It must be said that taking selfies has become the latest craze among the people specially, teenagers. There is no harm in taking selfies of oneself or with a group of friends or with some well-known personalities. The problem arises when teenagers indulge in ‘extreme selfies’.
Clicking such ‘extreme selfies’ has caught the imagination of the teenagers around the globe specially, those who believe in living an adventurous life. Indulging in clicking extreme selfies can have disastrous consequences. It can either lead to fatality or permanent disability. There has been a rising number of injuries and deaths linked to selfies in recent years. It is understood that more people around the world have died while taking selfies than from shark attacks this year.
In 2015 so far, at least 12 people have reportedly been killed in selfie-related incidents worldwide compared to eight from shark attacks. A few months back attempts to click “eye-catching pictures” to upload them on social networking sites cost three college going friends from New Delhi, Moradabad and Faridabad their lives when they were run over by the speeding train.
In a more recent incident a Japanese tourist fell to his death at India’s iconic Taj Mahal as he posed for a selfie. The Japanese man allegedly tumbled down a staircase inside the mausoleum as he tried to take the picture. In Denver, Colorado, a wildlife park was shut down after tourists kept getting too close to bears in their attempts to take selfies. Disney themes parks have also banned the use of selfie sticks over safety concerns. Earlier this month, a 19-year-old boy in the US died after accidentally shooting himself in the throat while taking selfies with a loaded gun. In yet another tragic incident of the growing ‘extreme selfie craze’ in Russia a school boy reportedly fell from a nine-storey building while trying to click ‘extreme selfie’.
Teenagers the world over have been taking extreme selfies from high-rise buildings, high bridges, while riding bikes at high speeds, from high cliffs, in front of wild animals in the zoo after entering the enclosure etc. many such acts have resulted in death. The craze for such extreme selfies originates in the desire to post them on social networking sites like Facebook and get the maximum number of ‘Likes’. This seems absurd as life is precious. It has prompted the Russian government to publish a safe selfie guide for the use of the general public specially, the teenagers.
In India too teenagers do indulge in clicking ‘extreme selfies’. It would thus be in the fitness of things for the Indian government to also publish a safe selfie guide for the use of the citizens.
