But First, Let Me Take A Selfie

By Kameron Court

Millennials and selfies go together like Kanye and Kanye’s love for Kanye. The picture-taking technique can be a fun way to show what you are doing, but can also be dangerous.

According to a study by Luster Premium White, 95 percent of millennials have admitted to taking a selfie, and it is predicted each of them could take an average of 25,676 selfies in their lifetime. The survey found members of this generation take about nine selfies a week, investing about 7 minutes per picture. If this trend continues, each individual could spend 54 hours of their life taking selfies.

During those 54 hours of staring at your reflection in a screen, many possible things could go wrong – the end of your life being one of them.

There are now more selfie-related deaths than shark attacks each year. Among people who die while taking a selfie, 73 percent are male, according to Priceonomics.

Travis Dierl, a junior chemical engineering major, said he is less surprised by the fact that selfie-related deaths outnumber shark attacks than by the predominance of males among victims.

“I would have thought more females would take selfies than males,” Dierl said.

According to Selfie City, Dierl is correct about girls and women taking more selfies in general, but boys and men are twice more likely to take risks, according to Priceonomics.  The main cause of death by selfies is falling from heights; drowning comes in second.

“Wow, that’s really dumb,” said Cullum Morgan, a junior finance major from Allen, Texas, upon learning about the common causes of selfie-related deaths.

Ryan Aylor, a sophomore finance major from Allen, Texas. Gif by Kameron Court.

Ryan Aylor, a sophomore finance major from Allen, Texas. Gif by Kameron Court.

Eric Hesson, a senior petroleum engineering major, said he assumed the most common cause of selfie-related deaths would be car accidents, but after seeing the data, he said it makes sense.

“Guys are the ones that probably do the, like, crazy stuff,” Hesson said. “Like, ‘Oh, I’m going to climb a building and take a selfie.’”

Ryan Aylor, a sophomore finance major, said he was a little surprised by the statistics, but thinks the people who died were most likely using Snapchat filters.

“They had to,” Aylor said, “because that’s the only way dudes are taking selfies.”

Check out the graphic below and click on this interactive ThingLink to discover more selfie videos!

 

 

About JOUR 4350

JOUR 4350 is the multiplatform news delivery class, which is the capstone class for journalism majors within the College of Media & Communication.