The next time you’re standing at the edge of a scenic cliff or on top of a waterfall, take care before snapping a quick selfie. It could be the last thing you do. 
 
 More than 250 people worldwide have died while taking selfies in the last six years, according to a new study from researchers associated with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a group of public medical colleges based in New Delhi. The findings, which analyzed news reports of the 259 selfie-related deaths from October 2011 to November 2017, were published in the July-August edition of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. 
 
 Of the 259 deaths, researchers found the leading cause to be drowning, followed by incidents involving transportation — for example, taking a selfie in front of an oncoming train — and falling from heights. Other causes of selfie-related deaths include animals, firearms and electrocution. 
 
 “The selfie deaths have become a major public health problem,” Agam Bansal, the study’s lead author, told The Washington Post. 
 
 [More people died taking selfies in India than anywhere in world, study says. Way more.] 
 
 Though the study found India to have the highest number of deaths of all countries, multiple reports of fatal selfie incidents have also come from Russia, the United States and Pakistan. Bansal noted that while the simple act of taking a selfie isn’t deadly, hazards arise when people take risks while trying to get that perfect shot. 
 
 “If you’re just standing, simply taking it with a celebrity or something, that’s not harmful,” he said. “But if that selfie is accompanied with risky behavior then that’s what makes the selfies dangerous.” 
 
 Bansal added he was also concerned about how many of the selfie-related fatalities involved young people. More than 85 percent of the victims were between the ages of 10 and 30, Bansal said. 
 
 “What worries me the most is that it is a preventable cause of death,” he said. “Taking a toll on these many numbers just because you want a perfect selfie because you want a lot of likes, shares on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, I don’t think this is worth compromising a life for such a thing.” 
 
 While the number of deaths reported in the study may seem high, Bansal said there could be many more cases that just haven’t been documented because of issues with reporting. 
 
 In 2018 alone, there have already been several selfie-related deaths. In May, a man in India tried to take a selfie with an injured bear and was mauled to death, the Independent reported. 
 
 Just last month, two people died in the United States in separate cases also involving selfies. 
 
 On Sept. 5, an 18-year-old hiker from Jerusalem died after he fell more than 800 feet off a cliff at Yosemite National Park, according to ABC News. The man’s mother said he had been trying to take a selfie at the edge of Nevada Fall, a popular waterfall in the park, when he fell, the Times of Israel reported. 
 
 Roughly two weeks later, a 32-year-old California woman met a similar fate while hiking at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan when she slipped and fell to her death after stopping at the edge of a 200-foot cliff to snap some selfies, the Detroit Free Press reported. 
 
 Mohit Jain, an orthopedic surgeon who was not involved in the recent study but has done research into selfie deaths, described the work of Banal and fellow researchers Chandan Garg and Abhijit Pakhare as “really necessary” to “make people aware that you can die while taking a selfie.” Jain published his own study last year about selfie-related mortality in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. 
 
 “Sometimes eyes don’t see if your mind doesn’t know,” Jain told The Post. 
 
 Jain’s research found that 75 people had died attempting to take selfies from 2014 to mid-2016. 
 
 “It’s like a man-made disaster,” he said. “It’s not a natural disaster.” 
 
 One possible way to prevent selfie deaths would be “no selfie zones,” Bansal said, banning them in certain areas such as bodies of water, mountain peaks and at the top of tall buildings. 
 
 Efforts to dissuade people from taking dangerous selfies have already been attempted in multiple countries, including India, Russia and Indonesia. 
 
 Three years ago, Russia launched a “Safe Selfie” campaign, which featured the slogan, “Even a million ‘likes’ on social media are not worth your life and well-being,” the BBC reported. An informational graphic with icons of “bad selfie ideas” — highlighting stick figures posing on power poles and while holding guns — was also distributed, Jain noted in his study. 
 
 In 2016, Mumbai declared 16 “no selfie zones” across the city following a slew of selfie-related deaths, the Guardian reported. Earlier this year, a national park in Indonesia announced it would be working to create a safe spot for photos after a hiker died taking a selfie, according to the Jakarta Post. 

