Too much selfie sharing can harm real-life relationships

Sharing selfies too much on social media can lead to decreased intimacy with your near and dear ones, a study has found.

According to British researchers, people who post too many photos of themselves on social media run the risk of damaging real-life relationships.

"People, other than very close friends and relatives, do not seem to relate well to those who constantly share photos of themselves," said lead researcher David Houghton from the Birmingham Business School at the University of Birmingham.

The researchers found that an increased level of sharing photos of the self prompted a decreased level of support - in terms of "likes" achieved - from friends and colleagues.

"It is worth remembering that the information we post to our friends on Facebook, actually gets viewed by lots of different categories of people and each group seems to take a different view of the information shared," Houghton explained.

He also found that partners in relationships feel less supported when people share more photos of friends than family.

"Young women were most likely to find support in the form of 'likes' on Facebook. Older users and men received less support when they shared online," the study noted.