With influencers, celebrities, and everyday users constantly posting selfies on all social platforms, there's been some public concern about how social media can impact your self-esteem. Posting and viewing edited photos of oneself and others can negatively impact self-confidence, but are innocent, everyday selfies really that harmful?
Some people view selfies as vain or desperately attention-seeking, but a study on young Chinese women revealed that the relationship between selfie-posting and self-esteem was positive for them. Also, Psychology of Popular Media found that whether someone is "high in narcissism" or "low in narcissism" has no relation to how many selfies they take.
Taking selfies does not indicate being self-absorbed, nor do selfies hurt self-esteem all by themselves, but it's near-impossible to separate selfies from social media. On social media, we are susceptible to scrutinizing physical appearances of ourselves and others, so while snapping selfies can be good for you, editing them to look "perfect" can damage your self-image.