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“Do It For The ‘Gram” was one of the biggest rallying cries of the 2010s, but there are a number of people who’ve Died For The ‘Gram by putting themselves in danger in search of the perfect shot—to the point where a study examining a rise in death by selfie has asserted it’s worth being viewed as a “public health concern.”
People have been taking unnecessary risks to try to capture a great picture long before the rise of smartphones, but the fact that it’s now easier than ever to snap a photo of yourself has undoubtedly contributed to an increase in fatalities stemming from the rise of that particular piece of technology.
In 2010, the iPhone 4 ushered in a new era with the help of the front-facing camera that was largely responsible for spawning the “selfie” craze that took the world by storm a few years later. However, that now-ubiquitous form of immortalizing memories has a bit of a dark side.
The Journal of Medical Internet Research recently published a paper that was put together by a trio of researchers at the University of New South Wales who took a look at “selfie-related incidents” that occurred between 2011 and 2022.
They cited some other studies that have examined how selfies have claimed the lives of people who put themselves in peril while attempting to take them and identified at least 12 cases where people either fell to their deaths (the most common cause) or drowned as a result (while it’s a relatively small sample size, a 22-year-old female tourist represented the average victim).
The researchers determined both public officials and media outlets that reported on the incidents could do more to call attention to the potential risks of selfie-taking. It asserts the former group should think about installing more warning signs and barriers while focusing on prevention campaigns and that the latter has a responsibility to highlight the dangers as opposed to assigning blame while covering stories.
As someone who technically falls in that second category, I guess I should let you know to think twice about dangling off the edge of a cliff to flex on social media.
You’re welcome.