EVERY day, 22-year-old admin worker Elena Tryfonos, from Ilford in Essex, posts up to 50 selfies on social media.
It may sound harmless enough but psychologists say “selfitis” is a genuine disorder.
“My obsession is like a disease. The more photos I take, the more I want to take them.
I’m constantly trying to make the next selfie better than the last.
Every picture on my phone taken over the past three months is of me. My routine is the same every day unless I’m feeling under the weather and I’m not in the mood.”
I get home from work and after dinner, I’ll chill out on the settee with my phone.
I scrutinise my photos and make sure everything is perfect. If there’s something I’m unhappy with, like the lighting or my pose, I’ll take more selfies.
I take loads before finding a shot I’m happy to share on social media.
I love the “likes” I get from other people because they build my confidence and self-esteem. I feel like I’m being noticed.
I got a new phone a couple of years ago and it had a great quality camera so I wanted to use it all the time.
I went from taking a couple of selfies a week to around 50 a day.
Then I discovered Snapchat filters and loved how they made me look. My skin looked flawless and my eyes were shinier.
I don’t hate the way I look naturally or have any hang-ups about my appearance but the filters make me look better.
Why wouldn’t I use them? The biggest number of likes I’ve had on one photo is 150 and it gave me such a buzz. I would love to beat that number.
I don’t have hundreds of followers and because most of them are friends, they don’t complain when they see my face pop up on their feed for the third time that day.
Now friends call me “the selfie girl”.
My favourite is when I place my hand under my chin with my head tilted downwards and my eyes to the camera.
Sometimes I’ll show my teeth but I’m never too smiley.
I give it a lot of thought. I try to mix it up so my friends don’t get bored of seeing the same photo every day.
I love that I don’t have to apply more make-up because filters do all the hard work for me.
I use a filter on 95 per cent of my photos and wouldn’t dream of sharing a picture of myself without one.
I do put pressure on myself to look as good as I do in the filters.
I panic if I bump into someone who follows me on social media if I’m not looking my best.
I’ve heard about girls who have surgery to achieve their filtered look, but I’d never do that.
It sounds too drastic.
An ex-boyfriend once asked me why I needed to share so many photos of myself on social media.
He couldn’t understand why I needed the attention from other people when I was with him.
I convinced him to try it and made sure I posted selfies of the two of us so he didn’t feel left out. He soon got hooked.
When I post on social media, I know I’m going to get a reaction which makes me want to take more pictures.
Some might say that I’m vain but I disagree.
Taking selfies is fun and everywhere you look, somebody is taking a photo. What’s wrong with taking one of yourself?
I know I’ll always have great photos to look back on but I would like to cut back, just to prove to myself I can.
I couldn’t imagine stopping altogether, though.
Selfitis is just like any other addiction but it’s a lot of fun and it’s harmless.
There are far more damaging things I could be addicted to, after all.”