 J Family Med Prim Care . 2018 Jul-Aug; 7(4): 828–831. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_109_18 PMCID: PMC6131996 PMID: 30234062 Selfies: A boon or bane? ,1 ,2 ,1 and 1 Agam Bansal 1Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Find articles by Agam Bansal Chandan Garg 2Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Find articles by Chandan Garg Abhijith Pakhare 1Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Find articles by Abhijith Pakhare Samiksha Gupta 1Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Find articles by Samiksha Gupta Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer 1Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India 2Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Address for correspondence: Dr. Agam Bansal, Room no. 213 Boys Hostel, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Saket Nagar, Bhopal - 462 020, Madhya Pradesh, India. E-mail: Dr. Agam Bansal, Room no. 213 Boys Hostel, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Saket Nagar, Bhopal - 462 020, Madhya Pradesh, India. E-mail: moc.liamg@7lasnabmaga Copyright : © 2018 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. 
 
 Abstract Background: Selfie deaths have become an emerging problem and we performed this study to assess the epidemiology of selfie-related deaths across the globe. Subject and Methods: We performed a comprehensive search for keywords such as “selfie deaths; selfie accidents; selfie mortality; self photography deaths; koolfie deaths; mobile death/accidents” from news reports to gather information regarding selfie deaths. Results: From October 2011 to November 2017, there have been 259 deaths while clicking selfies in 137 incidents. The mean age was 22.94 years. About 72.5% of the total deaths occurred in males and 27.5% in females. The highest number of incidents and selfie-deaths has been reported in India followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan. Drowning, transport, and fall form the topmost reasons for deaths caused by selfies. We also classified reasons for deaths due to selfie as risky behavior or non-risky behavior. Risky behavior caused more deaths and incidents due to selfies than non-risky behavior. The number of deaths in females is less due to risky behavior than non-risky behavior while it is approximately three times in males. Conclusion: “No selfie zones” areas should be declared across tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths. Keywords: Mortality, no selfie zone, risky, selfie 
 
 Introduction Selfie is a recent phenomenon and was named as the word of the year 2013 by Oxford Dictionary.[1] It is described as a photograph that a person takes of himself (or group) typically using a smartphone likely for the purpose of sharing in social media. Google estimated that 24 billion selfies were uploaded to Google photos in 2015.[2] About 1 million selfies are clicked per day in 18- to 24-year-old demographic. Pew research centers have found that around 55% of millenials have posted a selfie on social media services.[3] Technology has also promoted the phenomenon of “selfie.” There are sites sharing information on “how to have a perfect selfie” and “different poses for selfie.” New terms have been introduced such as koolfie, restaurantfie, musclefie, dentisfie, and many more. Introduction of “selfie sticks” and “selfie shoe” have enhanced obsession among people for selfies.[4] These days the choice of smart phones is based on their selfie picture quality. In addition, there are certain events held at school or college level that promotes “selfies” like the “best selfie” prize. Clicking selfies and sharing them on social media has become a mode of self-expression. People sometimes portray themselves amidst dangerous settings[5,6] so as to gain attention on social media sites. In some cases, this has had fatal consequences. The first time Google search engine got a request for “selfie deaths” in January 2014, when the death of a Lebanonian became the tragic viral sensation after being killed by a car bomb moments after posing for a selfie.[7] Selfies are never reported as an official cause of death. It is believed that selfie deaths are underreported and the true problem needs to be addressed. For example, certain road accidents while posing for selfies are reported as death due to Road Traffic Accident. Thus, the true magnitude of problem is underestimated. It is therefore important to assess the true burden, causes, and reasons for selfie deaths so that appropriate interventions can be made. Previous studies have taken data from Wikipedia and Twitter images, which may underestimate the true number of selfie deaths. Our study incorporates the records from news reports, thus we were able to get a wider range of information related to selfie deaths. Objectives The objective of this article is to study the epidemiology of selfie-related deaths across the globe. Methodology Selfie-related death was defined as any accidental death that occurs while doing self-photography or clicking selfies. Initially, we made an exhaustive list of the English newspapers of various countries using Wikipedia or Ministry of broadcasting of respective countries. We performed a Google search for keywords such as “selfie deaths; selfie accidents; selfie mortality; self photography deaths; koolfie deaths; mobile death/accidents.” The web link addresses of the news from search results were cross-matched with the web links of list of prepared English newspapers of various countries. The results that did not match were excluded from the study. Inclusion criteria Incidents of selfie-related deaths reported in news in English Language The news report links that matched with the list of prepared English newspapers. Exclusion criteria Selfie deaths/mortality was differentiated from deaths due to mobile phones. For example, if a person died while using mobile phone, he was excluded from study. Only deaths while clicking selfies have been considered The news reports in language other than English Duplicates were identified based on date and time of event, location of event, age, and gender of victim. The duplicates identified were removed from the study The news reports that contained statistical articles regarding selfies, opinions regarding selfie deaths, or further research on selfie deaths were excluded from the study. 
 
