As We See It

Kill shot: Selfies killed more people last year than Mount Everest

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Statistically speaking, selfies are more deadly than Mount Everest. In 2015, the narcissistic self-shots claimed 28 lives—30 fewer than bee stings, exactly as many as skateboarding and 11 more than the mountain with an actual Death Zone.

To put it in perspective, sharks killed eight and vending machines killed two last year, verifying the viral claim that selfies are in fact more deadly than sharks (and, apparently, snack robots). Erotic asphyxiation dwarfed other accidental deaths with 625 cases, but kink is old hat. What’s new and perhaps more disturbing is an uptick in people willing to risk their lives for an Instagram post.

Attempting to quantify the phenomenon, economics website Priceonomics combed three years of news archives to find 49 reported cases of death by selfie since 2014. The study found that the average age of a selfie casualty is 21, which makes sense considering that 30 percent of photos taken by 18- to 24-year-olds are selfies—the highest percentage of any age group. What is surprising is that although women take far more selfies than men, men account for 75 percent of all fatal ones, maybe because they’re more willing to put themselves in dangerous situations for a cool shot.

Though ranked the world’s 20th most-popular place to snap a selfie by Time, and the fifth-best American city for selfies by MyLife, Las Vegas (thankfully) did not appear on the Priceonomics list.

Of the fatalities identified by its study, 16 were caused by falls from heights, 14 by drowning, eight by train, four by gunshot, two by grenade, two by plane crash, two by car crash and one by animal, when an unfortunate selfie-taker was gored through the neck during Spain’s Running of the Bulls. A Cessna pilot killed himself and his passenger when he lost control of his plane while snapping pictures, and two Russian teens blew themselves up while posing with grenades.

The overwhelming majority of selfie tragedies take place in India. That’s attributed to the country’s high number of drowning incidents per year, a fatal combination of common flooding and citizens who can’t swim (yet somehow have the urge to take selfies near water). Of the 49 deaths since 2014, 40 percent (or 19) occurred in India, contrasted with seven in Russia and five in the U.S., followed by Spain and the Philippines with four each and Portugal and Indonesia with two each.

Considering how photogenic Las Vegas is—Bellagio is among the world’s most-photographed landmarks, and we even rank the best nightclub bathrooms for selfies (congrats, XS)—it’s a relief Vegas isn’t making news for these gruesome stats. Look before you click so we can keep it that way.

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