"Deaths have occurred after people tried to snap photos near dangerous animals, in front of waterfalls and while wielding dangerous weapons.... The average age of the people who died was 24, with the largest group under the age of 19. The most deaths, 100, occurred in India, while 39 people died in the United States and 33 died in Russia. Falls from high places were the primary cause of death, claiming 216 people. Another 123 deaths were transportation-related, the study found. Others died by drowning or injury from weapons, electricity or animals."
From "A 21-year-old hiker fell hundreds of feet to his death while taking a selfie: 'A very tragic accident'" (WaPo). Distance fallen: 700 feet.
The article quotes someone who did a study of selfies: "What worries me the most is that it is a preventable cause of death, If you’re just standing, simply taking it with a celebrity or something, that’s not harmful."
Oh, it depends on the celebrity.
By the way, if you do stand on the edge of a cliff and slip and die, you'll at least give your loved ones sound footing to utter the cliché — as was done in the case reported at the link — you died doing what you loved.
You will have died looking at your own face in your camera-phone — presumably, what you loved. Do you see the expression on your own face as you realize what has happened and where you are going? Do you hold onto the camera? Do you try to take another picture? It takes 6 seconds to fall 700 feet.
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Do you hold onto the camera? Do you try to take another picture? It takes 6 seconds to fall 700 feet.
So FEW people think about this! WHAT Could Possibly BE, THE ULTIMATE selfie?
A pic of Your DEATH!!!
Frankly, it'd make dying just about worthwhile
If I die somehow stupid, at least let it be quick so I don't have time to think about it. But if I do fall to my death while taking a selfie, at least let me have the presence of mind to snap a few photos on the way down so the internet really has something to laugh about.
He died of COVID. The fall was just secondary.
"If you’re just standing, simply taking it with a celebrity or something, that’s not harmful."
Oh, it depends on the celebrity."
Too true.
But more substantively, I question the premise of the story. In order to know whether this is a big problem, you can't just say "selfies are new and people are dying." You would have to show how many people died petting zoo animals, standing near the edge of a cliff, etc. before selfies became a thing. People did not get stupider when selfies came along. We've always been idiots.
People have been falling into the Grand Canyon long before the selfie. It is the number one method of dying there.
Nature culling the herd.
"Oh, it depends on the celebrity."
You couldn't pay me to do a selfie with Alec Baldwin.
Well at least at that young age there isn't much life to flash before one's eyes so 6 seconds is probably enough.
I wonder how many of the selfie deaths from a high place are actually homicides. Based on my Daily Mail reading, falling (i.e., being pushed) from a great height is a common way for a husband to kill off an unwanted wife.
I'm comforted in knowing that they died doing what they loved.
When I met my now wife (41 years) she had a 35mm camera with 3 lenses and motor drive.
I like gadgets so I took to it easily. What I found, I often spent so much time thinking about framing,lighting, subjects, I failed to participate in the experience. So I worked at putting the camera away after a few captures and fully engaging in what ever was going on. Though we do have several hundred hot air balloon pictures we do enjoy. But we took vacation to specifically capture those scenes.
The selfie thing is selfishness on steroids. All about ME!
I forgot.
You can't fix stupid. A good portion of the dead would have met an early death, for one bad decision or another.
I see people facetiming and jaywalking frequently enough in the city I live in and always think about how "sweet" it would be to be there for those last moments. I also see people staring at their phones while bicycling. We really are devolving as a species.
"People have been falling into the Grand Canyon long before the selfie. It is the number one method of dying there."
Huh. I would have guessed dehydration. But maybe I shouldn't have. It takes work to die of dehydration, falling is easier.
Absent the phone, these people would still be alive. Sue Apple.
Selfie-ish with progressive viability.
After seeing Ficta's comment, I checked my source:
A couple of park rangers wrote Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon. The first chapter is about falling. But falling is the number two cause. The first is airplane crashes. Check this out:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/04/10/grand-canyon-deaths-arizona-national-park-helicopter-crash-heat-exhaustion-falls/3425424002/
How many fall and die while being non-selfie-taking old fashioned idiots? Gravity is an equal opportunity SOB.
Ficta "People have been falling into the Grand Canyon long before the selfie. It is the number one method of dying there."
Equalled by those drowning in its rapids.
'Moment of death' photos can be found on the internet and they are fascinating and gripping. But, the old ones become boring after awhile, so we are indebted to these idiots for keeping a fresh supply of those coming.
Michael said...
He died of COVID. The fall was just secondary.
You heard of Long Covid? This was Short Covid.
"I often spent so much time thinking about framing,lighting, subjects, I failed to participate in the experience."
I recall a cartoon from long ago (New Yorker?)
Person A: How was your trip to Paris?
Person B: I'll tell you after I get the film developed.
I always get concerned about falling when I get within 3 feet of a cliff edge. So, I may die of old age, but never of taking a selfy.
Two great books: "Death in Grand Canyon" and "Death in Yellowstone". Mostly people dying from being clueless about nature and those flaunting the rules. Some horrifying.
great questions :)
is there a selfie vax?
Do you realize there is a Darwin award waiting for you on the other side?
Wife and I have been to the South Rim. There’s a walkway along the rim over where the hotels and restaurants are, and there’s a low stone wall between the walkway and the rim. A very low stone wall. I wonder how many people over the years have tripped on it and fallen to their deaths?
"I often spent so much time thinking about framing,lighting, subjects, I failed to participate in the experience."
i've noticed, that Most People; If something Important (or even Interesting) happens...
Shield themselves by placing their phone between themselves and whatever (what EVER) is taking place
Apparently, LIFE is SO HORRIFYING; that The Only Way people can deal with it, is to watch it on a screen.
I took the Durango Narrow gauge railroad up through an Awesome camera. I was the only person in our car that was able to look at it... All Others hid their eyes behind a phone
I was at The Thunderbirds Airshow...Same thing: NO ONE could bring themselves to see it
I paid Good Money to see a car race (it was FREE on TV)... NO ONE in the stands was watching the race... All were watching their phones
People Are F*cking Stupid
Sounds like more deaths than from vaccines.
I'm not good at sharing most of my life with others, but I'm not sure it's so bad. Dangerous selfies seem dumb, tho.
"What I found, I often spent so much time thinking about framing, lighting, subjects, I failed to participate in the experience. So I worked at putting the camera away after a few captures and fully engaging in what ever was going on."
I used to do a lot of nature photography and putting the camera away was always on the menu. I participated in a workshop once where the leader referred to it as "neurochrome" time. I found that "thinking about framing, lighting, subjects" helped get me in the mode to better appreciate what I was seeing.
Now do how many people have died from covid while cruising. Granted there's an overlap between selfie deaths while cruising and other deaths, but given the media's intent to kill the cruise business, I have to wonder why the Animus.
In the last line of the article, his friend says the thing.
“I guess he did die doing what he loved to,” Thomas said, “just in a tragic way.”
Doesn’t the friend know that that line is a joke?
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