Are you one of those people who tend to look at other people’s selfies? Science says it’s a sign that you lack self-confidence.
Do you have a friend or colleague who posts countless selfies on social media? We all seem to know that person who enjoys capturing their face from a certain angle and in that one pose we see so often, with their eyebrows raised and lips perfectly formed.
But what does this mean psychologically for the selfie taker’s self-esteem and, moreover, for the people who watch them?
You can make a lot of assumptions about the type of people who take selfies, namely that they may suffer from narcissism, have a high sense of self-worth and are obsessed with themselves. And studies seem to back this up.
People who take selfies have higher self-esteem and confidence
Studies have shown that those people who tend to post a lot of selfies actually have higher self-esteem. Selfies reinforce a selfish mindset, says Dr. Judy Ho, a licensed psychologist and professor at Pepperdine University.
“People are becoming very self-centered as a way to build self-esteem,” she explains.
“They take selfies and then edit them, making them look as flawless as possible as a way to express how they feel or want to feel about themselves.”
And then all the nice comments that compliment the selfie-taker come in. All that positivity can only boost the selfie-taker’s confidence.
In other studies, participants who were asked why they posted selfies said they thought they looked attractive in the photo and wanted others to see it, too.
So we’ve shown that people who take selfies and post them on social media tend to be more confident and have higher levels of self-esteem.
But what about people who just tend to look at them?
People who view selfies tend to feel less self-confident
Much of the research so far has focused on the reasons why people post content on social media. It has not yet been shown that the impact of viewing the material is also very significant.
Studies have shown that if you are someone who tends to just watch what is happening on social media, rather than participate yourself, then looking at selfies can lower your self-esteem. This practice of not actively participating has been described as “snobbery”.
“When people look at and admire other people’s selfies, they may feel bad about themselves and think they are not living up to their expectations,” says Dr Hu.
He believes this is because when you don’t participate in posting selfies, you don’t boost your self-esteem, but instead get idealised images of your friends. This can lead to a lack of self-esteem.
Ms Ruxue Wang, the first author of the study, said:
“People usually post selfies when they are happy or having fun. This makes it easy for someone else to look at these photos and think that your life or theirs is not as great as theirs.”
It was also observed that the more people viewed selfies of other people, especially group selfies where the whole group is seen having fun, the more pronounced their lack of self-esteem was.
Your Self-Esteem Depends on Who’s Looking at Your Selfies
Remarkably, looking at selfies doesn’t always produce feelings of low self-esteem, it all depends on who’s looking at the photos.
If you have a desire to be famous, simply looking at more selfies gives you extra confidence. It’s as if there’s a cascade effect of seeing bright, beautiful people showering you with their glory.
For those who initially had low self-esteem and self-esteem issues, looking at selfies didn’t produce a positive outcome.
