Selfitis and motivation for self‐portrayal among young Nigerians

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Olanrewaju Olugbenga Akinola,Akintayo Adesoji Ogunsanya,Oluwakemi Deborah Okunade,Ibrahim Ayoade Adekunle
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2499

ACADEMIC PAPER

Selfitis and motivation for self-portrayal among

young Nigerians

Olanrewaju Olugbenga Akinola

1

| Akintayo Adesoji Ogunsanya

2

|

Oluwakemi Deborah Okunade

3

| Ibrahim Ayoade Adekunle

4

1

Mass Communication Department, Olabisi

Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria

2

School of Communication, North West

University, Mafikeng Campus, Mafikeng,

South Africa

3

Cultural and Media Studies, University of

Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

4

Department of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo

University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria

Correspondence

Ibrahim Ayoade Adekunle, Department of

Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University,

Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.

Email: adekunle_ia@yahoo.com

Since contemporary technological developments led to an explosion in different

media of communication allowing individuals to actively create and publish whatever

content they desire, scholars have been investigating trends, activities and implica-

tions thereof linked to this advancement. Whereas the literature on selfie is robust,

little is known about motivations for taking selfies from a Nigerian perspective. Yet,

the rate at which young Nigerians take and share selfies is both intense and passion-

ate suggesting possible obsession, warranting the need to investigate if this critical

segment of the national population is aware and mindful of mental illnesses associ-

ated with compulsive and excessive selfie taking and sharing. Consequently, this

study investigated motivations that drive young Nigerians' selfie taking and sharing

habit including gender disparity associated with the activity. A total of 487 question-

naire and 21 interviews, administered on young Nigerians between the ages of

16 and 24 from two tertiary institutions revealed that a substantial number of young

Nigerians take, store and share selfies habitually. The study established that young

female Nigerians take more selfie than their male counterparts while, there is no

gender disparity noticed in sharing. An overwhelming majority (85.7%) confessed to

be obsessed with selfie taking and sharing, while a corresponding percentage of

respondents are not aware of the health-related dangers associated with the

activity. In the light of these findings, coupled with the increasing rate of depression

and suicide among young people, we conclude that the Selfitis disposition observed

in a sizable percentage of young Nigerians is ill-motivated and requires some urgent

intervention.

1|INTRODUCTION

Selfies are self-taken pictures but sometimes with another person.

Where the subject of the selfie is joined with, at least, one other per-

son this is known as “usie,”the “self”is replaced by the collective “us.”

Selfie taking and sharing is not just the trending fad among young

people across the globe, the phenomenon now runs through the

entire gamut of society; from politicians to religious leaders, practi-

cally everyone is involved (see Katz & Crocker, 2016). That people

now have access to a wide range of smartphones often furnished with

cutting edge built-in camera, has immensely contributed in making

selfie popular. This technology, to Hess (2015), ensures that selfies

are easier to take and shared on the web, making nonprofessionals,

not only experts, do photography. Lamcja (2017) found that photogra-

phy has become a powerful means of self-expression, a symbolic lan-

guage to express unspoken words, and as a stimulator of behaviors

and emotions. The need to self-express led to the desire for a do-it-

yourself (DIY) form of photography which existed among people who

took self-portrait using self-timers on the camera before the 21st cen-

tury invention of selfie.

All the authors contributed equally to this work.

Received: 17 June 2020 Revised: 24 August 2020 Accepted: 15 September 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2499

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2499. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of9

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2499