How long of a selfie stick do we need to look more attractive in the photos?

Do you ever feel like you look like the best version of yourself in a selfie? You may be onto something, according to new research. It seems selfies do 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 York St. John University in the U.K. had 272 people look at photos of 10 female models wearing athleisure. Each model took four different kinds of pictures: a traditional portrait, a selfie taken from arm’s length, a selfie taken using a selfie stick and one from the model’s own perspective, with the camera looking down from the chin. The pics were judged for both weight and attractiveness and it turns out, the selfies had the lowest perceived weight, but there was no difference in how good looking the models were judged to be in the different types of photos.

“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.”

Source: NY Post