Study: Selfie-related deaths are increasing with young people taking more risks

[Cal Jeffrey]

Facepalm: Two Russian soldiers took a selfie with a live grenade when it went off in their faces. One of them surprisingly survived. An 18-year-old girl in Romania was seeking the “ultimate selfie” for Facebook while lying on the top of a stationary train. While posing, her leg struck a 27,000-volt live wire. She immediately burst into flames and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Those are only two of 11 stories relayed by Rolling Stone magazine, but there are a lot more than 11 incidents like this. It has colloquially been dubbed “death by selfie” — people snapping photographs of themselves in dangerous situations just before they die.

Death-by-selfie incidents are on the rise. A recent study conducted by researchers in India and published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care found that there have been 259 deaths connected with 137 selfie-related incidents. This count does not include cellphone-related incidents such as texting while driving. It also did not include reports from non-English sources; so the global total could be much higher.

Most of the incidents have occurred in India, but death by selfie seems to know no boundaries. Deaths have been reported in at least 23 different countries. Russia has seen 16 related incidents, and the US has had 14 reports, but India seems to have a real problem with this behavior, having seen at least 159 selfie-related deaths.

Causes of death varied widely. Drowning was the most common occurrence with 32 incidents resulting in 70 deaths. Falls were the second leading cause with 48 deaths in 41 events. Other causes include animal, electrocution, firearm, and transport.

The incidents, which all occurred between October 2011 and November 2017, mostly involved male subjects. Only about 28 percent of the selfie-related deaths were women. Most of the deaths (106) were in the 20-29 age bracket with ages 10-19 coming in second at 76 incidents. Those over 40 only saw a total of 9 deaths by selfie, showing that with age comes wisdom.

The study concludes suggesting “‘No selfie zones’ areas [sic] should be declared across tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths.”

The alternative would be to let natural selection run its course.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/76753-study-selfie-related-deaths-increasing-young-people-taking.html

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Good riddance... helping clean up the gene pool. ID10Ts gonna ID10T.

 

[senketsu]

Death by misadventure, oh to be young again....no selfie's in my youth, but I'm fortunate to be alive

 

[Nobina]

Imagine dying like this and on the tombstone it's engraved "Died by taking a selfie". You would spin in your grave for the rest of eternity. it's equivalent of slipping on a banana peel and dying.

 

[VitalyT]

Dumb people have always had a way to meet their demise, and if it is not a selfie, it will be something else. I would not make a big deal out of it, this is just natural selection.

 

[Kashim]

"The alternative would be to let natural selection run its course." <-- THIS

 

[OutlawCecil]

And THIS is why we have "dumb people" signs on everything now. Do not place plastic bag over head and suffocate yourself. Do not eat legos. Do not put fingers inside box-crushing machine...etc.

 

[Potato Judge]

Vanity and Social media addiction...

 

[TomSEA]

Oh well...

 

[captaincranky]

@Cal Jeffrey "The alternative would be to let natural selection run its course.".

Sounds like a a plan!

..Scientists have proven the only thing that trumps natural selection is when a big a** asteroid hits earth and interrupts the process.

Come to think of it, wouldn't that make a great selfie, a gigantic asteroid coming at you from behind, looming over your shoulders?

(I was going to post a photo of Kim Kardashian's backside and call it something like an "asstaroid". But I knew they'd only pull it).

 

[Evernessince]

Imagine dying like this and on the tombstone it's engraved "Died by taking a selfie". You would spin in your grave for the rest of eternity. it's equivalent of slipping on a banana peel and dying.

The banana peel death is funny but it isn't nearly as stupid as this. One is an accident, the other is intentional. Like most kids, they act like they are invincible until they graduate high school and realize just how human they are.

 

[ForgottenLegion]

Darwinism at work.

 

[captaincranky]

The banana peel death is funny but it isn't nearly as stupid as this. One is an accident, the other is intentional. Like most kids, they act like they are invincible until they graduate high school and realize just how human they are.

Yeah but, it takes them a good thirty more years, if ever, to realize what they still don't know, compared to what they thought they did.

