Selfie-related deaths

Letter July 18, 2017
Many studies have dubbed this new phenomenon of the selfie-craze as an addiction

LAHORE: The recent news of a 17-year-old Indian girl falling off the cliff into the water at a marine drive in Kerala, India, and losing her life adds to the increasing cases of death due to the selfie-craze. Teens or, in fact, even adults, have been addicted to taking hundreds of selfies in a given week. And in a quest to make their selfies appear unique and exotic, they have been going as far as to climbing atop buildings or standing strikingly close to the edge of the rocks at beaches to get a perfect background for their picture. But in between the struggle for a perfect selfie moment, many have lost their lives.

According to a recent study, 60 per cent of all selfie-related deaths between March 2014 and 2016, where a person dies while trying to take a picture of themselves, have occurred in India. However, things are not any different at home. Earlier in February this year, a young teenage girl lost her life at a station in Khanewal’s Faridabad, while trying to take a selfie with the moving train only to be knocked over instead.

Many studies have dubbed this new phenomenon of the selfie-craze as an addiction. With the rise in popularity of different social media platforms, from Facebook, Instagram to Snapchat, people have been obsessed with documenting their lives through seflies but at the cost of risking the same lives in return. Why people religiously indulge in this activity is hard to pin, but the authorities concerned need to be more vigilant and proactive in creating awareness against this phenomenon. And in the meanwhile, they should station proficient staff at tourist points to help aid someone before it is too late.

Manaal Shafi

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2017.

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