Instead of hastily propping her hair up in a messy bun or simple pony, she decides to take the extra time and straighten it. She finishes and looks at herself in the mirror. Instead of heading out, she takes out her phone turns the front to face her and snaps a selfie.

The word is unmistakable. It has become so widely used, it was actually named the word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary. For those who tuned in to the Oscars this year, you’d know that host Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie broke Twitter records. According to an LA Times article, the photo of the funny woman, Jennifer Lawrence and Angelina Jolie among many other celebs received nearly 2.7 million retweets.

But with this revolutionary photography technique (yes it has actually branched over to the world of “photography”) comes with it side effects that cannot be overlooked.
A myth that has yet to be entirely debunked is that Millennials, the generation that essentially acted as a guinea pig for the evolution of technology and social media, are entitled narcissists. Psychologists have used selfie culture as a way of proving and demonstrating these vain attributes. A search of the word #selfies on Instagram brings up nearly seven million photos, which is a testament to their use. However, whether or not these photos are a plea for people’s attention or a tool for promoting positive self-image is unknown. “Honestly, I have more photos of myself on my phone than I do on any social media site. So I’d say it’s more for myself,” says Jennifer Hebert while scrolling through her photos. With features constantly added to instagram and on your smartphone, not only do selfie masters take photos, but they also edit them with filters and cropping. “I mostly take selfies because I like to mess around with editing,” says Jennifer. Dove’s Redefine Beauty campaign changed the way young girls see beauty and selfies. Since smartphones have made it, in a way, “stupid simple” to fix a blemish or change your skin tone, it’s no surprise people still struggle with self-image more than ever. “I’m not going to lie I edit most of my photos, which I’m sure most people do. This just shows us that we’re not seeing true beauty, because everyone is hiding behind some sort of filter, to make them look a lot different,” says Jennifer. But the real question at hand is whether or not taking selfies is actually making people more narcissistic. “Oh yeah! 100 per cent, says Jennifer. “People take selfies because they think they look really good. They want people to see that and they want people to comment with compliments. It’s also seen in the way people hashtag every selfie with #pretty #hot or gorgeous”.
A study from a University in Australia studied the effects of the internet on girls aged 12 and 16 and found that 96 per cent had access to the Internet and 72.1 per cent of them upload pictures of themselves. It also found that out of the almost two thousand girls surveyed, 40.1 per cent of them were dissatisfied with their bodies. No one knows how selfie culture will evolve at this point and at what pace at which it will accelerate. But from these numbers, it is evident that they can have a damaging affect. It’s up to those who chose to snap or not to snap that must deal with the consequence.