The Dangers of Selfie Taking

Woman+shooting+dangerous+selfie+with+city+view

huffingtonpost.com

Woman shooting dangerous selfie with city view

Veronika Alvarez, Staff Writer

In a moment of life or death, would you choose to run or take a selfie to capture the moment? Recently, cntraveler.com reported that only eight people have died from shark attacks this year while 12 people have died from selfie accidents and many more have been injured from selfie taking.

21 year old Cheyenne Holiday and her boyfriend, James Nicholls, 23, traveled to South Africa for a romantic getaway, in May of this year. On their not so lovely trip, the couple went cliff climbing. Holiday decided it would be a great idea to take a selfie to post on Instagram, Twitter, etc. for everyone to see what they had done so far on their trip and also to show her love for her boyfriend. While taking the selfie, Holiday fell from the top of the cliff and lost her life.

Another falling incident occurred in India on September 21, 2015. Japanese tourist Hideto Ueda, 66, decided to take a selfie on the top of the steps at the Taj Mahal. He tripped down the stairs and passed away.

In January, three more people passed away while taking selfies in Mathura, India. There was a small group of college students taking pictures of the railroad tracks. The group was too focused on clicking the button to take a selfie that they didn’t have enough time to jump away from an oncoming train and off of the railroad tracks. They unfortunately got killed. According to people.com, the three who died have been tentatively identified as Yakub, Iqbal and Afzal, all college students between the ages of 20 and 22, according to police.

There are so many more stories like this from all over the world. What started out as fun, has become dangerous. In fact, according to huffingtonpost.com, many countries and governing bodies are now treating “the selfie” as a threat to public safety.

Instead of focusing on the picture, focus on your surroundings. Stay safe while selfie taking.