Selfies are killing us: How they become a worldwide danger

Selfies have become a matter of life and death — and no, that's not just an exaggerated pronouncement from your Instagram-obsessed teen.

In recent weeks alone, selfies have been credited with saving at least one Michigander, and blamed for killing a 32-year-old woman who fell to her death while visiting Pictured Rocks in the Upper Peninsula as she took photos near a 200-foot cliff.

New research identified 259 other deaths worldwide in the past six years related to selfies, of which more than a million are taken a day. 

"Everybody is trying to be somebody on the Internet," said Norman Irvin, a 28-year-old Detroiter who regularly posts selfies on his various Facebook accounts. "You take a picture of yourself, your crew, and hope you get a few likes. The more dangerous the selfie, the more likes you get."

As a result, he said, people try to do extra getting a pic next to a Tiger or bungee jumping off a bridge.

His riskiest selfie ever: A snap while on a Cedar Point roller coaster.

Some selfie stats

A paper, "Selfies: A boon or bane?" published this summer in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care ​​​​​​warned that selfies are increasing leading to injuries and deaths, and the number of deaths, especially among adolescents, is on the rise. 

Moreover, the study said, "death by selfie" isn't an official cause, and so these fatalities are difficult to count. The global study also only looked at reports in English, and at accounts in which a selfie was taken so the true magnitude of the problem, the paper added, is likely higher.

Most of the deaths, 72 percent, were men — and attributed to risky behavior.

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Causes of death included: getting hit by a moving train, being washed away by waves on a beach, capsizing in a boat while rowing, burning in a fire, being shot, electrocuted, attacked by an animal — and, as in Michigan, falling off the edge of a cliff.

The average age of those who died: 23. 

Last month's death in Michigan, which was witnessed by two kayakers, was not included in the study. 

The word selfie, the study said, dates back to at least 2013, when the Oxford Dictionary named it as the word of the year. Selfies have been taken everywhere, including by astronauts in space.

Google estimated that 24 billion selfies were uploaded to Google photos in 2015, and other research found 55% of millennials have posted a selfie on social media.

In fact, the study said, selfie picture quality is a mobile phone selling feature.

The selfie has spawned a host of selfie neologisms, apps and inventions to help take them. The selfie shoe, for instance, has a pocket to hold your phone while you lift your leg, giving you more reach than using your arm to snap a pic. 

In terms of where selfie deaths occurred, more than half of them — 159 — were in India. The United States was third, with 14, just after Russia, with 16. India, the study said, had the highest number of deaths partly because the country has a high number of people younger than 30, and because selfies in India are especially trendy — even more so than the United States.

In June, the Indian website scoopwhoop.com published several photos of people taking selfies under the headline "13 Types Of Selfies You Can Only Take In India Because It Probably Won’t Happen Anywhere Else." Among the images: A man posing with a cobra, a guy with a burning car, and folks in front of oncoming trains.

In addition to dangerous selfie poses, experts also warn that posting selfies also may inadvertently expose people to other dangers: identity theft, cyber bullying and, for the selfies in bad taste, potential disqualification from school and work opportunities.

Dr. David Rosenberg, the chair of the Wayne State University psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, said this technology certain can be "a good servant" by enhancing quality of life, but it also tends to be a "cruel and crippling master."

Still, not all news about selfies is bad, and the new selfie study offered a potential solution.

Selfies for good 

Some institutions are tapping into the popularity of selfies to try to do good.

Oakland University, for example, used a selfie booth — a set up where folks could have their photos taken with funny hats and props — to boost attendance and liven up a big campus meeting that otherwise might have been rather dull.

Even the university president got in on the photo taking.

"The power of the selfie is incredible," said Brian Bierley, media relations director of the Rochester Hills university. "Everybody likes to get their picture taken. The line was wrapped around the room. It rivaled any food line."

And early last month, a Michigan woman, Juanita Branch, credited a selfie with saving her life.

She updated her Facebook page with a fresh selfie and then noticed "something wasn't right" in the images. So she took a closer look in the mirror and realized one side of her face was drooping, and went to the hospital.

It turned out, she was having a stroke.

"I'm gonna stop making fun of people who take selfies," Fox 2 Detroit quoted Branch saying after doctors treated her in time as a result of what she initially saw in the digital images. "That selfie literally did save my life."

To keep people safe, the selfie study concluded that folks need to be educated about the dangers. It also urged that areas where folks are at risk, especially tourist areas, be declared and marked as "No Selfie Zones."

They likely would include cliffs, tall building overlooks and places close to water.

Some countries have already done this. In Russia, the study said, there are signs and slogans warning of the dangers of selfies. In India, selfies are prohibited in 16 areas in Mumbai. And in Indonesia, officials are setting aside spots for tourists that are selfie safe. 

"Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous," the study said, cautioning that "although our study has enlisted the largest number of selfie deaths and incidents to date, this is just the tip of iceberg."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

Selfie slang

The rise of the selfie — a digital photo of yourself that is taken with your mobile phone, usually one-handed — is tied to the technology, according to a new study that looked at selfie-related deaths worldwide.

New terms also have been coined: koolfie, restaurantfie, musclefie, dentisfie, belfie, chestie, dronie and many more.

There are websites dedicated to "how to have a perfect selfie” and “different poses for selfie.” There also are selfie sticks and selfie shoes, devices that will extend the reach of your phone so you can get a better photo. There are even selfie contests.