How the habit of taking and posting selfies influences your mental health

It is no longer news that social media, especially Instagram, can trigger various mental health issues: from body image distortion to the feeling that everyone else is living a perfect life (and is always on vacation), except for you. Increasingly, researchers are dedicating themselves to proving this empirically, as is the case with the study presented in the article “Selfie” harm: Effects on mood and body image in young women”, published in 2018.

I came across this article right after I made a post about self-image and how the aesthetics of media and social networks influence our perception of ourselves. In this case, the study focused on 113 psychology students, aged 18 to 29, managed through a platform at York University in Toronto. Among the main findings, it was indicated that the act of taking selfies and posting them on social media led to a worsening of the participants' mood and body image, and that posting retouched selfies also had harmful effects.

As a basis for this study, the researchers highlighted several sources that had already identified dissatisfaction with one's own body as a widespread problem among girls and women, something that has been further strengthened and catalyzed by social media (see Brown & Tiggemann, 2016; Holland & Tiggemann, 2016; Tiggemann & Miller, 2010). This occurs because social media, after all, provides an opportunity for people to compare themselves to one another, and many of these images are, ultimately, a reflection of an unrealistic beauty ideal:

“Social media presents countless idealized images of thin, muscular, beautiful, photoshopped women, and the ‘thin ideal’ and ‘athletic ideal’ are portrayed as a normal and attainable body type for any woman (Kim & Chock, 2015; Meier & Gray, 2014; Robinson et al., 2017). Furthermore, the internet and social media promote thinness, dieting behavior, and weight loss through idealized images of the ‘perfect’ woman (Perloff, 2014). Women who use social media frequently internalize the ‘thin ideal,’ thus generating a struggle for an unrealistic and unnatural standard of beauty, and feeling ashamed when they are unable to achieve it (Kim & Chock, 2015; Meier & Gray, 2014; Tiggemann & Slater, 2013).”

Perloff (2014), for example, suggests that women who hold a high standard of thinness as a beauty benchmark, along with perfectionism and low self-esteem, are the most prone to making comparisons with the photographs posted on social media. For the researchers, this possibility is especially concerning, as body dissatisfaction among women is one of the primary triggers for the development of eating disorders and depression. Because of this, the research was premised on understanding the real effects of social media on this demographic and how these platforms have become a space for experimenting with "self-representation."

Taking into account that social media is a means of creating an impression and maintaining an online persona, it is natural for people to choose their most attractive versions to generate a positive perception. To this end, selfies are an efficient strategy because they represent the individual themselves, even if they are often captured from flattering angles and lighting, as well as through other edits that can correct flaws ranging from acne to the shape of a body part, so that it appears thinner. Thus, the body on social media becomes a malleable, yet unreal, body, hence the tendency for people to want to post more and more photos of themselves as a way to improve their self-esteem. According to (Pounders et al., 2016), women aged 16 to 25 spend up to 5 hours a week taking selfies and sharing them on social media, a behavior considered risky because it has the potential to influence an individual's body image as well as their self-esteem.

Part of the research involved inviting participants to take a selfie and post it on their social media without the option to retouch it or take multiple photos until an acceptable one was obtained. In this case, the participants felt more anxious, less confident, and less physically attractive after the test, and this was significantly different from the objective results in the control group—that is, the part of the sample that did not undergo this test. "These results are consistent with previous suggestions that appearance concerns are heightened when women interact with the construct of their social media profiles, thereby manifesting a worsening of their body image and mood."

However, in the case of the sample that had the opportunity to take more photos and even retouch them before posting, no major change in anxiety and insecurity was observed compared to the reaction of the participants who posted their photos without retouching and without further options. Regarding body perception, the participants who were able to retouch their bodies in the photographs still felt less attractive after posting the image online, just like the participants who were denied this functionality. "In terms of confidence, women who were able to retouch their selfies felt more confident afterward than the group that did not retouch, but they felt no more confident than those who did not post a selfie at all. In other words, posting a retouched selfie did not improve women's confidence compared to those who were performing a neutral task," such as reading the news, for example.

"To explain these findings, we could say that the scrutiny and modification of images of themselves cause women to think more about their flaws or imperfections. Retouching can activate feelings of self-objectification. Although self-presentation strategies provide a sense of control over physical appearance, they do not really seem to improve mood or self-image. The present study found no evidence that posting retouched photos on social media makes women feel better than usual and found some evidence that it makes them feel worse than normal. Although women may feel less anxious about posting a selfie if they have the chance to retouch it and make it more attractive, the process of taking and editing the photo still draws attention to aspects of their appearance that make them dissatisfied."

Although it concluded that, in the end, both the women who were able to retouch their selfies and those who were not remained insecure about themselves, the study still points to the need for longer-term research, since this type of behavior is common and prolonged among social media users. Movements such as Finstagram, for example, demonstrate an attempt at resistance and opposition to the prevailing norm, but they are still an isolated and alternative performance, since adherents continue to maintain their traditional profiles alongside their Finstagrams. From a clinical perspective, the researchers point out exactly how this technology-mediated behavior ends up being one more issue to be addressed by health professionals, whether they are psychotherapists or psychiatrists.