To understand the obsession, Femail asked 15-year-old Olivia Russell, a pony-mad, middle-class schoolgirl, to record a day in her life as a selfie addict. She lives with her parents, businessman Nigel, 50, and Tracy, 49, in Ashford, Kent. Here, her mother reveals the frustrations and fears of having a daughter who documents and shares her every move on her phone...
Tracy says: I doubt there’s been a day in the past two years when I haven’t argued with my teenage daughter Olivia about the amount of time she spends taking selfies and posting them online.
Yes, I have a mobile phone, but I use it to make calls and that’s it. This obsessive photograph taking is just beyond me. I don’t understand it.
When I go to a restaurant and a lovely plate of food is placed in front of me, my first thought is: ‘I can’t wait to tuck in!’
Olivia’s first thought is: ‘I must take 12 pictures of it and upload it to six different media sites.’ Everything takes twice as long as it should do because she’s always taking selfies. Just getting ready in the morning so I can drive her to school is a nightmare.
I feel as if I spend my whole life shouting ‘Just get a move on!’ up the stairs or hammering on her bedroom door.
I also hate the provocative pouting and poses that Olivia and her friends use in all their selfies. But when I ask why she can’t just smile, she looks at me as though I’m some batty old lady. ‘Nobody smiles in selfies, Mum,’ I’m told with a groan.
She uploads her pictures to Facebook, Instagram and a few other sites.
One site all her friends are into is called Hot Or Not. Boys and girls upload pictures of themselves and other users rate their looks.
If Olivia is rated ‘hot’ by some boy and she then rates him as ‘hot’, they are put in contact with each other. That is worrying."
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