Generating selfies costs the US economy $800 billion a year

Americans’ vanity costs the economy hundreds of billions of dollars each year, a shocking report suggests.

Researchers at Harvard University found that the selfie-obsessed generation in the US is driving up costs due to issues such as a lack of productivity and increased healthcare usage.

They estimate that $84 billion is lost in the workplace alone, for example by taking sick leave to care for their physical health and appearance.

And the country’s growing obsession with appearance is leading to more cases of anxiety, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse and smoking, the report said.

These healthcare costs put a whopping $221 billion into the nation’s economy each year.

In total, vanity and appearance cost the economy an estimated $800 billion a year.

The researchers estimate that about 45 million Americans suffer from body dissatisfaction — or just under 15 percent of the population.

Body dissatisfaction and discrimination based on appearance cost the U.S. economy about $800 billion each year, a new report finds. Women are primarily harmed by both factors (file photo)

But the report also claims that body dissatisfaction isn’t just caused by vanity.

They say the economy is hit hardest by what they call “appearance-based discrimination” — when someone is judged by race, weight, or haircut.

The researchers say that people who are discriminated against are more likely to be unemployed or in prison, and more likely to develop health problems or turn to booze and booze.

The report, which was conducted as part of the Dove Self-Esteem Project, attributed $501 billion in annual losses to discrimination based on appearance.

Ashton (pictured), 14, said she wanted to cut off parts of her body after a doctor told her ‘a fat kid is a dead adult’

FURY AS US TASK FORCE RECOMMENDS ALL AMERICANS UNDER 60 BE CHECKED FOR FEAR

Experts warn the US risks creating an opioid-like crisis with anxiety pills if it decides to screen everyone under 65 for the condition.

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, one of the most influential agencies in U.S. health care, last month recommended that the roughly 200 million Americans ages 18 and older get checked — even if they don’t have symptoms.

It would make clinical help for anxiety more accessible and force patients to jump through fewer hoops to get help, the doctors argue.

But experts told DailyMail.com it could lead to an increase in prescriptions for anxiety medications — already feared to be at the heart of a burgeoning addiction crisis in the US.

The most common anxiety medications fall into the class of benzodiazepines, with fast-acting drugs such as Xanax, Klomopin, Valium, and Ativan among the group.

Dr. Anna Lembke, chief of the Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University, told this website she feared the new guidelines had echoes of the opioid epidemic.

Dr. Jonathan Shedler, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told Fox News that following the recommendation would be “terrible.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 107,000 Americans will die of drug overdoses in 2021 — nearly 80 percent of which were caused by opioids.

The findings were published on Tuesday.

Low self-esteem and body image issues are linked to an increased rate of mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, find studies.

Someone who suffers from these mental illnesses is generally less productive.

Many scholars have linked the rise of social media influencers and celebrities like the Kardashians to a deterioration in Americans’ mental health.

The American Psychiatric Association estimates that unresolved symptoms of depression make an employee 35 percent less productive than his colleagues.

Depression and anxiety are also linked to substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol – further harm a person’s overall productivityaccording to studies.

Up to nine percent of Americans will also suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetime, primarily caused by dissatisfaction with body appearance, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reports.

People suffering from these problems require more treatment from medical professionals, putting a strain on the health care system.

They are also less productive at work and may put pressure on their family and other individuals in their lives because of their problems.

About 20 percent of Americans — or 66 million — are victims of discrimination based on appearance, the Harvard study estimates.

Almost two-thirds of those who experience the discrimination are women.

One such woman is 14-year-old Ashton, who told Dove that a doctor had told her that “a fat kid is a dead adult.”

“It was the first time I felt, ‘Oh my God, am I ugly?'” said the overweight teen.

“I wish I could take a pair of scissors to my body and pull everything out because if I didn’t I would never feel perfect, I would never feel beautiful.”

Pennie, 19, told Dove she was bullied at school for being overweight, which caused her mental problems.

“When I was in eighth grade, I was told if she looked like me, she would kill herself,” she said.

She said social media made the bullying she experienced worse and made her hate “everything” about herself.

“I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough to be loved by anyone.”