Selfie addict tried to kill himself when he couldn't take perfect photo

A teenager became so obsessed with taking the perfect selfie he tried to kill himself when he failed to do it. Danny Bowman, 19, spent 10 HOURS a day taking up to 200 snaps of himself on his iPhone.

He dropped out of school, didn’t leave his house in six months, lost two stone trying to make himself look better for the camera and became aggressive with his parents when they tried to stop him. Finally, in a drastic attempt to escape his obsession, Danny took an overdose – but was saved by his mum Penny. Now the lad, believed to be Britain’s first selfie addict, is battling back towards a normal life after intensive hospital therapy to treat his technology addiction, OCD and Body Dysmorphic Disorder – an excessive anxiety about personal appearance. Danny says: “I was constantly in search of taking the perfect selfie and when I realised I couldn’t I wanted to die. I lost my friends, my education, my health and almost my life.” But Danny is not some bizarre one-off case in a world where smartphone and social media obsession is spiralling upwards. The top psychiatrist at the clinic where Danny was treated revealed ­addiction to taking selfies is becoming so widespread it is now is a recognised mental illness. “Danny’s case is particularly extreme,” said Dr David Veal who’s clinic has weaned the teen off his iPhone. “But this is a serious problem. It’s not a vanity issue. It’s a mental health one which has an extremely high suicide rate.”

[link to www.standardmedia.co.ke]

Last Edited by Phennommennonn on 03/23/2014 12:45 PM