TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Nowadays, the behavior of taking selfies has become commonplace. It is called ‘selfitis’ when the activity becomes an addiction. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) explains the term as the addiction or an obsessive-compulsive desire to take photos of oneself and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.
Classification:
Borderline Selfitis: Taking photos of oneself at least three times a day but not posting them on social media.
Acute Selfitis: Taking photos of oneself at least three times a day and posting each of the pictures on social media.
Chronic Selfitis: Uncontrollable urge to take photos of one’s self round the clock and post the photos on social media more than six times a day.
Categories of causes of the selfie behavior:
- Relishing the environment
Someone feels that taking selfies will give a good feeling to enjoy the environment more. Taking selfies also provides memories of opportunities, experiences, and memories for the future in an environment.
- Social competition
Selfitis behavior can occur because of the aspect of competition with friends or colleagues because different selfie poses are considered to increase social status. One can get more likes and comments on social media as they have a collection of different selfies and good edits.
- Attention seeking
Selfie-takers feel they will attract more attention, leading to more popularity, by sharing their selfies on social media.
- Mood change
According to the Cleveland Clinic, people have become addicted to taking selfies because they thought it reduces stress levels, improves mood, and makes them happier.
- Confidence
Someone feels they can be more confident and think positively about themselves when they take selfies.
- Subjective suitability
People who behave selflessly feel they will get more acceptance among their group of friends when they take selfies and share them on social media. They will feel like the most prominent member of the other friends in the group.
RACHEL FARAHDIBA REGAR
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