Which one are you?
Remember life before selfies? When a photo of your face was just called a photo? It’s hard to imagine phones didn’t have a front facing camera, but now thanks to this and the likes of Snapchat we are becoming a generation of selfie addicts.
It turns out that there are three types of selfie takers and that we each fall in to one of the categories, and we don’t just take them because we’re narcissists.
Researchers from Brigham Young University studied the habits of selfie takers to see what motivates people to take photos of themselves.
They found that those who take selfies are either communicators, autobiographers and self-promoters.
Communicators use the picture taking to engage their friends and family and include them. An example of this is an ‘I Voted’ selfie to show those around you what you are doing or how you feel. ”Communicators are comfortable with who they are and that they indeed are focused on taking and sharing selfies to engage in two-way and rather selfless communication with friends and followers.” The study said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMXNEBbAV5R/?taken-by=heidiklum
Then there’s autobiographers. The prime aim of autobiographers, whether they realise it or not, is to document their life. ”Autobiographers are truly interested in authoring their story and in the process hope to experience self-discovery.” The study said.
So if you take selfies to remember a concert, a holiday or a life-event, you probably fall under this category.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BO9J_RQgWfS/?taken-by=ddlovato
And finally, the self-publicist. This is the person who takes a selfie, simply because they want to post a new profile photo in which they look good. One participant in this category stated ”I’m too concerned with how I look and how other people perceive me, so I like the idea of ME being able to take my picture and being in control of how it looks.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BM_Sn2_gp0Q/?taken-by=perrieedwards
So if you stand in your room under good lighting and take lots of picture until you find the perfect new profiler, you might fall under this category.