 

[p51d007]

And people have a problem with people killing themselves, doing something STUPID?
As also mentioned above, it's just removing the lower sperm recipients from the future
gene pool.

 

[LNCPapa]

(I was going to post a photo of Kim Kardashian's backside and call it something like an "asstaroid". But I knew they'd only pull it).

I'd still like to see it - but really... don't post it

 

[captaincranky]

And people have a problem with people killing themselves, doing something STUPID?
As also mentioned above, it's just removing the lower sperm recipients from the future
gene pool.

But, but, but, isn't "self awareness", supposed to be a sign of "intelligence", in "higher animals"?

The fact that higher apes, chimpanzees in particular, can recognize themselves in a mirror, might have given Descartes pause to alter his reasoning to something like, "I throw poop, therefore I am".

That notwithstanding, I could turn this into raging a "nature versus nurture" debate, in a heartbeat.

In any event, the Greeks have the legend/allegory of Narcissus, who was so smitten with his own visage, he spent eternity staring at his own reflection in a pool of water. Boy oh boy, was he ever, "self aware".-:

Modern technology has given us the means, motive, and opportunity, to move past such primitive means of self admiration, such as the puddle, lake, mirror, and my personal favorite, staring at my reflection in the microwave oven's glass door, and provided us with the ironically named "smartphone". Use it wisely, "cliff hopper". (and don't forget to look *
three ways before you cross the street. (UP, then right and left).

 

[jtveg]

All of them silly unfortunates go down in the hall of "non fame" and posthumously receive the Darwin Award.

Given only to those that successfully remove their genes from the population in stupid and unnecessary ways.

 

[clytndn]

All of them silly unfortunates go down in the hall of "non fame" and posthumously receive the Darwin Award.

Given only to those that successfully remove their genes from the population in stupid and unnecessary ways.

...And yet there never seems to be a shortage on ID10TS? The term "There's a sucker born every minute" should have read "There are ID10TS (yes plural) born all the time".

 

[Lew Zealand]

"The alternative would be to let natural selection run its course."

Which is pretty much what any sane person is thinking. There are lots of ways that excessive stupid ends up hurting someone else but this one seems to be the best kind of *******, the type that kills only the *******.

 

[senketsu]

All of them silly unfortunates go down in the hall of "non fame" and posthumously receive the Darwin Award.

Given only to those that successfully remove their genes from the population in stupid and unnecessary ways.

...And yet there never seems to be a shortage on ID10TS? The term "There's a sucker born every minute" should have read "There are ID10TS (yes plural) born all the time".

During the 2014 Tour de France the Italian cyclist, (born in Sicily) Vincenzo Nibali (in reference to doping) mentioned a Sicilian proverb which I've been told translates to "The mother of the imbecile is always pregnant"

 

[captaincranky]

During the 2014 Tour de France the Italian cyclist, (born in Sicily) Vincenzo Nibali (in reference to doping) mentioned a Sicilian proverb which I've been told translates to "The mother of the imbecile is always pregnant"

Proverb huh? Here in the hood, it's more of a lifestyle choice

 

[Graydale]

The study concludes suggesting “‘No selfie zones’ areas [sic] should be declared across tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths.
The author of the study clearly doesn't understand human nature. If 'no selfie zones' are established, then THOSE zones will be desirable spots for selfies, the signs themselves will be badges of honor.

 

[EndRessentiment]

Good riddance... helping clean up the gene pool. ID10Ts gonna ID10T.

In case you meant that partly seriously: this does nothing useful at changing the gene pool. There's no "suicidal posturing" gene, and these deaths are practically infinitesimal on a population level.

 

[Kibaruk]

And THIS is why we have "dumb people" signs on everything now. Do not place plastic bag over head and suffocate yourself. Do not eat legos. Do not put fingers inside box crusher...etc.

That I believe is mostly to avoid being sued, I guess if no one sued they would simply let it run...

 

[EClyde]

I used to slide off 20 ft. cliffs wearing snowshoes into large ( I hoped) snow drifts on Hogsback in Marquette County. Maybe I deserved to die for it.