I’m sure that if you are reading this blog, that you are experienced enough with the internet to know what ‘selfies’ are. For those of you that landed on this article, yet for some reason don’t know what I’m referring to, a ‘selfie’ is a picture that you took of yourself with the camera on your cellphone. You likely have seen these pictures before and didn’t realize it. It’s the one that usually looks like the picture was taken from above the person, with their arm outstretched to get ‘the right angle.’ Often times they are of people in mirrors in bathrooms, which I have always found to be a little weird. Of course, as one comedian pointed out, if there is more than one person in the photo, it no longer is a selfie, and instead has crossed into the realm of an ‘ussie.’
Selfies seem like a safe thing to do, but in actuality, they can make a dangerous situation much more dangerous. In fact, 12 people have died in the last year from taking selfies. Per Mashable:
Four of the selfie deaths this year, like the tourist, identified as Hideto Ueda, were caused by falling.
The next leading cause of deaths involving selfies was being hit or injured by trains, either because the individual was taking trying to get a photo with a train or because the photo they wanted involved getting on dangerous equipment.
It’s not clear if the number of daredevil selfies is increasing, but more and more tourists are making headlines because of their dangerous attempts at a memorable photo. Parks have closed because visitors keep trying to take selfies with bears, bull runs — an already dangerous activity — have had to expressly outlaw selfie-taking, and even Tour de France cyclists are concerned about selfie danger.
The article tries to put selfie death rates into perspective by comparing them to shark attack related deaths, of which there were eight. This of course led to many, many cannabis supporters pointing out that no one has ever died from consuming marijuana, and that therefore marijuana is safer than selfies. And shark attacks for that matter. My friend Russ Belville wrote a wonderful article for High Times that listed a bunch of things that marijuana is safer than. Check it, and remember, be careful when taking selfies. Instead of taking selfies on ledges of tall buildings, maybe wait until you get back on the ground level, load a bowl, and then take a selfie of yourself consuming the finest plant on this earth. Just a thought.