 Results We report a comprehensive analysis of selfie-related deaths. From October 2011 to November 2017, there have been 259 deaths while clicking selfies in 137 incidents. There have been 3 selfie-related deaths reported in 2011; 2 in 2013; 13 in 2014; 50 in 2015; 98 and 93, respectively, in 2016 and 2017. In one incident with 48 casualities, we were unable to obtain data regarding their age and gender. The mean age was 22.94 years with range from 10 to 68 years. About 72.5% (153) of the total deaths occurred in males and 27.5% in females. Considering agewise distribution, about 50% (106) of total selfie deaths occurred in 20–29 year age group followed by 36% deaths in 10–19 year age group [ ]. Open in a separate window Highest number of incidents and selfie-deaths has been reported in India accounting for approximately 50% of total reported followed by Russia, the United States, and Pakistan [ ]. Except India, the ratio of casualties to incidents is approximately 1, whereas it is double in India. Open in a separate window The causes of selfie deaths along with the respective deaths and incident cases have been elicited in . Drowning, transport, and fall form the topmost three reasons for deaths caused by selfies. The most common drowning incidents include washed away by waves on beach, capsizing of boats while rowing, clicking selfies on shore while not knowing how to swim, or ignoring warnings. Similarly, for transport, it is majorly the accidents due to clicking in front of a running train. Among all the reasons for death, drowning and fire have the highest deaths/incident ratio. Also, most of the selfie-related deaths because of firearms occurred in the United States. Table 1 Open in a separate window We also classified reasons for deaths due to selfie as risky behavior or non-risky behavior [ ]. The incident where it is quite evident that the person took risk to click selfie and lost her life has been classified as risky. For example, getting to a slippery edge of a cliff to click selfie has been marked risky while getting hit by a sea wave on a calm sea and drowning has been marked non-risky. In case of ambiguity (for example, slipping from stairs and getting injured and finally succumbing), a survey was conducted with 15 respondents and majority vote was taken to classify into one of the classes. Risky behavior caused more deaths and incidents due to selfies than non-risky behavior. Our study has shown that the number of deaths in females is less due to risky behavior than non-risky behavior while it is approximately three times in males. is a tree map demonstrating the risky and non-risky behavior in males and females. Open in a separate window Open in a separate window 
 
