Sometimes you don’t know as much about yourself as you think you do. But what if you found out that  selfies are just the exact way to figure out more about yourself? Or maybe build your self esteem? Raise your mood? 

Selfies are photos of yourself that are taken by yourself. Pretty simple. They are a way to pass time when you’re bored or when you want to capture memories. There are millions of filters to be used. Filters make it more fun and a better way to express yourself. They may also show a different side of yourself that you didn’t know you had: a fun side or a more serious side. 

“Selfies really help me see the real me, to see how beautiful I am,” said junior Kyndoll Jones. “It helps me figure out what kind of picture styles and angles I like to see on myself.”

On top of those positives, selfies can help boost your self esteem and your confidence. A study conducted by the University of California, Irvine, showed that taking tons of selfies can actually boost your confidence. Researchers launched a four week study of 41 college students. The participants followed their normal activities, but the only change was that participants documented their mood in an app several times a day. After the four weeks, the participants then took part in another study that lasted three weeks that asked them to take photos of themselves throughout the day. Some took photos of themselves smiling, others took photos of something that made them happy. Researchers reported that both kinds of photos made the participants happy, but the ones who took selfies noted more self confidence and more comfort with their image. 

“Most of the time I’m not in the mood to take pictures,” explained Jones. “But when I’m feeling down, I get myself all nice and pretty and take selfies.”  

About 92 million selfies are taken every day. Some of them are just photos of yourself and others are memories that are captured to cherish forever. A 2017 study found that taking photos can actually boost our memories under certain conditions. Selfies taken with friends or family makes it more fun and exciting to know that now you have a memory of that very moment. 

Sharing your memories has also been named as an act of voicing your freedom. When capturing and sharing pictures of objects or moments that make you happy, you become more aware of your surroundings. 

“It makes it more memorable because you control the picture and the memory you’re taking,” expressed Mr. Ayo, a computer-science and digital engineering teacher. 

It’s just as important to have fun while taking selfies, this fun has led to selfie trends. One of those trends being the “no makeup selfies” trend telling participants to post pictures of themselves online without makeup as a way to call attention to cancer awareness. Many people who took part of  that trend got involved as a way to support a good cause, efforts such as these have another positive effect, in that they help people feel like they are a part of something. On an evolutionary level, this is important because being part of a group means safety and control. This longing is a completely normal aspect of human behavior and it might point to the reasons behind the popularity of the selfie. 

On the flip side, however, in a Canadian study of female undergraduate students, participants who took and posted selfies felt their mood and self image worsen after taking the photos. Some participants were told to take and post their selfies on social media without retaking or editing the photos. While others were given the opportunity to have multiple retakes and edit their photos before posting. But in the end, those participants felt as anxious as the other participants. Researchers hypothesized that while being able to edit your photos gives people a greater sense of power, the process also makes them believe that they have more flaws than they should. “It has greatly impacted my self-esteem in a positive way,”  explained sophomore Sean Lewis, who currently has around 140 selfies in his camera roll.  “In today’s day and age, cameras and new technology are able to improve your physical features. It may be lying to me, but it improves my self confidence by fooling me into thinking that my features are better than they actually are.”