How did we get here? Selfie madness has a new meaning, and it s not funny anymore — it s deadly.
Gruesome deaths are increasingly being attributed to society s obsession with taking pictures of oneself having fun, going to envy-inducing places and posting it all on social media. Some governments and rule-makers are starting to think intervention, Reuters reports.
A cool selfie could cost you your life, reads a poster from a campaign by Russia s Interior Ministry, according to Reuters. The campaign uses videos and booklets, too, and is reportedly a response to dozens of grisly selfie-related deaths and injuries in early 2015.
It s not hard to picture how some selfie-related deaths and injuries have involved grenades, bridges and wild animals. Also, guns: This week in Houston, Texas, a 19-year-old man reportedly died after posing with a gun while taking selfies.
The sobering news comes after mostly lighthearted coverage of selfies. The word itself made its debut a couple of years ago in the Oxford dictionaries; selfie-takers have been chided for being rude; some museums have banned selfie sticks but are still encouraging selfies. Smile, there s a selfie drone.
But the urge to share photos on social networks has involved danger for a while: Last year, I wrote about outlaw Instagrammers who climb bridges and skyscrapers so they can post incredible images on the photo-sharing network. Speaking of incredible images: The Reuters article cited above says Europe is considering a law criminalizing social-media posts containing images of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
Photo: The Dalai Lama poses for a presumably safe selfie with blogger and activist Alek Boyd during a break between panel discussions at an event entitled: Happiness, Free Enterprise, and Human Flourishing on Feb. 20, 2014, at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)
