19-year-old Danny Bowman is England’s and perhaps the world’s first self-confessed selfie addict. It might seem funny, but this addiction is every bit as serious and dangerous as any other. In fact, the young boy almost lost his life over his obsession of taking the perfect selfie photograph.
Danny used to spend about 10 hours taking over 200 selfies on his iPhone, every single day. At one point, his addiction got so bad that he stopped going to school and didn’t leave his house for six months. He even lost almost 30 pounds trying to make himself more photogenic. When his parents tried to stop him, he turned aggressive. And in a final, drastic attempt to cure himself of his disease, Danny overdosed on drugs.
“The only thing I cared about was having my phone with me so I could satisfy the urge to capture a picture of myself at any time of the day,” said Danny
Danny’s aim was to become a male model. But a modeling agency rejected him in 2011. “They told me that my body was the wrong shape to be a model and that my skin wasn’t up to scratch. I was mortified.” That’s when the addiction took a turn for the worse.
The whole situation has been a terrible ordeal for Robert and Penny, Danny’s parents. “We are both qualified mental health nurses and this was always our worst nightmare,” said Robert. “There is a huge lack of understanding about the dangers social networking and mobile technology can pose if a young person already has any insecurities – which most do. It’s important parents are aware of the dangers and keep a close eye on their children’s behavior and seek help if they feel it is needed.”
The good news is that Danny has now been ‘selfie-sober’ for the past seven months. He agrees that it sounds trivial and harmless. “But that’s the very thing that makes it so dangerous,” he said. “It almost took my life, but I survived and I am determined never to get into that position again.” He has now realized that ‘people don’t really look at you’ and he just wants to be comfortable with himself. Good luck, Danny!
