This title may seem like an oxymoron, but the beauty standards of our culture have been so twisted that it is hard to find someone who doesn’t have some self image issues.
In a recent set of statistics from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 55% of facial plastic surgeons reported seeing patients who wanted to improve how they looked in selfies in 2017, a 13% increase over the previous year.
Snapchat or Selfie Dysmorphia
We’ve discussed the psychological condition called body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in the past. Individuals with BDD can suffer severe emotional distress over real and perceived problems with their appearance. When someone with realistic expectations undergoes plastic surgery, they are typically pleased with the outcome. Individuals with BDD, on the other hand, rarely find satisfaction after plastic surgery because they are conditioned to see only their flaws.
While BDD is not a new issue, it has been amplified by the rise of social media. In fact, a new term, Selfie dysmorphia or Snapchat dysmorphia, has been coined to describe the impact of social media on body image. Snapchat is the popular social media app that allows you to share pictures and short videos with your followers. One of its more popular features is its selection of filters that allows users to tweak their appearance toward some imagined ideal. Frequent Snapchat users become accustomed to their filtered appearance, and the “flaws” that are an inevitable part of reality become unacceptable. But this issue is not limited to Snapchat users – anyone who spends significant time scrutinizing their selfies is vulnerable.
Dr. Charles Slack explains it like this, “Part of the problem, as I see it, is the prevalence and ease of being able to take a picture of yourself. So much more to look at and scrutinize than 20 years ago. My dad was an avid photographer when I was growing up, and I remember him saying it usually took two rolls of film (64 shots) to get one or two good pictures of a person. Variables such as light and expression can conspire to make us all look worse than we really are.”
Is Selfie Dysmorphia Really Such a Big Deal?
It might seem harmless enough for people to play with selfies and add bunny ears and big eyes, but a recent survey of 7th grade girls shows that “girls who regularly shared self-images on social media, relative to those who did not, reported significantly higher overvaluation of shape and weight, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, and internalization of the thin ideal.” In addition, the same survey showed that a higher investment in manipulating images for social media correlated with body image issues and eating concerns, while excess media exposure did not. This is significant, as traditional media usually gets the blame for creating this unattainable ideal. Turns out it’s got nothing on social media.
Dr. Slack points out the need to understand that selfies aren’t reality. “We don’t live in a ‘selfie’ world where we are viewed under the microscope of a milli-second of a shutter opening and closing. We live and are viewed in a world of constant motion and animation. No matter how good a surgery turns out you can make it look better or worse by altering camera angle, lighting or expression. We are living entities, not selfies!”
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