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Risking it all for the perfect click

17 Aug 2021

  • How vanity and desire can lead to danger and death 
By Sumudu Chamara People go to great lengths to feel good about themselves, and the more they succumb to that urge, the less attention they pay to the pros and cons of what they do. Sometimes, this urge can even drive them to put themselves and others at risk.  In this quest to feel good came about the rise of the “selfie”. The selfie culture grew in popularity, as higher quality selfie cameras and inventions such as selfie sticks – which Time named as one of the best inventions of 2014 – came into existence, and the interest in selfies is more prevalent among millennials and Gen Z individuals than the previous generation.  However, the world is seeing more injuries and deaths related to selfies each year, as the number of people who risk their lives for an interesting selfie is on the rise. According to researchers, the tendency to take competitive selfies is prevalent among youths, and it is what has resulted in most of the people who die while trying to take selfies being under 30 years. Researchers also highlight a direct link between people’s tendency to take selfies that are better than those taken by others, and people’s sense of having a better or more interesting personality.  Due to this prevalence, the new term “selficide” has come into existence to refer to such incidents. According to the Collins Dictionary, selficide refers to the act of dying by suicide wilfully by posting videos of such acts on social media, or by precariously taking selfies and accidentally or inadvertently succumbing to death.  Selfie deaths in Sri Lanka  From time to time, Sri Lanka too has recorded deaths of people who died while trying to take a selfie. Last week, local media reported that a 31-year-old man died after falling from a bridge in Jaffna, while trying to take a selfie.  However, this is not the first such death that occurred in the past few years after selfies became a trend. Sri Lankans have died in similar situations both in the country and abroad, while several foreigners who visited Sri Lanka have also died while taking selfies.  Foreign media reported that in 2016, two Sri Lankan women who were trying to take selfies near a spring in Oman died after falling into the spring. The same year, a Chinese woman who was touring Sri Lanka had fallen off a moving train while trying to take a selfie.  Media reports also said that in 2017, two youths, who were taking a selfie on a railway track, died after being hit by a train. The same year, another similar incident was reported where a newlywed couple, who were trying to take a selfie on a rail track, was hit by a train, resulting in the death of one person.  In 2018, a 35-year-old German woman who was travelling in Sri Lanka died after falling off the World’s End while she was trying to take selfies.  Selfies and deaths  According to a 2018 study published in the US National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health, between October 2011 and November 2017, at least 259 deaths have occurred in 139 incidents where people tried to take selfies in an unsafe manner and/or in unsafe environments.  The study titled “Selfies: A boon or bane?”, conducted by a group of Indian researchers comprising A. Bansal, C. Garg, A. Pakhare, and S. Gupta, based on news reports, said that the highest number of incidents and deaths had occurred in India, followed by Russia, the US, and Pakistan, respectively. Around 50% of the total deaths related to selfies had been reported from India. The researchers had further concluded that the ratio of casualties to incidents is approximately one, whereas the figure is doubled in India.  The mean age of the deceased was 22.94 years, while the deceased parties ages ranged from 10-68 years. With regard to the age groups of the deceased, the researchers said that about 50% (106) of the total deaths related to selfies occurred in the 20-29 age group, followed by about 36% (76) deaths in the 10-19 age group.  While males constituted 72.5% of the deceased, females constituted 27.5% of the deceased. The researchers had arrived at the conclusion that the number of deaths is three times higher among males due to risky behaviour when compared to females.  However, not all deaths related to selfies can be declared a result of risky behaviour, as some are purely accidents, according to the study. The classification of the deceased as those who engaged in risky and non-risky behaviours had led the researchers to conclude that risky behaviours had caused more incidents and deaths than non-risky behaviours.  “Incidents where it is quite evident that a person took a risk to take a selfie and lost their life (as a result of their act) have been classified as risky. For example, getting onto a slippery edge of a cliff to take a selfie has been marked risky, while getting hit by a wave on a calm sea and drowning has been marked as being non-risky. In case of any ambiguity – for example, slipping from the stairs and getting injured and finally succumbing to the injuries – a survey was conducted with 15 respondents, and a majority vote was taken to classify them into one of the classes. Risky behaviour caused more deaths and incidents due to selfies than non-risky behaviour. Our study has shown that the number of deaths in females is less due to risky behaviour than non-risky behaviour, while it is approximately three times in males,” the researchers explained.  