Psychologists claim that taking three or more selfies a day could be a sign of mental illness.
In 2014, a spoof news article coined the term "selfitis," saying that the American Psychiatric Association was going to start recognising it as a real disorder.
Three years on, two researchers have looked at the term and have decided there could be some truth to it.
Psychologists Mark D. Griffiths and Janarthanan Balakrishnan have published a paper in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, in which they argue that selfitis is a real condition, and can be diagnosed as excessive selfie taking.
They also developed a "Selfitis Behaviour Scale" by surveying the selfie behaviour of 400 participants from India. The scale assesses the severity of the condition, of which there are three levels.
India was chosen for the study as the country has the most selfie-related deaths. Out of 127 selfie-related deaths that have been reported worldwide between March 2014 and September 2016, 76 occurred in India.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:39PM (6 children)
Surely there must be underlying psychologies here that lead to all manner of repetitive, unhelpful, and sometimes dangerous behaviors.
But whatever. March on, Western Civilization. Pathologize too much of behavior A and too little of behavior A, and too much of behavior B is a completely different pathology. Tell us, oh high priests of psychology, what is the exact thing we should be doing every last fucking minute of our day? Anybody else who disagrees is mentally ill! Drug them until they can't move! Invent better drugs so that they won't be able to sleep while they're so drugged they can't move, so they have to be aware of every, single horrible minute that they cannot die and are forced to exist.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:44PM
PAAAAAAAAPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH
What was that? And what's with that drippin' sound!? What! What is that thing! It's a disgusting papoohiesack! Get that thing out of here! You told me your sackanuts was a dry, dry, dry, dry, dry sack, but it's drippin' with spit! What a scam. Check your sack and get your asshole violated as such never before!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:12PM
They enable clients to be true to themselves
Psych medicine is working when you don't feel medicated
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by requerdanos on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:18PM (1 child)
An interesting component here is that if the unusual activity was confined to someone's intrusive thoughts (only being pleased with parallel or perpendicular lines but never with lines intersecting at any other angle, for example), or someone's actions that are more private (repeated cleaning of certain places in their home, compulsively organizing their bottlecaps, etc.), then enough info about a person's condition and activities might never be known to diagnose anything out of the ordinary.
Take that same person and make them able to focus on something that is frequently published to international media (facebook, twitter, instagram, snapchat, myspace, geocities), and suddenly much more information is available.
Thus same person, same tendencies, different level of knowledge: Without their published selfies, we wouldn't know.
It's not like all the clinicians chased people down looking for selfies, either; they were basically minding their own business and the selfiers began publishing more photos, of themselves, than had previously ever been taken in history, making themselves and their own behavior known. The clinicians could either pretend to not know, or could notice "oh yeah, I see that." Many of the honest ones seem to have chosen the latter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @10:10AM
Except the private OCD individual wishes to remain private (along with their admirably symmetrical bottle cap arrangements). One of the primary symptoms of the selfie addict is the publishing of as much information about themselves as possible.
The internet and social media has allowed people to feel as though they are putting on a show for the world, and that the world is watching. It has turned the local soapbox into a megaphone that can be heard near and far. It provides personality types that want, need or crave attention a much more accessible means of seeking that attention.
You are reading this post only because I felt the need to post/share/publish my opinion in response to your need to do the same. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to rearrange my DVD collection based on the number of letters that appear above and including the title. Tie breakers are decided by the number of vowels.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:47PM (1 child)
Tell us, oh high priests of psychology, what is the exact thing we should be doing every last fucking minute of our day? Anybody else who disagrees is mentally ill! Drug them until they can't move! Invent better drugs so that
You're confusing psychologists with psychiatrists. Psychologists don't prescribe medications. They basically take your money and sit with you and let you talk; they make lots of money for just sitting there and listening really. Psychiatrists, on the other hand, don't want to talk to you very much, and would rather just give you medications to see what you think works for you.
I suspect the problem seen in TFA is that there's some psychologists who feel a strong need to publish papers (perhaps they work for a university...) and because of this, are happy to make up new things to write papers about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @10:14AM
Very interesting. I'd like to set up some interviews with you, say ... once a week for the rest of your life, to try to better understand your interpretations of these fields. Please be sure to complete your insurance form before arriving.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:39PM (4 children)
This leads to the conclusion that Google Photos should detect this condition so that people can be automatically involuntarily confined for mental evaluation and treatment. Alternately, phones so equipped, could be commanded to deliver electro shock therapy.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Touché) by nobu_the_bard on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:04PM (3 children)
Whoops left my phone on burst photo mode and took 200 pictures of myself when I meant to take 4. Well I'll just upload them all and pick the best later w-
Oh hey some guys are here to give me a free white jacket! I'll be back later guys.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:10PM (1 child)
Before you go, can you tell me . . . is the white jacket being offered by a robot? Are they taking you away in a self driving car? Cool! At least no humans involved in the process from diagnosis to confinement to treatment. Wonderful.
