Photos: Mom Of Girl Addicted To Taking Pictures Speaks About How They Cope

                                        Some of the photos she posted in one day, some, not all lol

She is a selfie addict! 15-year old Olivia Russell’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. When we get to a restaurant to eat, the first thing that comes
to my mind is how to eat this food fast, but with Olivia, she has to take 12
different pictures of the food first and then post on her 6 social media pages,
she said. Below is how she narrates it, funny mother and child, but then Tracy,
her mom is worried.

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.