XVIII Международный конкурс научно-исследовательских и творческих работ учащихся

Старт в науке

“Selfie ”… this type of photography has become very popular and fashionable nowadays. Today almost everybody does "Selfies". It doesn’t depend on the age, gender or position in the society. This is becoming the norm of behavior for most members of the younger generation. My friends and we take selfies, then upload them to social networks. So, what is selfie? Fashion? Hobby? Or a problem?

We think the actuality of the study is that selfies can harm the physical and mental health of a person.

The purpose of our research is to find out advantages and disadvantages of selfies.

The main aim of the research identified specific tasks:

To study the literature on this topic;

To expand the concept of "selfie";

To find out the history of “selfie”;

To identify the reasons of influence "selfie" on teens;

To conduct a survey among students of our school, in order to identify their attitude to “selfie”;

To conduct a questionnaire among the parents;

To make recommendations for the prevention of a dangerous “selfie”;

To speak at classroom hours and parents meetings with our work.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the excessive use of “selfie shots” among teens negatively affects their personality.

The object of the research is that “selfie” has psychological influence on teenagers.

The subject of the research is the problem of "selfie" - addiction in a teenage environment.

To solve the above problems we used the following methods:

analysis of information sources;

questioning of students and their parents;

comparison;

interviewing;

making Safe Selfies recommendations for students

The problem is significant. The study attempted to identify the advantages and disadvantages of selfies, as well as people's attitudes towards them. The conclusions made in the study will allow people to be informed about the shortcomings of the selfie and reduce the risk of addiction and various kinds of incidents.

1. Theoretical Stage

1 The history of “selfies”

Selfie (English selfie, from "self" - сам, себя) - a kind of self-portrait, which consists of capturing oneself on the camera, sometimes using a mirror.

According to Time magazine, the word “selfie” was one of the most popular in 2012. In 2013, it was included to the Oxford online English dictionary, and by November of that year, “selfie” became the word of the year in the Oxford English Dictionary.

To find out who made the first photo of himself we should turn to the origins of the photo. Based on the photos available today, this person was an American photographer Robert Cornelius. His picture is a little less than two hundred years old. But his work is considered the first self-portrait (Appendix 1).

During centuries, many people made photo portraits. They were members of royal families, actors and various famous personalities (Appendix 2).

2 Selfie and teens

Today the word “selfie” became significant in the teenage youth subculture. There are many moments in the life of every teenager that he wants to capture, and then enjoys vivid pictures and memories. Moreover, the desire is not only to capture yourself, but also to upload photos to social networks to collect “likes - hearts”.

In their desire to take the most spectacular photo, in order to get the maximum number of “likes”, teenagers risk their own lives and, unfortunately, more often the price of one photo is human life.

Unfortunately, a wave of competition for the best risky photos has captured children. They want to surprise their friends with unusual “selfies” made in the most extreme conditions: on the railing of bridges, on the roofs of electric trains, on high-rise buildings (Appendix 3).

According to psychologists, the fascination with dangerous “selfies” is typical for teens whose real emotional life is rather poor. But if a child has different interests, likes to draw or to do sports, he would never have the idea to hit the world with crazy “selfies”. His life is already full of events and meaning.

Practical stage

1 A survey among school students

In order to identify opinions on the advantages and the disadvantages of selfies, we conducted a survey among 50 school students of the 6-8 forms. 7 questions were asked:

Do you know what a selfie is? (YES, NO)

How do you feel about selfies? (POSITIVE; NEGATIVE; NEUTRAL)

How often do you take “selfies”?

a) SELDOM.

b) OFTEN.

c) VERY OFTEN.

Do you upload your “selfies” to social networks? (YES, NO)

Have you ever heard about the sad consequences (loss of people's lives) during the "selfie"?(YES, NO)

Do you consider "selfie mania" is a disease (are you addicted to "selfie")? (YES, NO)

7. Do you consider a “selfie” is ... ..?

a) adiction and illness.

b) a way of self-expression, entertainment, fashionable phenomenon

According to the first question 100% of asked students know what selfie is (Appendix 4).

On the second question

78% answered “POSITIVE”,

12% - “NEGATIVE”,

10% - “NEUTRAL” (Appendix 5).

On the third question

10% answered “SELDOM”

10% - “VERY OFTEN”

80% - OFTEN (Appendix 6).

According to the next question 100% of students upload their “selfies” to social networks (Appendix 7).

100% of all asked people heard about the sad consequences during the “selfie” (Appendix 8).

100% of students don’t think that "selfie mania" is a disease (Appendix 9).

According to the seventh question only 5% of children consider that a “selfie” is addiction and illness. And 95% - a way of self-expression, entertainment, fashionable phenomenon (Appendix 10).

2. 2 A survey among parents

Then we decided to find out what the parents think about “selfies”. And we offered them 5 questions:

Do you know what a selfie is? (YES, NO)

Do you think that “selfie” has become a problem for modern youth?

