Viral Post - Teen Is Addicted To Selfies And Has Mom Worried

15-year old Olivia Russell is a selfie addict and above is a collage of some of the photos she shared online in one day. Olivia’s mom has explained how her daughter cannot go a day without posting numerous photos of herself on 6 different social media sites. She says she takes numerous photos even when she is dressed for school making her wait for several minutes before dropping her off.

Tracy Russell says that while the first thing that comes to her mind is how to eat this food fast when they get to a restaurant to eat, with Olivia, she has to take 12 different pictures of the food first and then post on her 6 social media pages. Tracy says she is worried. Read her touching post below...

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.

It unnerves me to think of all these strangers in cyberspace looking at her image and that she has hundreds of ‘friends’ she’s never met who live all over the world.

I check her Facebook page quite often and will ask her who some people are and tell her if I want her to delete them. At least I know every website she uses, so in that regard we have no secrets.

Some lad contacted her on Facebook earlier this week, claiming his dad was a multi-millionaire and that they should meet up.

I told Olivia he was making it up and she just said: ‘God, I know, Mum! I’m not stupid!’

And that’s true. She’s smart and so much more streetwise than I was at her age. I do think social media has made children much more savvy and confident. I trust her and know that she wouldn’t get herself into a dangerous situation.

She’s going on her first date later this week with a boy her own age whom she met through Facebook, but he is a friend of a friend.

I am OK with that and will take her to the date and pick her up afterwards.

However, she does attract interest from older men, some well into their 30s, and that certainly makes me uneasy.