Selfie obsession dangerous: Experts

Addiction is related to past bullying and low self-esteem, induced by profusion of smartphones

In the wake of the tragic drowning of a college student at Bandra, researchers have said that the quest for the perfect selfie can have seriously adverse consequences.

Earlier, in January 2015, a 16-year-old suffered 90 per cent burns while performing a stunt on the roof of a train while trying to click a selfie. He had received an electric shock from a 25,000-volt overhead wire.

Throwing light upon the growing selfie addiction, Dr Sagar Mundada, psychiatrist, JJ Hospital, said, “In the past one year, 12 people have died in accidents while clicking selfies. It is becoming an addiction. I have seen two cases where if the patients don’t click at least five selfies every day, they would become very anxious.”

According to a study, ‘Selfie syndrome: An Infectious Gift of IT to Health Care’ published in Journal of Lung, Pulmonary and Respiratory, in 2015, “Selfie addiction is a new pathology, often related to past bullying and low self-esteem. Psychiatrists are beginning to consider the compulsion to take selfies as a serious mental health problem, although precise mechanism of selfie syndrome is not known but it is assumed to be due to imbalance between the excitatory and inhibitory Neuro transmitter”.

As per the study, the selfie obsession, in the long run, can distract patients in the workplace. It can also lead to an unhealthy professional life, unhealthy family relations and marital conflicts.

“It may lead to orthopaedic complications or injuries due to prolonged use of the thumbs for typing, awkward posture of the body while using the phone or computer for social media and even catastrophic road traffic accidents while using phones during driving,” stated the study.

Explaning the reasons behind the rising trend, Dr Chhavi Khanna, clinical psychologist, Hinduja Hospital, said, “With the growing usage of smartphones and social media, people are becoming more obsessed with their looks. And to garner more attention, they keep clicking pictures and posting them on social media. In fact, many people go into depression.”

Many experts say that the obsession is related to Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), which makes people ashamed of their ‘imperfections’, which affects their self-confidence. “People with BDD can develop a dislike for any part of their body like hair, skin, nose, height, body or weight. In reality, it can be a slight imperfection but to them it is so significant and evident that it

causes emotional distress, which leads them to take more selfies,” said Naseem Kachwala Lokhandwala, counselling psychologist.