobo Chronicles also pointed out that the APA had named the condition ‘Selfitis’, with the definition “an obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.”

TYPES OF SELFIES:

Selfies are of two types – group and individual. The individual selfie -addiction is a matter of concern. With good cameras on phones, people are seen clicking themselves multiple number of times.

INJURIES WHILE TAKING SELFIE:

• In 2015 it was reported that more people had been killed taking selfies that year than by shark attacks 4.

• Takers of Selfie photographs have fallen to their deaths while losing their balance in a precarious position and others have been wounded or killed while posing with handguns which have accidentally fired.

• Concerned about the increasing number of incidents in Russia where attempts to set up a daring selfie had led to injuries and deaths, the Russian Ministry of the Interior released a "Selfie Safety Guide" in 2015 that warned selfie enthusiasts about some common dangerous behaviors.

• A 2015 study showed that 20% of young Britons had taken selfies while driving a car. The Italian chief of state police expressed concern over the same phenomenon in Italy on the occasion of the launch of a short film with the title "Selfie".

• In 2016 the behavior of an Argentinean crowd seeking a selfie with a La Plata dolphin was held responsible for its death.

Will Selfitis Be a Future Disorder?

DSM is only updated upon evidence of a large and confirmatory research base, it’s highly unlikely that we will see a disorder about Selfies or called Selfitis in the next few decades. Is there any harm in taking too many photographs of oneself? For most people, probably not. If, however, it’s feeding into one’s pre-existing narcissism or narcissistic tendencies, then yes, it may be only reinforcing those kinds of negative traits.

Selfies a Sign of Narcissism and Psychopathy

In this study, the authors examined self-objectification, along with three traits, known as the “Dark Triad”: narcissism, Psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. They are called “dark” because they have an almost evil connotation and are associated with a callous and manipulative way of interacting with other people.

Narcissism:

Extreme self-centeredness and a grandiose view of oneself. Narcissists have an excessive need to be admired by others and have a sense of entitlement. They’re likely to agree with statements like “I’m more capable than most people” and “I will usually show off if I get the chance”5.

Psychopathy:

Impulsivity and lack of empathy.5 Those high in Psychopathy are likely to agree with statements like “Payback needs to be quick and nasty"5.

Machiavellianism:

Manipulativeness without regard for others’ needs. Those high on this trait tend to have little concern about morals.

Self-objectification:

This is a tendency to view your body as an object based on its sexual worth. Those high in self-objectification tend to see themselves in terms of their physical appearance and base their self-worth on their appearance.

A study suggests that narcissists are more likely to show off with selfies and make extra effort to look their best in these photos. Interestingly, psychopathic men posted more selfies , but didn’t tend to edit them more than their less psychopathic counterparts. The study’s authors speculated that this may be because they lack self-control and don’t really filter what they put on Face book—editing photos suggests a level of careful self-presentation that you would be unlikely to find among those high in Psychopath.

TREATMENT:

According to the APA, while there is currently no cure for the disorder, temporary treatment is available through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

CONCLUSION:

By this article, I concluded that ‘Selfies’ is a mental disorder. It is characterized by the disorder is called Selfies and is defined as the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.

REFERENCES:

1. Selfie - Definition of selfie from the Oxford dictionaries. Available from ; www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english /selfie.

2. Selfie - As a mental disorder (online). Available from ;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfie.

3. Selfitis: An obsessive compulsive disorder of taking too many selfies. June 29. Available from; www.newsgram.com › Health & Wellness.

4. More people have died by taking selfies (September 2015). Available from ; www.telegraph.co.uk › Technology.

5. Selfies linked to Narcissism , Psychopath .Available from ;

www.huffingtonpost.com/.selfies-narcissism-psychopathy.

Received on 02.03.2016 Modified on 10.03.2016

Int. J. Adv. Nur. Management. 2016; 4(2): 169-172.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2652.2016.00039.1