Don't Take That Selfie Too Close to the Edge

The rise of smartphones and social media has paved the way for selfies to become a popular pastime for young people around the world. Sometimes people hunting for the perfect self-portrait get carried away though and put themselves and sometimes others in harm’s way. Tragic as it is, researchers from the United States and India [PDF] have found that taking selfies in dangerous situations cost at least 127 lives since March 2014.

The researchers scoured the web for news articles reporting selfie-related deaths in an effort to raise awareness and help prevent further injuries or deaths as a consequence of reckless selfie-taking. Ridiculous as it may sound, there are many ways to harm yourself while taking a selfie. The cases found by the researchers include several people falling from great heights, drowning or accidently shooting themselves while taking a selfie with a gun.

Photographers appear to be particularly careless in India where the researchers found the most reports of selfie-related accidents by far.