The increasing number of selfie deaths in India has made the government to sit up and take notice. Way back in 2015, Kumbh Mela had set up no selfie zones. Now more areas are being added to the list. The state governments have been notified by the Tourism Ministry to mark ‘no-selfie zones’ at certain popular tourist attractions. As most deaths take place near water fronts and these are in abundance in Mumbai, the government has listed 16 sites as selfie-free zones with a number of them around waterfronts such as Juhu and Dadar beach fronts, Chowpatty, Marine Drive etc. Tocombat selfie deaths Mumbai police has placed warning sites at these areas. More officers have also been deployed to watch over the people.
Before and after the experiment, the women were evaluated on their mood and how they felt about themselves, completing several assessment tests. As expected, given the previous research, women who could take and post only one selfie experienced a significant decrease in confidence, and in feelings of attractiveness, and a significant increase in anxiety, compared to the control group. Researchers were curious as to whether being able to select a favorite photo, and then touch it up to make it even better would help the women feel better about themselves. But no, the women who could select and then improve their selfie still experienced the same increase in anxiety and decrease in feeling attractive as those who had only one unretouched image to choose from. Interestingly, though, the retouched selfie group did experience less of a loss of confidence than the unretouched group. And, researchers noted, there was no positive psychological effect whatsoever to posting the selfies, even those that had been carefully selected and touched up.
In other words, all those selfies you're taking? Even the ones that you take and re-take until they're just right, and add filters or other enhancements to make them look really great? The very best you can hope for from them is that they'll increase your anxiety and make you feel uglier, but not decrease your confidence the way lesser images would.
So why, exactly, are you taking so many selfies? Posting them makes you feel worse, not better. And you won't disappoint anyone if you stop. A recent survey showed that most Americans--even those who take selfies themselves--dislike it when others post them.
Next time you're in a gorgeous place, or at an amazing event, and you feel you just have to post a selfie, try to focus both your smartphone and your attention at the interesting things behind you rather than how you yourself look. Or better yet, flip the camera around and just take a picture of what's in front of you. Your friends will be glad you did, and you'll feel better too.
As well as the positives of ‘selfies,’ there also exists a whole host of negatives. In order to gain an idea of what the general public thinks about ‘selfies’ in my local area, I told a group of people about the recent report and asked them what their individual thoughts were about this latest craze.
Depends on what kind of person you are and how you perceive yourself. I personally think it’s a bad idea as you just over analyse your own insecurities.They are fine but some people go too far pulling silly faces. No ‘selfies’ are ever natural.
The report states that features such as skin tone, eye colour, lips and figure have all been retouched or edited at some point by the general public, so viewers should always observe the images with a pinch of salt.
As part of my research for this article, I experimented with ‘selfies’ myself. I found myself taking a considerable amount of time choosing a pose or type of smile that I was comfortable with before taking the shot, and as a result ended up with more photos than I would have liked. I guess it just depends on the personality of the individual. Some people would be happy with the first image, whilst others would need a little more dedication to the image before they were satisfied.
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