It's time to get snapping
Remember when we were told that taking selfies is ruining our skin and rapidly ageing us? Well, it turns out that our selfie snapping habits could actually be good for our health, after all. Talk about great news for Leo and his selfie-loving fan, hey?
Computer scientists at the University of California discovered that regularly taking selfies is actually beneficial to our health. Yes, that right, apparently frequently taking selfies leads to an increase in body confidence and an overall improvement in mood.
‘As days went on, I got more comfortable taking photos of myself. If you feel good about yourself, then [a] selfie would be a way to capture that,’ reported one of the students who took part in the study published in the Psychology of Well-Being. ‘It made me feel good, thinking, ‘this is probably how I look like for the rest of the day,’’ they added.
The study involved 41 college students and began with them documenting their mood over a four week period as they carried out their day to day routines. The students were asked to record how they felt by taking part in an online survey that provided an in-depth look into their emotions.
The same students were then split into three separate groups for a further three weeks. This time around they were asked to document their moods by either taking a selfie, a picture of something that made them happy or a picture of something they thought would make the recipient of the picture happy.
The end results found that whilst all three photo formats led to an uplift in their general mood, those who took daily selfies also reported a significant increase to their overall confidence (talk about an added bonus).
Looks like we finally have an excuse to buy that selfie-stick we’ve been secretly lusting after, then.