After three visitors died at the Grand Canyon in eight days, two of which were caused while they were taking photos of themselves, authorities are reminding people of the dangers of “death by selfie.”
SERIES OF DEATHS AT GRAND CANYON | Officials at the Grand Canyon National Park are warning tourists 🚧 of safety risks after 3 deaths in 8 days — https://t.co/3fz4UcLODC pic.twitter.com/0OoFFyDKRm
— News4JAX (@wjxt4) April 6, 2019
The phenomenon of people putting themselves at risk while taking photos has been on the rise as smartphones and social media grow in popularity around the world. A recent study found that over a recent eight-year period more than 250 people have died while taking selfies.
Between 2011 and 2017, at least 259 people around the world died while attempting to take selfies, according to recent study. Here’s a story by @PaulRogersSJMN about how an Israeli teenager fell to his death in Yosemite while trying to pose for a photo: https://t.co/rAXsD7VTA7
— Jaclyn Cosgrove (@jaclyncosgrove) April 5, 2019
While the number of people killed is not huge compared to other causes of death, it is definitely more of a problem in certain countries and is more statistically significant than other dangers that worry tourists, like death by shark attack.
Selfie deaths:
India beats every other nation by miles.pic.twitter.com/7p2PWsHeAv
— manav (@manavjivan) April 7, 2019
There’s even a new word to describe the phenomenon: “selficide.”
Selficide: the deadly new addiction https://t.co/lZRryXh2Ae pic.twitter.com/fV8IMyaGgb
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 23, 2019
While there has been some moral outrage in the media about selfie deaths, or selficides, some are reminding us that it can’t all be blamed on narcissism and modern technology since tourists have been falling over the edge of the Grand Canyon for as long as people have been visiting the natural wonder.
Been happening for much longer than the recent past. There’s an excellent book that accounts the history of deaths at the Grand Canyon, worth checking out pic.twitter.com/gIV4tJ7wvI
— Jeff (@deserthiker8) April 5, 2019
