Study: More than 250 people have died while taking selfies

The next time you’re standing at the edge of a scenic cliff or on top of a waterfall, take care when you have the urge to snap a quick selfie. It could very well be the last thing you do.

More than 250 people worldwide have died while taking selfies in the last six years, according to a new study from researchers asso- ciated with the All India Insti- tute of Medical Sciences, a group of public medical col- leges based in New Delhi. The findings, which analyzed news reports of the 259 selfie-related deaths from October 2011 to November 2017, were published in the July-August edition of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.

Of the 259 deaths, researchers found the lead- ing cause to be drowning, followed by incidents involving transportation - for example, taking a selfie in front of an oncoming train - and falling from heights. Other causes of selfie-related death include animals, firearms and electrocution.

“The selfie deaths have become a major public health problem,” Agam Bansal, the study’s lead author, told The Washington Post.

Though the study found India to have the highest number of deaths of all coun- tries, numerous reports of fatal selfie incidents have also come from Russia, the United States and Pakistan. Bansal noted that while the simple act of taking a sel- fie isn’t deadly, the hazard arises when people take risks while trying to get that per- fect shot.

“If you’re just standing, simply taking it with a celeb- rity or something, that’s not harmful,” he said. “But if that selfie is accompanied with risky behavior then that’s what makes the selfies dangerous.”

“What worries me the most is that it is a preventable cause of death,” Bansal said. “Taking a toll on these many numbers just because you want a perfect selfie because you want a lot of likes, shares on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, I don’t think this is worth compromising a life for such a thing.”

Bansal added he was also concerned about how many of the selfie-related fatalities involved young people.

ASSOCIATED PRESS India is home to the highest number of people who have died while taking photos of themselves, with 19 of the world’s 49 recorded selfie-linked deaths since 2014, according to collected data.