(YES, NO)

Do you think that a “selfie” negatively affects your child’s psychology?

(YES, NO)

Do you know how many pictures your child takes a day? (YES, NO)

Do you think “selfies” are dangerous for teens? (YES, NO)

According to the first question 100% of asked parents know what “selfie” is (Appendix 11).

On the second question 60% of parents answeredYES, 40% - NO(Appendix 12).

On the third question 55% of parents think that “selfie” negatively affects their child’s psychology and only 45% don’t think so (Appendix13).

Only 40% of asked people know and control photographing of their children (Appendix 14).

And according to the last question 55% consider “selfie” is dangerous for teens (Appendix 15).

During the research work we tried to find out the advantages and the disadvantages of making selfie.

Advantages	Disadvantages
No need to ask someone to make photos and worry about the quality of selfies, everything is completely controlled by you	Real communication is changed by virtual
It’s easy. Just turn on any device with a camera and press the button	Invasion in private life
You can take a photo anywhere. No need to look for some special background	Stress on losing photos
You can boast of your appearance or new purchases;	Opportunity to get harm when photographing in dangerous conditions
Сreativity is developing	Selfies may develop "selfie" - addiction
You can communicate with parents or friends without boundaries in real time

Conclusion

As a result of the survey, we found out that all teenage children know what “selfie” is and have a positive attitude towards it. The questionnaire survey showed that the students take photos of themselves too often and then post their pictures on social networks. The questionnaire also showed that most children know that a “selfie” can be unsafe and can even lead to sad consequences. But none of the children considers "selfie mania" is a disease or addiction. For most children, “selfie” is a way of self-expression, a fashionable phenomenon, but for someone it's just entertainment.

Parents know that their children take “selfies” and many believe that “self-photographing” negatively affects the psychology of the child and understand that it is dangerous for them. But only 40 % of them control the "self-photography" of their children.

All our work has shown that the topic we have chosen is really very relevant in our modern world. According to the results of the study, it turned out that our assumption that the excessive use of “selfie” negatively affects the personality of adolescents was confirmed. Uncontrolled dependence on taking pictures of oneself in dangerous places becomes “fashionable”.

Based on the results of the study, we have developed practical recommendations for adolescent students.

Practical recommendations for students:

1) don’t take photos in places that may lead to unpredictable consequences for life;

2) don’t do “selfie” without any reason, instead of this enrich your knowledge;

3) know all warning signs about selfie in all situations;

4) conduct preventive conversations on the classroom hours about the negative impact of “selfies” on the personality of adolescents;

5) don’t do a lot of selfies;

6) you need to plan your day, use a schedule in which you can devote time for photos, but know that you can make only one shot;

7) turn your attention to the active type of activities: sports, dancing, in which it is impossible to be with the phone in your hand all the time;

8) you need to pay more attention to yourself, plan your day, including communication with relatives and friends;

9) you need to learn how to assert yourself in the outside world, then a virtual way will not be needed;

10) remember that your value and significance is determined not by the number of “likes”, but by useful actions and deeds. Internet space is just an additional resource for communication. In your real life there are those who love, accept and support you. You must appreciate it.

Bibliography:

Portal “Question - answer”

Portal “The Geek”. The article “The story of the appearance of a selfie”

Portal “Day at school”. The article "What is dangerous for a teenager with a selfie?”

Portal “Flag in the hands”. “Selfie addiction article: Why do teens take so many self-portraits?”

Portal “Baby”. The article “Teenage Selfies: Fun or Threat?”

Edition “St. Petersburg University”. Articles “Everyone takes selfies. What is this? ”,“ Selfies, like self-portraits, can be taken brilliantly ”,“ Attempts to accustom another” .

Electronic publication “Children in the Information Society” (No. 21). The article "Selfie Phenomenon". ISSN 2313-075X (May-July 2015).

Portal “SCI-ARTICLE”. The article "Selfie: to the statement of the problem".

Appendix 1

Appendix2

Аppendix 3

Аppendix 4

Do you know what a selfie is?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 5

How do you feel about selfies?

(POSITIVE; NEGATIVE; NEUTRAL)

Appendix 6

How often do you take “selfies”?

a) SELDOM.

b) OFTEN.

c) VERY OFTEN.

Appendix 7

Do you upload your “selfies” to social networks?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 8

Have you ever heard about the sad consequences (loss of people's lives) during the "selfie"?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 9

Do you consider "selfie mania" a disease (are you addicted to "selfie")? (YES, NO)

Appendix 10

Do you consider a “selfie” is ... ..?

a) adiction and illness.

b) a way of self-expression, entertainment, fashionable phenomenon

Appendix 11

Do you know what a selfie is?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 12

Do you think that “selfie” has become a problem for modern youth?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 13

Do you think that a “selfie” negatively affects your child’s psychology?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 14

Do you know how many pictures your child takes a day?

(YES, NO)

Appendix 15

Do you think “selfies” are dangerous for teens?

(YES, NO)

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