Are Selfies Zapping Your Self-Confidence?

If you go back a decade, you’ll travel back in time to an age where we used tripods or timers on cameras to take a shot of ourselves in front of dramatic scenery or bucket-list worthy attractions. Fast forward, and you can’t move for people trying to take that perfect selfie. There’s a lot to be said for being able to take photos easily, but has the selfie played a part in zapping our self-confidence?

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Drawing on your flaws

When you look in the mirror, you probably don’t spend hours analysing what your teeth look like or whether your cheekbones are prominent enough. Selfies have given us the opportunity to see ourselves all the time, and every time we take a photo, we tend to spend time looking at the detail of it, and sadly, rather than focusing on the positives, we dwell on our flaws. Dentists, for example, have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people seeking cosmetic dental treatment and asking for information about whitening products such as those available on miswakclub.com since the dawn of the selfie. Everyone, even those with beautiful teeth, wants that flawless Instagram-worthy smile. The reality of the situation is that the same person can look completely different depending on the angle of the shot, the proximity of the phone and the lighting.

Many of us aim for perfection, and this simply doesn’t exist. You may start to zone in on problems you’d never ever noticed before due to the magnification and the angle of the shot. If you took a normal photo, for example, your nose would probably be in proportion. When you’re shooting a selfie from close range, your nose may look a lot larger than it is in real life, and this can breed a complex out of nothing. Try not to focus on one bad photo in a set of 10 or 20. Even supermodels don’t nail every shot.

Comparing yourself to others

When you take a selfie, what do you do with it? Do you keep it to yourself or do you share it with others? Most of us are happy to upload photos onto sites like Instagram and Facebook, and this opens us up to the opinions of others and encourages us to compare ourselves to other people. Comparing ourselves to others is a human trait, but it can be really damaging. Even a good filter can change a shot dramatically before you start throwing in editing or airbrushing apps, and this can present us with an ideal, which we can’t live up to in reality.

If you find yourself comparing yourself to others, and using social media brings you down, put your phone down, and take a break. Sometimes, it can be liberating to focus on yourself, rather than what other people think, and life can be much simpler and more enjoyable when you’re not waiting for notifications or worrying about how many people have liked your photo. If you’re considering a break, you may find this article interesting https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/21/does-quitting-social-media-make-you-happier-yes-say-young-people-doing-it.

Many of us suffer from a lack of confidence, and often, this relates to the way we look or the way we think we look. Selfies can be fun, but don’t let them take over your life. It can be damaging to spend too much time analysing your appearance, especially if you tend to zone on features you perceive as imperfections.