Selfies are an inescapable phenomenon. If you are a young person, or you know a young person, you know someone who takes an insane amount of selfies.
A recent study found that more people have died from taking selfies than from shark attacks this year, and that’s not really a surprise. It’s easy to write selfies off as a tool for a growing narcissist, but it’s much more complicated than that.
These days, selfies are more than just a way to commemorate your look that day and seek approval for it. Psychologists now say that social media is integral to a growing teen’s life, as it keeps them connected with their friends and helps them discover their own identities. Teens use selfies, researchers say, in order to express themselves, boost self-esteem, and let everyone know who they are.
Adolescents these days, say researchers, also have a larger sense of the “imaginary audience,” a concept in which we imagine and assume that people are generally looking at and thinking about you all the time. Selfies help with this, as getting positive feedback on them confirms that there really is an audience.
Parents are not innocent in this. In the age of social media, parents post pictures of their children from the moment they’re born. They give gadgets with cameras to their kids, and post everything they do as a family to Facebook.
This isn’t a bad thing, at least not necessarily. The dangers lie in the psychological damage to growing teens, such as over-sharing (such as sharing addresses or phone numbers), online bullying, or real dangers, like taking pictures while driving. Talking to your kids may help them understand this, and they can take their selfies with awareness of what they’re doing.
