Do selfies make you more attractive? Study finds they make you slimmer, but not better-looking

But first, let me take a selfie.

A new study published in the journal PLOS One has found that selfies make you appear slimmer, but not more attractive.

Scientists discovered that women are seen as thinner in selfies compared to normal photographs, thanks to angles and distance.

However, there was no impact on how good-looking a person finds them based on the two types of pictures, according to data.

“Many of us see selfies every day as we browse the growing number of social media platforms. We know that filters can change the way that bodies appear,” the authors said in a press release.

“This research suggests that the angle from which the photo is taken can change our judgments about body size, so that when consuming images on the internet, even simple unfiltered selfies, what we see is not necessarily an accurate representation of real life.”

Researchers from the University of York and York St John University had 272 people look at photos of 10 female volunteer models dressed in athleisure. Participants judged the photos on an arbitrary scale of 1 to 100 for both weight and attractiveness.

The models had a range of body shapes and body mass indexes (BMI) that ranged from 18.5 to 30.6. Each model took four different kinds of photos: a traditional portrait, a selfie taken from arm’s length, a selfie taken using a selfie stick, and one from the volunteer’s own perspective, with the camera looking down from the chin.

Findings revealed that selfies had the lowest perceived weight compared with a traditional photo that was taken by someone else six feet away.

Survey respondents agreed that selfies are not more attractive than other camera angles statistically.

However, the study also found that those who are vulnerable to developing eating disorders did find the women in selfies to look more attractive, as they associated the photos with a slimmer appearance.

Researchers suggested that looking at people’s selfies on social media could be more detrimental than other photos to those who have higher levels of eating disorder symptoms.

The study cast a light on the potential link between social media use and body satisfaction, though the researchers noted that there were some limitations as well, such as the small participant pool and the lack of exact matching of photo angles, which could have altered judgments.

“It seems that being exposed to appearance-related images on social media platforms like Instagram has a detrimental effect on body satisfaction, and is linked to disordered eating, particularly amongst women,” the paper said.