Selfies Make You Look Thinner, But Less Attractive

Selfies make us appear slimmer, according to a new study.

Unfortunately, they don’t do anything to make us better looking.

Researchers from the University of York and St. John University in the U.K. had 272 people look at photos of 10 women wearing athleisure. Each model had a BMI between 18-30 and they took four different kinds of pictures:

a traditional portrait from a photographer,

a selfie taken from arm’s length,

a selfie taken using a selfie stick

and one from the participant photographing the model.

The pics were judged for both weight and attractiveness and it turns out, the selfies had the lowest perceived weight.

However they were also ranked as the least attractive. The portrait was rated the most attractive followed by the ones taken by the participants, then the selfie stick.

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