While taking and sharing selfies on social media may not be linked to poor body image or appearance concerns, obsessively analysing and editing the photos may be linked to self-objectification, according to a study which assessed the selfie-taking habits of nearly 300 teenage girls.
The study, published in the Journal of Children and Media, noted that selfie editing, and time invested in creating and selecting the perfect selfie were both related to self-objectification, which led to body shame, appearance anxiety, and more negative appearance evaluations in teen girls.
"Self-objectification is the idea that you come to think of yourself as an external object to be viewed by other people," said study senior author Jennifer Stevens Aubrey from the University of Arizona in the US.
"Your orientation to the world is not an internal one, where you're thinking about how you feel or what you know, or what you can do, but rather what you look like to other people," Aubrey said.
She said the focus on taking the perfect selfie could be encouraging girls to learn to see themselves as external objects for people to look at and admire.
The study analysed the selfie-taking habits of 278 teenage girls, ages 14 to 17, who completed an online survey in which they answered questions about how often they share selfies on social media, and how often they use specific photo editing techniques.
These methods included reducing red eye, or using an app to smooth their skin or make them appear thinner.
The participants also responded to a series of statements designed to measure how much time and effort they spend selecting which selfies to share on social media -- which the researchers referred to as their level of "selfie investment."