The 'ultimate selfie' that's claimed 480 lives continues to draw tourists despite tragedies
Many think of deadly animals like sharks or lions as the dangers they'll need to look out for on their travels, yet studies have shown that you're far more at risk of death when taking a selfie than many of the typical sources of anxiety.
With the rise of the internet and social media, there's never been a greater need to take pictures of yourself and share them with the world.
Whether it be a photo of your outfit, snaps of an event you attended, or memories of your friends and family, almost everybody across the world regularly takes pictures to commemorate any and every occasion.
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Some of the most popular selfie spots are famous landmarks though, as there's just something about getting both yourself and a recognizable view in the frame at the same time, proving that you really were there to all your followers online.
Unfortunately, stats have shown that this can be a dangerous endeavor, with over 480 selfie-related deaths occurring in the last decade and a half.
This seemingly hasn't deterred some from continuing to take the risk in the name of a good photo though, as accidents continue to resurface.
As reported by Yahoo! Life, it's indicated that between 2008 and 2024 as many as 480 fatalities have been linked to the activity of taking a selfie, and many have been detailed in a comprehensive Wikipedia entry.
These range from touching a life electric wire after climbing a tree to falling over 80 feet down a waterfall, and it's frank devastating to see what happened to so many people that were simply trying to take a nice picture.
The Grand Canyon in Arizona is known for it's fall-related fatalities, and while the exact number is difficult to know for sure, at least two confirmed deaths at the national park have been linked to people taking a selfie.
There's also cases of individuals being run down by trains because they're so focused on the photo they didn't even know it was coming, and this has led the city of Otaru in Japan to hire security guard around a tourist-favored spot because of repeated incidents.
Most accidents appear to involve either falling from significant heights or drowning, as it's often the shock of not realizing the dangers that you're in that leaves you unable to recover from an accident.
It's certainly something to think about next time you're snapping a picture of yourself in an Instagrammable place, as being aware of the dangers and hazards surrounding you could save yourself from an entirely unavoidable accident that was not worth it for the photo it produced.