Lately, we've seen a lot of reports that show a direct correlation between our social media habits and our mental health.
Science has recently given us confirmation that obsessively stalking our exes on Facebook is by no means good for your health.
Plus, studies have uncovered that constantly scrolling through your Instagram feed can also give you a mean case of FOMO, turning you into a generally miserable human being.
However, you don't have to swear off all social media just yet.
It turns out there might be some benefits to snapping those Insta-worthy selfies after all.
That's right. A new study from the University of California, Irvine, just revealed that taking selfies on the reg can make you a more confident person.
Over the course of four weeks, researchers asked 41 college students to document their moods on a smartphone app as they went about their normal routines.
At night, the students filled out surveys that provided an in-depth look into their emotions.
This portion of the study was followed by another three-week study, in which participants were asked to take three different kinds of photos during the day.
These included a smiling selfie of the participant, a photo of something that made the participant happy and a photo intended to make another person happy, which the participant would then send to the person in mind.
At the conclusion of the study, researchers found that all three kinds of the photos put the participants in a better mood.
However, the group of selfie-takers reaped the biggest benefit, displaying a huge boost in confidence.
So, why does posting selfies affect us so differently than scrolling through social media?
Well, apparently, it has to do with making ourselves the center of attention.
While most studies narrow in on the negative health effects that result from comparing ourselves to other people's filtered, FOMO-inducing photos, this selfie-centric study shows what happens when we stop focusing on others and, instead, look at ourselves.
So, the next time someone calls you narcissistic for posting more selfies in a day than Kim Kardashian, you can tell them fuck off in the name of science.
Citations: Selfies May Actually Make You More Confident, Study Shows (Teen Vogue)
