If you’re thinking that’s a bit overblown, think again. Not only the relatively minor issue of having someone’s selfie-stick stuck in front of you (or in your eye) but the danger to the subject of the selfie who may be oblivious to the dangers around. Government on nearly all continents have taken it seriously enough to issue warnings.
How dangerous? Well…
- In Texas this week, a 19-year-old clowning with a gun and a selfie stick managed to shoot himself with both. The gunshot was fatal
- In Yellowstone National Park, the National Park Service issued warnings after five separate incidents of selfie takers being gored while getting too close with bison
- Two Russians in a Ural Mountain town died taking a selfie of themselves pulling the pin from a hand grenade—they may have been surprised when it actually came out.
- In Moscow, a young woman fell to her death while posing hanging from a bridge.
And those are just a few of the examples; unfortunately, by now most of us have seen someone acting foolishly for a selfie, with or without a stick.
Oh, and the picture above? Possibly the ultimate selfie, although because of preparation, it’s a much safer one than standing next to a charging bull. It’s Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide, flight engineer, using a digital camera for a photo of his helmet visor during an International Space Station mission’s third session of extravehicular activity (spacewalk, to the rest of us).