 Discussion Taking selfies is considered to be a mode of self-expression in today's generation like looking in a mirror. Selfies are well popular among Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest users. It is rewarding for individuals seeing the number of likes and positive comments and this further influences them to post unique pictures which may also involve indulging in risky behavior to click selfies.[8] Our study reports 259 deaths due to selfie deaths in 137 incidents. A significant number of cases are not reported in developing countries, which will also trickle down to selfie-related deaths since these countries grab a major chunk in overall numbers. There has been an exponential increase in the number of selfie deaths from 2014–2015 to 2016–2017. This is because of increased usage of mobile phones, enhanced selfie features on mobile phones, increased availability of selfie sticks, and also promotion of the phenomenon of selfies through events like “best selfie prize.” About three-fourth of selfie deaths occurred in males. A project called selfiecity[9] has established that women take more selfies as compared to men. But because men are more likely to take risk to click selfie as compared to women, it justifies the higher number of deaths and incidents for men. Overall, the total number of casualties and incidents is high for 10–19 and 20–29 age group, highest for latter. Then, it decreases as the age range goes up. It is expected because people tend to be less adventurous as they age. This is evident from the fact that the reasons for casualties in higher age range are animal/fall unlike electrocution/drowning/firearms and so on in younger age group. Drowning and fire have the highest deaths/incidents ratio among all reasons because most of the times the other person who dies in incident is the one who actually got into trouble while clicking selfies. Interestingly, most of the selfie deaths due to firearms occurred in the United States, which could be due to less restrictive gun laws in the region. India has the highest number of selfie-related deaths. One reason that partially accounts for such high share is the world's largest young (age ≤30 years) population residing in India, the age group that has the highest number of deaths due to selfies. Also, our study has shown that the ratio of deaths to incidents is almost double in India, whereas in other countries incidents approximate the number of deaths. This unique feature could be attributed to the reason that trend of group selfies is more prevalent in India as compared to other countries. Selfies take a toll on a large number of adolescents.[7] There have been certain measures taken to reduce selfie deaths such as declaration of certain areas as “No selfie zones.” In Mumbai, 16 areas have been declared as “no selfie zones.”[10] In Indonesia, administrative officials are preparing a safe selfie spot for foreigners and tourists at Mt. Merapi taking into consideration the risk of selfie deaths.[11] In Russia, there are boards and slogans displaying not to take selfies in particular risky condition that could endanger life.[12] Lamba et al.[13] are working on developing an application that will be able to identify when someone is taking a selfie at dangerous situation and thus alert him or her to the possible risk to life. This is based on analyzing the location service and identifying a risky and unsafe location. Although our study has enlisted the largest number of selfie deaths and incidents till date, this is just the tip of iceberg. Many cases are not reported. The limitation of our study was that we included news reports only in English language. Therefore, news reports in local language have been missed. There is no reporting of cases as selfie-related deaths in India. Thus, certain deaths due to selfies may be reported as road traffic accidents or others, which leads to underreporting of a large number of cases. Large-scale use of phone and time-to-time up gradation of phone features have led to increased selfie deaths. Usually the youth and tourists are frequently affected because of the desire of “being cool,” posting photos on social medical, and getting rewards in forms of likes and comments. Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous. Individuals need to be educated regarding certain risky behaviors and risky places where selfies should not be taken. “No selfie zones” areas should be declared across many tourist areas specially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest. 

 As an increasing number of people die due to selfie-related accidents, researchers are calling for “no-selfie zones” at tourist locations across the globe to prevent people from partaking in risky behavior for the sake of the perfect photo. 
 
 According to a new study in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, at least 259 people died from October 2011 to November 2017 while snapping selfies, with the highest number occurring amongst 20 to 29-year-olds — with 72.5 percent being male. 
 
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 The researchers note, “Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous. Individuals need to be educated regarding certain risky behaviors and risky places where selfies should not be taken.” 
 
 In one such example of this risky behavior, a man’s attempt at a selfie in Maryland above the swollen Potomac River nearly turned deadly Sunday when he slipped into the raging waters and had to be rescued by bystanders. 
 
 Earlier this year, a 20-year-old student from India fell to his death while taking photos at a popular ocean cliff tourist attraction in Australia. The young man was posing for selfies when he slipped off the 131-foot precipice and was swept out to sea. 
 
 In England, tourists have been seen on numerous occasions posing atop a dangerous chalk cliff edge 200 feet above jagged rocks at Seaford Head in East Sussex. 
 
 For years there have been calls to install security fences at the top of the cliff to prevent people falling off the sheer drop. 
 
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 Incidents such as these are why researchers deem it necessary to take action. 
 
 “’No-selfie zones’ should be declared across tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths,” the study concludes. 
 
 Fox News’ Travis Fedschun and Janine Puhak contributed to this report.
– A study investigating the increasing problem of fatalities that stem from victims taking selfies in dangerous locales has placed a body count on the preventable tragedy, per the Washington Post. In the study titled "Selfies: A boon or bane?" researchers published findings in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care that estimate some 259 people worldwide perished between October 2011 to November 2017 while attempting to take photos. The study came up with the number by looking at English-language news reports from across the globe. The data was broken down in some surprising ways. For instance, when countries were tallied separately, the data revealed that incidents in India accounted for 50% of all reported selfie deaths, followed in prevalence by Russia, the US, and Pakistan, in that order. Drowning was found to be the most common cause. One such drowning occurred just last month when a selfie-taker plunged 200 feet off a cliff into Lake Superior. In July, a 19-year-old Mormon missionary from Utah suffered a similar fate in Australia. About 72.5% of victims were found to be males and half of all victims were between the ages of 20 and 29. Per Fox News, such tragedies led study authors to conclude there's a need for "no selfie zones" around problem areas including "water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings" in order to warn prospective self-takers of the inherent dangers. "Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous," wrote lead author Agam Bansal. "Individuals need to be educated regarding certain risky behaviors and risky places where selfies should not be taken."