Selfie maniac? You might be a victim of low-self esteem

People who take selfies regularly are more prone to having low self-esteem, a new UK study suggests. When the regular selfie-takers were asked how they felt about their appearance, only 13 % said they felt confident and 60 % admitted to having low self-esteem.

People who take selfies regularly are more prone to having low self-esteem, a new UK study suggests.

The study, involving 2,071 UK men and women aged between 18 and 30, found that when it comes to taking photographs, 39 % preferred taking pictures of themselves, rather than their family, partner, or pets.

When the regular selfie-takers were asked how they felt about their appearance and relationships, only 13 % said they felt "confident in their own skin" and 60 % admitted to having "low self-esteem".

The reasons why people posted selfies ranged from capturing the moment when they look their best to communicating their mood instead of updating their profile status- but most common was to get attention from likes and comments.

The research, conducted by money-saving app VoucherCloud, also showed that over half of young people take selfies at least once a week, with 73 % of snaps uploaded on social media.

Only 45 % used their pictures for online dating profiles and 32 % used them to document life events in online diaries and blogs, dailystar.co.uk reported.

"What is important to remember is that a selfie is subject to lighting, Photoshop and a whole host of other factors, so often people actually look very little like they do in real life," said Matthew Wood, MD of vouchercloud.com.

"Equally, for the selfie addicts, it is important to make sure that they don't base all their self-esteem on a few comments or likes on a picture - there's a lot more to a person than their selfie!" he said.