We all know that one kid, who just can not hold themselves from taking a selfie. Teenagers these days take social media very seriously, and for a lot of them, their physical appearance is significant.

According to a new study published in The Journal of Early Adolescence, teens who post more selfies online tend to have an increased awareness of their appearance — and that awareness is linked to an increased risk of negative body image.

Nancy S. Molitor, PhD, the clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Northwestern University in Evanston, talks about this.

Nancy S. Molitor Statement

She said,
“These kids are looking for validation regarding their physical appearance. So, they may already be predisposed to negative self-image issues before they ever go online to share those photos.”

“It concerns, obviously,” Molitor says. And there is a lot of research being done. But I think what we’re ultimately going to find is that there aren’t too many effects for kids who are only mild users. But for the heavy utilizers of social media, at any age really, I think we’re going to find there are a lot of vulnerabilities there.”

According to her, the selfie addiction may be a sign of more significant problems. She says,
These kids have seen a lot of reality shows, and in a sense, many of them are choreographing and directing their own online lives to mirror what they’ve seen,” she says.

“They don’t even realise they’re not authentic and they’re not experiencing the moment. And that’s the thing I worry about especially, is they’re going to be so focused on the outer world (How am I looking? What do people think of me?) that they’ll lose touch with themselves. They’ll lose the impact of developing natural, authentic relationships.”

“That may be something we see play out over the next 5, 10, 15 years. Is it possible these kids won’t be equipped to build and maintain healthy, authentic relationships?”

Well, what she says is really concerning and seems like it really is bad for mental health.
What parents need to do right now is to monitor and limit the use of social media for their kids, as it could be disastrous for them in future.