If you don't take selfies, is this a different mental illness indicating some sort of anti-social tendencies?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @12:43AM
Straight to the soylent processing plant with this one!
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:22PM
Well, even if you take no other selfies all month long, that's still an average of over six self-photography incidents per day for January. That seems clinically significant that you would maintain such a high average over a month's time. Your friends here on this site and I are telling you this for your own good, really.
Wait, update, we tossed out the day with the fewest selfies, and the day with the most, and your projected average is now somehow fewer than one per day. Are you sure you're feeling okay?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:40PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:52PM
I seem to remember an SN article some time back that Selfies can now be matched with Paintings.
Could this help with diagnosis or classification of mental impairments that cause people to take selfies?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:43PM (9 children)
Did we really need a new diagnosis for it? It's it just another version of Narcissism?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:45PM (2 children)
If only we had a big fat Greek idiot who had met Narcissus to explain this concept.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:57PM
Should we all pitch in $5 to offer a couple phones to the president? Make sure his hands stay busy between two tweets, glorifying his favorite person, and away from any pen or red buttons...
(Score: 5, Funny) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:09PM
The ancient Greeks have a possibly contradictory saying: Know Thyself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself [wikipedia.org]
But, you know, Moderation in All Things.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:48PM (5 children)
If we have 87 federally recognized genders, then Yes, we do, need a new diagnosis for it.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:58PM (4 children)
They seem unwilling to publish it in their public documentation, but HL7 health records have a bunch of non-standard gender codes for a different reason than you might think. Specifically, "pregnant", "lactating", and "pregnant + lactating". Basically, they abused the gender column in the schema because somebody needed the extra codes to determine nutritional needs.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @08:04PM (2 children)
Hmm, hook me up with the "lactating only" females please.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 16 2018, @08:43PM (1 child)
Want a better idea than "hook me up"? Try finding a woman interested in procreation, build a relationship, then start a family. The gestation and latation will happen with due process. As a bonus, being involved in a real relationship should help you to overcome your own narcissism. Eventually, you should realize that the lactating business is #NOT_ABOUT_YOU
As an extra bonus - the flavor is rather disappointing. Hell man, the stuff was developed by Mother Nature for infants, who don't yet have well developed taste buds. Flavor wasn't the primary concern - no vanilla, no added sugar or honey, no food coloring, nothing. Just basic, sterile nutrients.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @10:18AM
Ewww - no thanks. I'll just stick the the Nipple Dribble section of Craig's List, TYVM.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:11PM
That many codes ought to cover everything. What's the one for Motie?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:09PM (3 children)
Children are fascinated with mirrors, and photos of themselves. People should outgrow that fascination, at some point in their lives. HINT: you're simply not that very exceptional, despite what your Mama told you. Only your mama wants to see a new selfie of you every hour, or day, or week. Want to know what's better than a selfie? GO VISIT YOUR MOTHER, and let her see firsthand that her baby is alive and well.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:28PM
There is Twitter. People hang on every word you tweet.
There is Facebook. Look, a page about . . . Yourself!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by arcz on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:18PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by archfeld on Wednesday January 17 2018, @01:03AM
How long do infants stare at the face in the mirror before they recognize that it is their own ? My cat very quickly realized that, but my Dad's 6 year old Maltese still attacks itself in the mirror everyday.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:14PM (14 children)
Hell, clinging on life would be "mental illness". Once again psychs demonstrate their useless "science".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:25PM (13 children)
You get out of college.
You suddenly have this realization.
No, a revelation really.
Almost an epiphany.
You have no vital or useful skills, talent or knowledge.
All the jobs in Marketing, Management and Politician are taken! OMG! WHAT are you going to do!!!!
To make matters much more worser, the US stupidly doesn't have Universal Basic Income paid for by people who DO have useful skills, talent, knowledge AND initiative.
Thank goodness . . . there are still jobs where you can pretend to contribute something to civilization.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:52PM (6 children)
To make matters much more worser, the US stupidly doesn't have Universal Basic Income paid for by people who DO have useful skills, talent, knowledge AND initiative.
Thank goodness . . . there are still jobs where you can pretend to contribute something to civilization.
Most people who DO have some useful skills and talent are still wasting them in jobs where they pretend to contribute something to civilization, and we'd be better off without them producing anything. Just look at Windows 10, all the new UI/UX stuff going on these days, most American-brand cars (esp. Chryslers), the now-dead Windows Phone OS, Apple Maps, engineers who design modern "island" keyboards, I could go on and on.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:59PM (2 children)
You just went wrong by listing people who actually do something complex, even if it doesn't add value.
