Taking a selfie against a dangerous background or in a frightening position is thrilling and it shows a bravery and courage in getting that next-to-impossible photo, that is until the photographer slips and falls off a mountain or tumbles down a cliff or is killed by a wild animal.
The number of people willing to risk their life to get that perfect shot is an "emerging problem," according to a new study on how many people have died in selfie-related accidents over the past few years.
Researchers discovered that 259 people worldwide have lost their lives taking selfies in precarious positions between 2011 and 2017.
The study, published in the July-August Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, found that the average age of victims of selfie-related deaths was 22 years old while 50 percent were 20 to 29 years old and 36 percent were 10 to 19 years old. The research also found that 72.5 percent of the victims were male, while 27.5 percent were females.
The largest number of deadly selfie accidents have occurred in India followed by Russia, the United States and Pakistan, with the highest number of victims dying from drowning, transport or falling, scientists said.
The most common selfie-related drowning deaths included being washed away by waves, capsizing boats while rowing and taking selfies in water while not knowing how to swim.
The majority of so-called "transport" selfie deaths happened while people were trying to take a selfie on a track with a train approaching, but the highest number of deaths were drowning or fire, the study found.
They also found that risky behavior caused more selfie deaths than non-risky behavior and that males were three times more likely to engage in risky behavior resulting in selfie deaths than females, who died from selfie-related deaths more often from non-risky behavior.
Probably something to keep in mind when looking at the number of selfie-related deaths is that some 24 billion selfies were uploaded to Google photos in 2015, Google estimated, and about a million are uploaded every day by 18 to 24-year-olds, the tech giant said. So, in comparison to the number of selfies being taken worldwide every day the death numbers over the past seven years are relatively low, experts said.
Researchers concluded that more "no selfie zones" should be created in tourist areas on mountains, around water and on top of tall buildings
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