Photo sharing on social networking sites is increasingly becoming an essential part of the online social experience. Users post photos of oneself or with a group of people, what has been termed selfies, to showcase their personalities, preferences, and lifestyle choices. Social networking popularity has grown mainly because of the incentives it checks in people’s lives. It is a medium of communication, people can know the life events and daily life of others through searching for them in social sites, and it also provides entertainment where people can express themselves freely and at any given moment. However, selfie-taking and posting on social networks has reduced socialization as people can get along through the social sites without necessarily having to meet.Researchers have been intrigued by selfie posting and are conducting studies on the associated behaviors.
With the rise in social networks popularity, a majority of individuals post photos so they can be noticed too. Yongjun Sung et al., (2016), suggest that people are motivated to post on social networking sites such as Facebook to fulfill their need for self-preservation.A number of studies suggest attention seeking, communication, and entertainmentas the motivations behind selfie-posting. Selfies have a higher coefficient of attention seeking in the form of likes. Social networksare the validation and affirmation platforms through which narcissists seek approval. Through observing selfie posts, one can easily find out user personalities, lifestyle choices, and behavior. In addition, attitudes towards selfie posting suggest that a path exists between body satisfaction and a positive attitude towards selfie-posting (Wang et al., 2018).Various studies concur that attention seeking is the main reason why people take and post selfies. Seeking attention is considered the biggest motivator as it comes with incentives such as being viewed in reverence, a chance for showing off, achieving self-confidence from the positive reactions of friends, being acknowledged, a sense of belonging to a particular niche, affirmation of existence, and receiving attention from a different gender.
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Narcissists often have the need forsuperiority and dominance among others. Narcissism predicts the frequency and intention of selfie posting (Sung et al., 2016). Social media networks appeal to most narcissists as then they can express their grandeur for all to see. Through the social networks, narcissists can build an emotional portfolio in seeking approval and affirmation from others (McCain, 2018). Narcissists usethe strategic presentation to set of social profiles that depict them as high and significant in the social status. One can easily spot narcissist on social networks as they often depict behaviors of successive selfie posting and an emphasis on their image and achievements.
Narcissists strive to maintain an online presence through successive selfie posts. The self-selection hypothesis suggests that narcissists utilize more social media and social media is the consequence of narcissism (Halpen et al., 2016).Narcissists monitor the traffic on their social pages and create additional posts when fewer people visit or comment on their pages. They can maintain an online presence through posting their selfies, tagging a number of friends, and adding captions that depict how their life is going or catchy quotes. Narcissists hold their physical image in high regard and often overstate how attractive they are.
Taking selfies has become an addictive behavior. Narcissistic people often tend to take more selfies to maintain their superimposed self-views. It is observed that females take a lot more selfies and group selfies than males (Biolcati, 2018). Social networks appeal to narcissists as they provide a medium for less in-person socialization and therefore less emotional connections.Narcissistic individuals also take individual selfies over time raising subsequent levels of narcissism.
Works Cited
Biolcati, R., & Passini, S. (2018). Narcissism and self-esteem: Different motivations for selfie posting behaviors. Cogent Psychology , 5 (1), 1437012. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2018.1437012
Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S., & Katz, J. E. (2016). “Selfie-ists” or “Narci-selfiers”? A cross-lagged panel analysis of selfie taking and narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences , 97 , 98-101. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886916301635
Sung, Y., Lee, J. A., Kim, E., & Choi, S. M. (2016). “Why we post selfies: Understanding motivations for posting pictures of oneself.” Personality and Individual Differences , 97 , 260-265. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886916301714
Wang, Y., Xie, X., Wang, X., Wang, P., Nie, J., & Lei, L. (2018). Narcissism and selfie-posting behavior: the mediating role of body satisfaction and the moderating role of attitude toward selfie-posting behavior. Current Psychology , 1-8. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12144-018-9795-9
