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Why Selfies Do More Harm Than Good
Robert Locke
Guess one reason why aliens do not want to visit planet Earth.An obvious one is that the whole planet is addicted to postingselfies on the Internet, so aliens would hardly get a look in!
Yesterday morning, a major Italian daily newspaper, which issupposed to be a quality paper, published a selfie of the ex PopeBenedict XVI. It was taken by some visiting priest, no doubt. WhenI saw this, I knew it was time for me to leave the planet, butbefore I do, I must write this post on why selfies do more harmthan good. At least, I will have achieved something during myearthly life.
Let us get the good out of the way. Good? Well, it shows thatyou can manage a smartphone or web camera. Then it gets you morelikes and comments on your social network account. Finally, itshows everyone what you look like and no, it’s not reallynarcissism. Just blame it on Narcissus, ok? He started the wholetrend a long time ago and he didn’t even have a smartphone.
But surely posting selfies is a perfectly innocent andworthwhile activity? Why not post a selfie of yourself, you andyour friend, and you and your cat on Instagram? Well, if it istaken to excess, then it really is doing a lot of harm, just likesmoking too many cigarettes or becoming an alcoholic or aworkaholic. Here are 5 top reasons why it could get out ofhand.
1. Selfies create privacy risks.
Facebook is using face recognition technology (DeepFace Project)already and some experts argue that this is illegal. It is alarmingto think that Facebook processes 350 million photos every day. Thatis providing invaluable information for commercial and other typesof exploitation.
But law enforcement agencies such as the FBI may have access toall this data for identifying criminals and terrorists. But the new“faceprint†may soon be in use for ATMs and other useful purposessuch as unlocking your iPhone and even paying by credit card.
The NSA have not been lagging behind either. Astonishingly, theycan match satellite photos with any photos taken outside toidentify the exact spot where that photo was taken. What aboutphotographs taken indoors? Now, that is scary!
2. Selfies can cause an addiction.
Trying to get that perfect selfie for your Instagram account?Don’t try too hard because it can get addictive and you may becomeobsessed. An extreme example is the story of Danny Bowman who endedup trying to commit suicide. The reason for his desperation? Hejust could not get that perfect selfie after trying for 10 hours aday. The average was about 200 selfies a day. His mother saved hislife and he is now doing some rehabilitation. He is graduallylearning to live without his iPhone.
3. Selfies can damage real relationships.
Did you know that your real friends can end up disliking youwhen you post too many selfies? It can damage friendships andrelationships. This was the startling conclusion reached byresearchers at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. They found thatit negatively impacts levels of intimacy.
4. Posting too many selfies is not a disorderyet.
Have you heard about the prank which some people played on theAmerican Psychiatric Association? The pranksters posted a bulletinclaiming than the new disorder was called “selfitis.†There werethree stages in the disease which ranged from borderline (about 3selfies a day) to chronic “selfitis†where you take photos ofyourself all day and then post them at least six times a day. Thiswent viral and people were getting worried. Once the dust settled,the joke was revealed.
Well, it is not a disorder yet, but watch this space! The storyof Danny Bowman is a little scary, quite honestly.
5. Selfies place too much emphasis on physicalappearance.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could post photos of a person’shonesty, tolerance and kindness on Facebook? Not a snowball’schance in hell. Yes, there is now even the bottom-selfie which iscalled the belfie. At the moment, everything is so physical andhuman values are getting shoved to the bottom (pardon the pun!) ofthe agenda.
