The selfie paradox: people like taking selfies, but hate looking at selfies of others
Feb 11, 2017
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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Do you take selfies or they annoy you? We have recently reported about a study that shows people are ready to accept selfies as a tool. But another study shows an interesting twist when it comes to selfies. It seems many people are willing to take them, yet not so many want to look at selfies of others.
Sarah Diefenbach and Lara Christoforakos of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich conducted a research, and the results were published in Frontiers in Pshychology. The paper explores what the researches have named “The Selfie Paradox”, and it really is interesting how “nobody likes selfies”, yet they take them regularly.
How many of you have a habit of taking and posting selfies? And how often do you do it? On the other hand, do you gladly look at other people’s selfies and do you admire them, or they tend to annoy you? This is exactly what Diefenbach and Christoforakos examined for their study.
The researchers surveyed 238 people from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. 77% of them said they take selfies at least once a month and 49% said they receive selfies from others at least once a week. They were asked what kind of images they prefer, how often do they post and take selfies, what do they use the selfies for and so on.
An interesting twist and paradox comes from their replies about their and the selfies of other people. The majority of the respondents show positive attitude and feelings towards their own selfies. They see them as authentic, fun and self-ironic. On the other hand, 90% see the selfies of others as self-promotional and attribute negative characteristics to them. However, only 46% say the same about their own selfies.
If you are interested, you can view the full study here. I find this “selfie paradox” quite interesting, and I think it shows double standards. This is why I am very interested in your response. How do you see your selfies? And how do you see the selfies of others?
[via DPReview]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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16 responses to “The selfie paradox: people like taking selfies, but hate looking at selfies of others”
And some people dislike both taking and seeing them.
That’s me.
I’m the opposite, I hate taking selfies but enjoy looking at the selfies of others.
Same here!
That’s interesting! :)
I don’t mind a photo if you are…say, at the Eiffel Tower and want to be in the photo. But I want to see more of the ET than your face. Don’t enjoy selfies (especially the duck face) and don’t take them.
Hate both. Narcissistic narcissists.
Selfies… no. Don’t take them, don’t like looking at them.
Self portraits, though. That is something different. I enjoy seeing others and do take one myself occasional.
I hate both, most people who post selfies posted too many and of low quality. There are some very good selfies out there but rare.
That’s called narcissism.
Hate being in any photo. Hate looking at selfies. NO one adds anything to a scene unless they’re a super model. And for pete’s sake; do NOT take selfies and especially smile in them at places such as: The 9/11 Memorial. Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Any Nazi or Socialist/Communist atrocity site. Etc.
The study is silly, in the same way that selfies are silly. The reactions and psychology of selfies varies drastically among different cultures. For instance, in SE Asia, where I live, selfies are not only popular for friends to view, there are also several sub-genres (travel, couple, sexy mirror, cosplay). Scandinavia is such a *specific subset of world culture, it seems silly not to mention that the study was only in 3 countries.
Nothing says quality photographic composition than shooting yourself in the bathroom holding a phone.
I hate both…
I think that Instagram has 2 types of people: those who want to show their view of the world … and those who just want to show their faces to the world.
so… it’s basically just narcissism… no surprise