Watch out, Kim Kardashian: You have some serious selfie competition. Kardashian may have published the first-ever book of selfies (yes, really, and it’s appropriately titled Selfish), but this weekend, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson broke the Guinness World Record for selfies, snapping 105 in three minutes with fans.
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You’d think that attending the London premiere of his latest film, San Andreas, would have been enough excitement but, no. And that’s the issue with our Selfie Nation: We get so focused on snapping photos, it tends to distract us from the present, says psychiatrist Gail Saltz, MD, a Health contributing editor.”If you’re constantly taking selfies at an event you’re not fully immersed in the moment, and it can detract from the satisfaction and joy,” she notes.
Picture yourself selfie-ing away at, say, a great party you attended or on a fabulous trip you took and consider whether at times you were more focused on getting a great shot—or having fun. Exactly.
Belfies (the butt selfie) and helfies (hair selfies) pose another hazard: “Regularly obsessing about perfection can further reinforce body image issues,” says Dr. Saltz. In fact, men who overshare selfies in social media score higher on tests for narcissism and psycopathy, to boot, per a recent study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
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Then, there are the potential relationship downsides. A 2013 research paper from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom found that people who regularly post photos of themselves on Facebook risk alienating friends, family, and colleagues (along with vast quantities of strangers worldwide, as the Kardashians have proven). And of course, ignoring your surroundings as you’re snapping away can create other dangers, precisely the reason the U.S. Forest Service warned visitors last fall to quit taking bear selfies.
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Still, there are times when selfies can be good for you. Take the healthie, in which someone photo-brags about their tough workout, toned muscles, yoga pose, green smoothie or other wellness scores. “Occasionally patting yourself on the back for health achievements in social media can propel you to keep them up,” Dr. Saltz says, “especially if you get reinforcement from friends like ‘Go you!'”
What plenty of us do appreciate, however, is humor about a trend that sometimes takes itself too seriously—it’s why Kourtney Kardashian’s sexy photo of herself decked out in breast pumps was such a breath of fresh air. It’s also why people have been amused to read about that elphie (elephant selfie, of course). The Thailand native grabbed a tourist’s GoPro and snapped a pic of the two of them.
An elphie selfie: bring it!
Still, the truth is we could all use more breaks from our smartphones to spend the time actually living our lives.
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from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1RnL2gS
