Online Desk: Researchers found that many people regularly take selfies, but most people are not keen in viewing them, something the team dubbed 'the selfie paradox'.
The study found that 77 percent of people regularly took selfies, but 82 percent said they would rather view 'normal' photos on social media.
A new phenomenon questions the selfie-movement. Called 'selfie-paradox', researchers have found that many people regularly take selfies,like Kylie Jenner (pictured), but most people don't appear to like them
A new phenomenon questions the selfie-movement. Called 'selfie-paradox', researchers have found that many people regularly take selfies,like Kylie Jenner (pictured), but most people don't appear to like them
Selfies are enormously popular on social media.
Google statistics have estimated that about 93 million selfies were taken per day in 2014, counting only those taken on Android devices.
Selfie accessories such as selfie sticks are now commonplace, as are selfie cameras on phones, and the word 'selfie' was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013.
Selfie-paradox is a term coined by Sarah Diefenbach, a professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, who conducted an online survey to assess people's motives and judgments when taking and viewing selfies.
The study included a total of 238 people in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, which found that 77 percent of participants regularly took selfies.
'One reason for this might be their fit with widespread self-presentation strategies such as self-promotion and self-disclosure' says Diefenbach.
'The selfie as a self-advertisement, plying the audience with one's positive characteristics or the selfie as an act of self-disclosure, sharing a private moment with the rest of the world and hopefully earning sympathy, appear to be key motivators,' she explains.
Some view selfies as a creative outlet and a way to connect with other people and others seeing them as narcissistic, self-promotional and inauthentic.
However, others argue that the nature of the selfie, a photo deliberately taken of oneself by oneself, means that selfies can never be an authentic glimpse into someone's life, but rather appear contrived and make the selfie-taker look self-absorbed.
A researcher at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich has revealed that there are three types of selfies: self-promotion, self-disclosure and understatement.
Self-promotion is a self-advertisement, plying the audience with one's positive characteristics.
And the final type of selfie, understatement, is where someone portrays themselves and their achievements and abilities as unimportant.
The study found that participants who scored highly on 'self-promotion' or 'self-disclosure' were more likely to be positive about taking selfies compared with participants who scored highly on 'understatement'.
A third form of self-presentation is categorized as understatement, where someone portrays themselves and their achievements and abilities as unimportant.
Participants who scored highly on 'self-promotion' or 'self-disclosure' were more likely to be positive about taking selfies compared with participants who scored highly on 'understatement'.
The study also found that even though 77 percent of the participants reported taking selfies regularly, 62 percent to 67 percent noted that these images of negative consequences - such as impacts on self-esteem.
This negative perception of selfies was also illustrated by 82 percent of participants indicating that they would rather see other types of photos instead of selfies on social media.