How about Dealership Salesmen, Walmart Greeters, half of the waiting staff in most US restaurants, so many Pentagon employees, TV talking heads, and anyone whose primary income comes from social media posts? (list non exhaustive, sadly)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday January 16 2018, @08:44PM (1 child)
No, I didn't go wrong at all, you misunderstood my point. I was specifically pointing to workers who supposedly do "real", "productive" work as opposed to bullshit like car salesmen and Walmart greeters. How much better would society function if the engineers and technicians at Chrysler didn't do their jobs, and instead went to work at a better car company? It might not be good for the mechanics who profit from unreliable junk Chrysler/Jeep vehicles, but for society overall, it'd be better. How much better would society function if we didn't have UI/UX people replacing well-designed interfaces with ugly, flat-UI, dumbed-down monstrosities? How about the engineers who design laptop keyboards? Society would be better off it they were simply out of work, and the laptop makers were forced to just keep using the designs from circa 2010. Society would be better off if the engineers and factory workers at Frigidaire factories were all laid off, and consumers were forced to buy from better brands like Bosch, Samsung, LG, etc. How have the countless tech people who worked on Apple Maps contributed to society, when there were already so many far-better mapping and navigation applications? Society would be much better off too if Microsoft had been forced to lay off all their UI/UX people before coming up with Metro, and had been forced to just stick with the Windows 7 UI.
That's my point here. We engineers and tech people deride Walmart greeters, TV talking heads, and similar workers as "useless", but there's tons of us who also do useless "bullshit jobs" and ultimately add negative value.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by arcz on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:22PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @08:22PM
"Being from Norway is not a skill." Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:13PM (1 child)
It's not their fault. They are just trying to survive. The problem is their employer who seeks profit no matter the cost. Well thought out, clean, correct code and other very involved engineering problems take time and money. No one wants to front the money for that and pay really smart people to fix problems in a comfortable research environment. Path of least resistance to more money. Doesn't matter how completely fucked it all is.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday January 17 2018, @03:22PM
No, the problem is the system. The system rewards people for doing pointless make-work and reinventing the wheel: companies which are rich incumbents make more money by pointlessly "improving" a product and selling a new version, instead of just calling it "done" and moving on to something more productive for their engineers to do. Doing something new is risky, whereas slapping some new lipstick on a pig and selling it as "new and improved" is low-risk and virtually guaranteed to make a profit. Also, there's just not that many new things that need to be done; most new ventures are going to fail anyway. We also don't need lousy products when there's better ones available (e.g. Chryslers), but the market rewards companies with crappy products if their marketing is good enough to make up for their products' crappiness, or they have enough idiot customers with irrational brand loyalty.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:54PM (2 children)
Coincidentally, civilization offers a well-paid no-skill profession where taking selfies is a requirement: prostitute !
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @08:58PM
Governor of Missouri? Posting as
ACbob_super, right here on SoylentNews? Amazing.(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @02:39AM
Hard at work flat on your back?
Only the cheap ones have no skills.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:21PM (2 children)
I'd be more inclined to listen to UBI arguments, if they didn't suck so badly. How again is it better to drag down the people who have "useful skills, talent, knowledge AND initiative" for those who don't?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:55PM
If it is not obvious what I wrote is soaked in sarcasm, I will simply say that the most powerful argument for UBI is that the UBI recipients would prefer not to work, and therefore should expect to be supported by the people who DO work.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by archfeld on Wednesday January 17 2018, @01:19AM
If I had a UBI, I'd stop working as a network security consultant for assholes who really don't give a damn and start making brownies, beef jerky and guacamole for a 'living'. I love all three and people line up for my stuff at the farmers market. I usually sell out in about 15 minutes, but the time it takes to create them make it not really profitable even though I love doing it...
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:48PM
How about "you are a douche!"...get a life!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:13PM
Or being a Kardashian. The entire point appears to be turning all of life into one long selfie.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by inertnet on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:48PM (3 children)
I've never taken a selfie, there must be something wrong with me.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:57PM
I have taken one selfie used as a profile picture at work.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @01:01AM
Spy agencies say you're ugly. Prove them wrong. That is what they want: keep you occupied so they can clean-out your bank account and suck out your living soul.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @07:55AM
probably you're ugly like me :'(
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @02:36AM
Constantly doing ANYTHING voluntarily is often a sign of mental illness.
(Score: 2) by pipedwho on Wednesday January 17 2018, @02:47AM (1 child)
(Body, mind) :: (obesity, hubris)
Why not 'selfosis'? At least that implies some sort of abnormality that isn't specific to inflammation.
Then again, considering most of the people I see taking selfies, maybe 'selfitis' is appropriate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @09:57AM
"inflammation of the self". hm. are you saying the respective phones are being used as auto-incendiary devices? The expression has a certain something, I have to admit.