Addicted to selfies? You could be nuts, say shrinks -

Mumbai Mirror http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Addicted-to-selfies-You-could-be-nuts-say-shrinks/articleshow/50554888.cms/


ADDICTED TO SELFIES? YOU COULD BE NUTS, SAY SHRINKS

By Lata Mishra,
Mumbai Mirror
Jan 13, 2016,

A survey reveals that students addicted to selfies run the risk of suffering from compulsive-obsessive disorder.

Psychiatrists at the Sion Hospital are treating a 15-year-old boy from Bandra for compulsive-obsessive disorder, after his parents reported that he was spending up to eight hours every day clicking and editing selfies, and posting them on social networking sites.

In a stark resemblance to the story of a young Briton, Danny Bowman, who spent 10 hours a day clicking photographs of himself (see below), the boy told the doctors that he would click around 40 snaps of himself, and his mood depended entirely on how many 'likes' he received for the selfies he posted online.

The problem, according to Dr Avinash D'Souza, associate professor at the Sion Hospital's Psychiatric Department, is the Bandra lad is not a one-off case. Alarmed by the boy's addiction, D'Souza and his team launched a survey, wherein they spoke to more than 250 students from two colleges in Bandra regarding their urge to click selfies.

"We found 10 students who immediately needed counselling," D'Souza said. "These students would spend nearly four hours every day clicking selfies, looking for that 'perfect shot', and experienced mood swings depending on the likes or dislikes on the social networking sites," he said.

D'Souza's team asked students to answer a 20-questionnaire to know their selfie addiction, and found that 84 students would occasionally click selfies, that too when they were in the company of friends or family members.

"The survey revealed that 116 students regularly clicked up to three selfies a day, while 40 students said that they clicked between five and eight selfies a day. We found 10 students who revealed that they clicked more than 10 snaps of themselves every day, and spent hours editing and posting them online. The last category, if not counselled immediately, could develop compulsive-obsessive disorder," D'Souza said.

Giving example of the Bandra teen, who is being treated by D'Souza, the doctor said, "The addiction hit him hard. He was unable to concentrate on studies and his grades were falling, his mood swings worried his parents, and he was initially not willing to stay away from the mobile phone even for a couple of hours."

D'Souza now plans to survey more than 4,000 students from across schools between Bandra and Borivali to study the selfie menace among the youth. Already, there is a movement in the US and Europe to classify the urge to click selfies as a medical problem, and the American Psychiatric Association has confirmed that taking selfies is a mental disorder, going as far as to term the condition 'selfitis'.

The American Psychiatric Association has defined selfitis as "the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one's self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy", and has categorized it into three levels: borderline, acute, and chronic.

POLICE TO IDENTIFY NO SELFIE ZONES

The Mumbai Police have initiated the process of identifying and marking certain spots in the city as "no selfie zones" in a bid to discourage people from putting themselves at risk while photographing themselves, after two girls fell into the sea on Saturday while clicking selfies.

"We are in the process of identifying and then marking a few locations in the city where clicking selfies will not be allowed," a senior police officer told PTI on Tuesday. On Saturday, three girls, Tarannum Ansari, 18 (pictured), a Govandi resident, and her friends Anjum Khan, 19, and Mustreem Khan, 19, fell into the sea while clicking selfies at Bandra Bandstand. Ramesh Walunj, who had jumped into the sea to save the girls, also drowned. His body was recovered from the Mahim creek on Monday.

THE DANNY BOWMAN STORY

In 2014, the UK Mirror reported that a Briton, Danny Bowman, then aged 19, became so obsessed with taking the perfect selfie he tried to kill himself when he failed to do it.

Bowman would spend 10 hours a day taking up to 200 snaps of himself on his iPhone. He dropped out of school, didn't leave his house in six months, lost 30 kg trying to make himself look better for the camera, and became aggressive with his parents when they tried to stop him. Finally, in a drastic attempt to escape his obsession, Danny took an overdose, but was saved by his mother.

Bowman, believed to be Britain's first selfie addict, later started working for a charity to raise awareness regarding mental health issues in young people.
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Selfies have killed more people than sharks this year, reports show - ScienceAlert

http://www.sciencealert.com/selfies-have-killed-more-people-than-sharks-this-year-reports-show/ Sept 2015
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India
Mumbai police identify 16 no-selfie zones after drowning

Officers will warn people against photographing themselves at sites across Indian city following incident at weekend

Young people take selfies on Mumbai’s Marine Drive, one of the spots cited as dangerous.

Tuesday 12 January 2016 06.39 EST

Mumbai police have identified 16 dangerous selfie spots across the Indian city after a man drowned trying to save a girl who fell in to the sea while taking a photo of herself.

The spots include the major tourist attractions of Girgaum Chowpatty beach and Marine Drive promenade as well as the site where the 18-year-old slipped last week, the deputy commissioner, Dhananjay Kulkarni, said.

“After the unfortunate incident we have decided to identify 16 spots where taking selfies can be dangerous, but we may add more,” he said.

“We have written to the municipal corporation to put some warning signs up at such points. We want them to deploy some lifeguards also,” Kulkarni added.

The girl and two friends fell off rocks into the Arabian Sea near Bandra bandstand in the north of India’s financial capital while taking selfies on Saturday.

A passerby, 37-year-old Ramesh Walanju, jumped in and helped save the two friends but was washed away by the choppy waters and his body was found in a nearby creek on Monday. The girl is still missing.

2015: the year of dangerous selfies
Read more
Police patrolling the selected areas have been briefed to warn people against taking selfies, the deputy commissioner said.

Last month a Pakistani man died in Rawalpindi after being hit by a fast-moving train as he tried to take a selfie while standing on the track.

In May last year a Russian woman accidentally shot herself in the head with a pistol while posing for a selfie with the weapon. And US investigators in February said a small plane probably crashed because the pilot was repeatedly taking selfies, killing him and his lone passenger.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/12/mumbai-police-identify-16-no-selfie-zones-after-drowning/
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Rohani: Breastfeeding's good but no selfies, please

Kow Gah Chie

12 Jan 2016, PM 5:00
Updated 12 Jan 2016, PM

It is inappropriate for netizens to upload breastfeeding selfie onto Facebook because it will eventually invite online criticism, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim.

She added that netizen have to be mindful of decency and the values of the community.

A netizen who uploads such controversial photograph onto the internet would find herself ending up as a victim although it was meant for private consumption, she said at a press conference in Cyberjaya today.

Rohani: Breastfeeding's good but no selfies, please http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/326501/

you see the young people of today. They don't talk to each other directly.
Parents need to do a better job of monitoring their kids time on these devices!

Too many are too busy trying to me their child's friend instead of being a parent.


Horrible/ disturbing, YouTube videos out there of rogue waves coming a shore & carrying young people away

I know this is becoming so bad
Our local am news anchor was so happy she got a selfie "stick" for Christmas.

She was going on and on about how her selfies would be so much better now.

I am like get over yourself woman

A selfie stick ? An adult ? :
Geez..what is the emotional level there. Does she kiss the mirror in the morning too?

I have no clue. but I have a daughter and a grand daughter that can't pass a mirror with out having to look in it.

I am like really...
You are sweet adorable but not all that...Gee whiz

I don't want to know


OMG !