If you are addicted to selfies

When I was doing the semi-annual photo cleanup this morning with a coffee on the left and my phone on the right, I discovered that my photo album contained a so-called selfie folder. Over nine hundred selfies. Shameless. You understand: it needed a good clean-up.

Without us knowing, we take a quick snapshot of ourselves with our phones in front of our noses every day. Narcissistic? Absolutely. But it's much worse than that: constantly taking pictures of yourself is now officially a behavioral disorder. According to psychologists from Nottingham Trent University and Thiagarajar School of Management, if you are a selfie queen, you suffer from selfitis.

Sounds like a big joke, and it was. Three years ago, the term was already thrown around on social media, but unfortunately, it is now officially a term. The conclusions of the university team are based on extensive research. Scientists from the British university traveled to India because the link between taking selfies in dangerous places and the number of deaths there is the highest. Moreover, the Asian country also has the most Facebook users. Over two hundred people were interviewed, where they had to answer statements like ‘when I don't take selfies, it feels like I no longer belong to my friend group’ and: ‘I feel more confident when I take selfies.’ Based on those interviews, the academics were able to establish a scale: ‘the selfitis behavior scale.’ This was tested with 400 other students.

Those suffering from the condition often experience a lack of self-confidence and seek a way to belong. These people can exhibit symptoms equivalent to other addictive behaviors.’

The results of the research revealed three different stages of selfitis. If you take at least three selfies daily, but they remain in your album, the academics refer to this as a borderline case. If you post them directly on social media, you enter the acute phase. But if you completely lose control and are busy making the perfect selfie 24 hours a day, you may have a serious problem. If your Instagram account is filled with selfies and you daily share photos of yourself, psychologists refer to this as chronic selfitis.

Nine hundred selfies in six months. Well, at least I'm not the only one. As long as it stays at phase one, this selfie queen is okay.