Beyond the limits

Everybody loves taking a selfie but too much of it could turn out to be an addiction, point out doctors at the Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT)clinic, the technology de-addiction and counselling centre at Nimhans.

The affected go on a spree of taking pictures of themselves and post them on social media. The doctors at  SHUT have been treating such youngsters.  ''It is a sense of loneliness and low self-esteem that triggers a selfie addiction,''  says Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, additional professor, clinical psychology and

coordinator of SHUT clinic.

Sharing cases of selfie addiction that he has come  across, Dr Manoj, says that he once had a case where a girl would take at least  100 to 150 selfies in a span of 10 to 15 minutes. "She would then select the best of the lot and upload it on social media. This was our first case and the second was a girl who was diagnosed with Body  Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) where she was obsessed with her appearance. She  would take pictures of herself, modify it and then post it on social media. She  would retain the ones that were liked by others and delete those that got  negative comments," he says.

Dr Manoj says that in the second case, the girl  would spend the whole day trying to make herself look good.  "This had  affected her routine and normal activities because she was so obsessed with her  looks," he adds. He feels that it is peer pressure and sense of isolation that  provokes people to take selfies.

The treatment, says Dr Manoj, takes months.  "This is a habit that is hard to treat in a short span. It takes months to bring  about a change in the consciousness and get the person to adapt to new ways,"  he says.

There are people who believe that the selfie craze is here to stay and it cannot be wished away that easily.  Ayesha B, who works with the hospitality industry, feels that everybody is in search of a perfect selfie.

"There are a lot of people posing at picturesque locations and monuments to let the world know that they were there. I sometimes  find myself checking the number of likes whenever I upload a nice picture. I  guess with the advent of smart phones, one has so many options to edit, modify,  change colour, body shape and people are addicted to get the best selfie," she  says.

Ayesha finds that there are researchers who analyse the traits of a person

by checking the kind of pictures they post.  "Some companies do a background verification of the person they wish to hire after scanning their profile and pictures on Facebook. The comments play an important role in analysing a

person," she adds.

She also feels there are a lot of companies that capitalise on  people's obsession with selfies and run contests. "This indirectly encourages  people to take selfies and flaunt them too," she adds. Aparna K, a software professional, says, "Anything in excess is annoying and that is true in the  case of selfies too. I have a few friends  who are addicted to selfies. They sometimes forget that they have someone  accompanying them and are immersed in their own world of taking selfies.  Selfies, beyond a point, become awkward and out of place, especially if you are  clicking a selfie with an altering angle difference of just two degrees," adds  Aparna.