It concluded that “no selfie” zones should be declared across tourist areas, especially in places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings, to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths.  The three leading causes of deaths related to selfies were drowning, accidents relating to transport services, and falling from various places, according to the study. The most common drowning incidents include being washed away by waves on the beach, the capsizing of boats while rowing, clicking selfies on shore without having any ability to swim, or ignoring warnings. With regard to deaths relating to transport services, the study had found the major reason for such incidents as being attempting to take selfies in front of moving trains.  Among all the reasons for these types of deaths, drowning and fire have the highest deaths/incidents ratio, the researchers said, adding that among other reasons are animal-related deaths, fire, and firearms-related deaths. Most of the selfie-related deaths that were a result of firearms occurred in the US.  Another study had concluded that even though women take more selfies than men do, most of the time, men are more likely to take a risk to take selfies than women, and that it justifies the higher number of selfie-related deaths and accidents among men.  Psychology behind risky selfies  As much as taking risky selfies is a social media trend, there is also a psychological aspect to it, which not only involves the urge to take unique selfies, risking one’s life, but also a state of mentality created by the reactions selfie-takers receive for these selfies, according to researchers.  They claim that selfie-takers often think about how they look, where they are, and most importantly, what others will find interesting about their selfie, and therefore, the desire to take an interesting selfie drives some people to take risks they think others have not taken.  Experts in the field of psychology say that the popularity of selfies is a result of a number of factors, including easy access to mobile phones with selfie cameras, the urge to compete with people deemed more interesting, the desire to connect with others, and the need to build a better personality that matches the standards prevalent among peers. According to Patricia Wallace, author of The Psychology of the Internet, the concept of selfie is a good example of a technological movement meeting up with the drive to connect socially and manage one’s presentation.  A study that focused on the link between the time spent on social media platforms and poor body image had found that the more women are exposed to selfies on social media, the more they compare themselves negatively, and that friends’ photos can have a more influential impact on a person than photos of celebrities. This study conducted by researchers at the Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, Ohio University, and Iowa University in the US surveyed 881 female college students in the US, with the aim of understanding the impact of the selfie culture on body image.  According to a local study, which focused on the relationship between selected social media behaviours and body image dissatisfaction among adolescents in Sri Lanka, taking selfies more frequently leads to higher body image dissatisfaction.  The study, based on the responses of 478 adolescents (53.7% males), who were between the ages of 13 and 19 years and competing in athletic events, recruited from seven educational institutions located in the vicinity of a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site and an international cricket stadium, said that while 100 (20.9%) of the adolescents articulated a positive body image, the majority (376 – 78.7%) reported mild body image dissatisfaction. A higher body mass index was associated with greater body image dissatisfaction. Gender and age were, however, not significant correlates of body image dissatisfaction. It was only among girls that photo manipulation was significantly associated with body image concerns.  This was highlighted in a scientific letter titled “Cross-Sectional Study on the Association Between Social Media Use and Body Image Dissatisfaction Among Adolescents”, which was authored by a group of researchers comprising Dr. A. Baminiwatta and Dr. M. Chandradasa, and N.C. Herath. However, apart from the risk aspect, there is also a positive side of the selfie culture, according to certain sociologists, who claim that it helps to boost people’s self-confidence and celebrate regular people. They also say that even though risking lives to take a selfie is unacceptable, a majority of selfie-takers do not engage in such risky behaviour, and that it is merely an attempt of an extreme nature, aimed at boosting self-confidence.  It is these psychological aspects that lead people to take massive risks, or disregard the nature of the environment they are in, in order to take selfies that they think are better. However, as a society, we cannot ignore our responsibility by attributing these deaths to people’s desire to take risks for an interesting photo, and many nations including the US, Russia, and India have taken steps such as awareness raising campaigns to prevent people from risking their lives and thereby reducing selfie-related deaths.  However, we form society, and so the question we should be asking ourselves is this: “Is the risk really worth the photo?”  

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