words Alexa Wang
Each of us has taken a selfie at least once in our life. You can love or hate it, but it’s impossible not to take it. Along with Instagram, the art of selfies is becoming more advanced and popular.
But have you ever thought about the fact that this kind of portrait can affect our self-esteem? Read below for an American study and a recipe for building confidence with selfies.
Sociologists on the impact of selfies
US researchers surveyed how social media and selfies affect self-esteem. The questionnaire was filled out by about 1000 Americans who were asked to identify themselves to one of 3 groups:
- non-social media users (don’t take selfies at all);
- regular users (spend 1 to 2 hours on social networks a day and take 1 to 2 selfies a month);
- active users (spend 3 or more hours on social networks and take 3 or more photos a month).
The results of the survey showed that the more time you spend on social media, the more you focus on your appearance and compare yourself with others. Being on Instagram all the time can indicate low self-esteem. But everything is not so simple. Active social media users reported that frequent selfies increased their satisfaction with how they look.
Taking and posting selfies with the right attitude will have a positive effect on your self-esteem. But if you are too dependent on the opinions of others, instead of focusing on what you think about your photo, then selfies affect your self-confidence negatively.
How to start loving yourself while taking selfies
The first rule to remember is don’t stop at one bad selfie. Keep taking photos of yourself, and after a while, you will feel that you start liking what you see in the pictures. Try new poses, look for your good angles and you will learn to love being in the photographs.
The second tip is to shoot yourself when you look great. Turn on your camera every time you have beautiful makeup and awesome hair. Sometimes, you can even dress yourself up only to take a photo. The main thing is to look confident and capture this state with a selfie.
Edit your images to look like celebrities in magazines. Nowadays, you don’t have to know how to work with complex editors to do this. Use the app to retouch photos to get the perfect selfie in 10 minute. With its help, you can do professional cleaning of the face skin, fix your makeup, add volume to your hair, and much more.