Yes, it is indeed going to be one of those days.
The first report (by a reputable news source) of a selfie-taker dying while snapping a picture was in March 2014. Since then, Hemank and his team of researchers found there had been 127 recorded incidents of selfie deaths across the world. 76 of these took place in India, nine in Pakistan, eight in the US and six in Russia.
The most likely cause of death was falling from a great height, with people going to extreme lengths to take a selfie on cliffs or the top of buildings to impress followers on social media. In India, there are more selfie deaths related to trains, which Hemank and his team said are due to "the belief that posing on or next to train tracks with their best friend is regarded as romantic and a sign of never-ending friendship." In the US and Russia, a high proportion of deaths occur due to weapons, which the researchers believe is most likely due to gun laws in the two countries.
Hemank and his team hope to develop an app which will warn thrill-seeking selfie takers when their quest for the ultimate photo is putting their life in danger. They hope the app will be able to identify when someone is taking a photo at a high point, by train tracks or in other dangerous situations and alert them to the possible risk to their life.
Of course, you could argue getting an alert while in a perilous situation might make things even more dangerous.
Ummm... yeah ? At this point please just imagine me storming off in a huff, muttering things like, "Darwin Awards" darkly under my breath.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38012990/the-rise-in-selfie-deaths-and-how-to-stop-them
One summer my daughter was working at Yellowstone when a visitor was gored while trying to take a selfie with a bison.
ReplyDeleteEvolution doesn't have to be pretty to work.
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