Study: The most lethal places to take a selfie

Zanariah Salam/Shutterstock

• Selfies played a part in more than 250 deaths between October
  2011 and November 2017, a new study says.
• Researchers found that the top causes of selfie-related
  deaths were centered around water or moving vehicles.
• The idea of “no-selfie zones” has emerged in an effort to
  decrease the amount of selfie-related deaths.

Before going to great lengths to capture that one-of-a-kind
selfie, you might want to think hard about how much you’d risk
for it.

More than 250 deaths between October 2011 and November 2017 can
be linked to selfies,
a recent study has found.

The deadliest place to take a selfie? 

Water.

According to the study, there have been at least 70 selfie
fatalities due to drowning during the 6-year period. The deadly
incidents include people getting swept away by waves, ignoring
safety warnings on beaches, and being on boats that have
capsized. 

Water-borne selfie deaths are especially deadly as they often
involve multiple people. The 70 deaths stemmed from 32 incidents,
according to the study. 

Perhaps just as dangerous, or even more so, are selfies taken
from elevated places. 

The study cites 48 deaths from “falling” that resulted from 41
incidents — that’s a higher number of fatal incidents involving
selfies than drowning, even if the overall death toll is
lower. 

Here’s a full list of the causes of selfie death:

NCBI

The study was conducted by a group of researchers out of India,
which is home to more
selfie-related deaths than any other country. It’s
important to note that researchers based their findings off
English news outlets’ existing coverage of selfie-related deaths,
meaning there may be other deaths that occurred within the
study’s six-year period that either weren’t reported or occurred
in a non-English speaking country.

A couple of other interesting findings:

Almost three-quarters of the selfie-related deaths were men. Even
though studies have found that women take more selfies than men,
men more likely to engage in risky behavior to capture the
perfect picture.

The majority of the 51 people whose deaths involved a mode of
transportation were killed in selfie-related incidents involved
moving trains. 

Most of the selfie deaths involving firearms occurred in the US.

To reduce the number of selfie-related deaths, researchers
suggest that cities and other public entities designate certain
places as “no-selfie zones”  This idea has already
been implemented in Mumbai, where authorities have marked 16
places in India’s largest city as off-limits that they deem to be
most risky for selfie shots.

Other countries have taken similar steps to ensure safe
selfie-taking — Russia ran
a public safety campaign in 2015 centered around safe
picture-taking practices. Rangers in New York’s Catskill
Mountains
enacted a number of safety measures near several waterfalls
and cliff edges, and can ticket visitors for putting themselves
in risky situations in the name of selfies.

But it’s hard to say whether the fervor to capture the best
selfie will diminish anytime soon. Businesses have found
innovative ways to profit off the craze, including pop-up museums
in several cities who are attracting visitors by providing
backdrops for Instagam-worthy pictures.