The days of just using social media to connect with people are over. The discovery of the selfie, which was dubbed the word of the year in 2013 by Oxford Dictionary, has made society utterly and obnoxiously self-absorbed . And with over a million selfies taken a day, we've officially entered a world of selfie overload.

Recent research suggests, "posting numerous selfies was related to both higher narcissism and psychopathy..." Moreover, taking selfies isn't just an obsession, it's an addiction which can lead to disastrous results. Remember Danny Bowman, a 19-year-old English man who reported taking over 200 selfies a day and even attempted to take his life after becoming dissatisfied with his selfies? Or how about 21-year-old Oscar Otero Aguila who accidentally shot himself in the head while posing for a selfie with a pistol? As if it couldn't get any more tragic, do you recall Xenia Ignatyeva, who died as she fell from a bridge and got electrocuted?

According to Raymond Zakhari, a Board Certified psychiatric nurse practitioner, people aren't cognizant of the context of a selfie and overshare, describing the context of everyday life. "We used to photograph scenery and say ahh how nice. Now we photograph ourselves in the scene and say ahh how nice," Zakhari explains.

Enstars needed a professional opinion on the whole selfie addiction crisis, so we found Zakhari, who has experience with narcissistic personality disorder and was willing to answer our questions about today's trend of rampant self-centered photography.

So what's your take on selfies and selfie sticks?
Zakhari: People have a desire to be celebrities and I call it "the reality show"... which are of people living their normal lives and a camera crew follows them. Selfies are [the average person's] reality show and now selfie sticks are just an extension of it.

A Canadian study states that self-promotion including selfies and concludes that people who take a lot of selfies tend to have narcissistic personalities. Would you agree?
The DSM V was released this year and a debate arose amongst us professionals prior to its release, whether or not to remove Narcissistic Personality Disorder because the characteristics are so common with the increase of social media and the taking of selfies. There are narcissistic traits in everyone but part of it being a disorder, it has to cause some distress. Narcissistic people have an exaggerated sense of importance. "I am! Do you know who I am?" notion. People overshare because they want to be seen in places considered special. Selfies allow people to validate you with likes. Narcissists can't validate themselves.

The children of today know nothing BUT digital, social media and selfies. In what way does this reality affect them?
The issue of what's private versus what's shared is utterly concerning to me. My generation was able to get past our mistakes, kids today may not because everything is shared. I don't think that children should have social media that isn't monitored by guardians. You're giving a whole world of responsibility to those who can't tie their shoes. Social media is not benign. We should be very careful of its use.

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Offbeat