Everybody, step away from Instagram.
If you thought that social media was out of control before, consider this: More people are dying each year from selfies than from shark attacks.
Obviously, your front-facing camera on your iPhone 6 isn’t killing you in the same way a great white shark would, but it’s the execution of the selfie that is sealing your fate.
Standing on a cliff to get that perfect mid-afternoon sun in the background? You might fall.
Pulling out your selfie stick while driving? Yeah, you’ll probably crash.
In fact, there have been 12 confirmed selfie-related deaths so far in 2015, but only eight deaths from sharks. The most common method of accidental selfie death? Falling, closely followed by being hit by a moving vehicle when attempting to capture the way your hair looks in the sunlight.
In May, a 21-year-old man, was on the edge of a cliff in Lembongan Island in Bali when he backed up too far while trying to take a selfie. A wave knocked him over, he fell two metres into the ocean. He had been holidaying with eight mates at Sandy Bay beach.
Also, in May, a 21-year-old Russian woman shot herself in the head while attempting to take a selfie with a hand-gun. The gun had been left unattended at her office by a security guard in Moscow, so naturally, the woman pointed it at her temple to pose for a selfie. Holding her camera in one hand and the gun in the other, she accidentally pulled the trigger on the gun. The woman survived the incident – which is fairly miraculous considering she fired a 9mm gun at her temple at close range. She is now in a serious but stable condition.
Sadly – these two are not the only ones.
In 2014 alone:
– an Indian man was hit by a train after trying to take a photo on the tracks – and a second Indian man died while taking a selfie pretending to hang himself.
– a Mexican man shot himself in the head while posing with a gun (so that is obviously a thing).
– a Polish couple died while attempting to take a selfie with their family on a cliff-top in Portugal.
Sky News says that 17 % of people in the US have taken selfies WHILE DRIVING A CAR.
Let’s not forget the people who have been taking selfies next to bears.
Friends, let’s just take a moment, here.
Sure it’s cool when lots of people like your selfie. But, FFS, if you are going to die to get it, there are just going to be a lot of sad face emoticons at your funeral.
Let’s remind ourselves what people are dying for, shall we?
Click through this gallery of some of the worst selfies of all time:
For more selfie stunners, try these:
Woman’s graphic selfie sends a powerful message.
Man takes a selfie. Next minute, he is the victim of an online hate campaign.
Her phone was stolen. Then a strange man posted a selfie on her Facebook.
Selfie sticks banned in an art gallery. Should ban be extended to … life?
Top Comments
Oh for ***** sake if someone else took the photo it's a PHOTO not a selfie!
So if it's a photo of you in the distance dangling off a cliff it's not a selfie its a PHOTO!
The clue is that if both hands are in shots it's not a selfie.
If it's a picture of your bum from five miles away it's also not a selfie (or belfie), unless of course you have trained yourself to fart with such force and in a very directional way that you can activate the camera!
Ok, so repeat after me PHOTO, PHOTO, PHOTO. And if you have never heard that word before look it up in a dictionary or history book that was published before the world went mad and started referring to vogue cover shoot style photos with a crew of ten people as a "selfie"
AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!
Instructional lesson and rant over!
Seriously the story of Narcissus. So self absorbed that he ends up accidentally killing himself.
And they are all eligible for the annual Darwin Award.