How many selfies do you post on your social media accounts in a day? If it is more than three, prepare yourself for what you are going to read further.
Psychologists say the compulsion to post pictures of yourself on social media is a genuine medical condition called ‘selfitis.’
3 stages of selfitis
There are three stages to this condition: Borderline, Acute, and Chronic.
‘Borderline’ people take at least three selfies in a day without posting them to social media.
In ‘Acute’ phase, these selfies are posted and in ‘Chronic’ stage, there is an unstoppable need to post selfies more than six times a day.
Are you an attention seeker?
The people obsessed with posting selfies are attention seekers who are in constant need for validation.
They also suffer from lack of confidence and try to fit in a particular peer group.
2 sides to this obsession
On one side are the people who try to boost their self-esteem by the number of ‘likes’ they get on their selfies.
On the other hand, there are people who are narcissistic and megalomaniacs.
Consequences of selfitis
The consequences of this obsession are grave, especially for the teenagers.
It can lead to a generation of people who are far removed from the reality of their lives.
Some psychologists are still skeptic about ‘selfitis’ being a medical condition as it amounts to labelling a vast range of complex human behaviours under a single group.
While it is great to love yourself, it should not lead to an obsession with yourself.
Real or not, ‘selfitis’ is a red signal for us to stop and think where are we headed!
