Are We Letting The #Selfie Trend Get in the Way of Significant Human Experiences?

#SELFIE is now the biggest trend among the youngsters. Selfies have been popular on social media. there are more than million photos with #selfie that you can find on Instagram,Facebook and Twitter. We are all at it. ''The selfie is Revolutionarising how we gather autobiographical information about ourselves and our friends'',says doctor Mariann hardey. It is about continuously rewriting yourself. It is about presenting yourself in the best way.

Although photographic self-portraits have been announced since 1839 it was until the invention of the compact digital camera that the selfie boomed in popularity. Look around yourself, we guarantee that everyday,you will at least catch a bunch of people taking a picture of themselves with camera and their smartphones. Infact it has become such a popular sight ,that we have started calling it the ''selfie culture''. The world is basically now divided into two, you have people who are in love with the whole selfie thing,and the other who totally ridicule it. Fact is, you cannot ignore it, like it or not like it. Selfies have been at the heart of the latest technological development in the world of mobile devices such as the HTC One, Oppo N1 ,Gionee E7 are all example of devices that are made keeping the selfie trend in mind. The popularity of the term selfie attributed to the rise of social networking websites. It was around 2005 and with Myspace that selfie started gaining popularity. Apps such as itismee, Instagram and social networks like Twitter have been equally responsible for propagating the selfie culture and taking it to viral level.

 Here are different types of selfies by celebrities,politicians, etc.

1. The Kissing Selfie

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ftfzMOJuhII/hqdefault.jpg

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2.The Presidential Selfie : Even President Barack Obama loves the selfie.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1747596.1396816483!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/481845847.jpg

3.The Famous Friends Selfie :  Ellen's famous friends Oscar selfie nearly broke Twitter.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/12/article-2579252-1BFB3A0800000578-855_634x347.jpg

4.The No Makeup Selfie

https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/jfc18/files/2017/05/nomakeup-selfie-viral-trend-2mtqtbi.jpg

5.The Shirtless Selfie

http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/angel-coming/ashley-parker-shirtless-workout-selfies-04.jpg

“Clicking selfies has become a symbol of self-expression and often people portray their adventurous side by uploading crazy selfies. This has proved to be dangerous,” the study said, adding that the trend has become “so disastrous that during the year 2015 alone, there have been more deaths caused due to selfies than shark attacks all over the world.”

The data show an increase: more than 73 people died while taking extreme photos of themselves in the first eight months of 2016, up from 39 in 2015 and 15 in 2014. The most deaths (76) occurred in India. Eight fatalities occurred in the United States.

The most common type of “killfie” involved people falling from buildings, mountains, cliffs or other extreme heights. Water-related photos were the second most dangerous scenario and 24 incidents involved multiple lives lost. In one example, 10 youths on a boat in a lake India tried to take a selfie when the boat tilted; seven people died.The researchers addressed the importance of developing preventive measures to reduce future risk. Technologies like location tagging, so users could be warned in advance about dangerous locations when they get ready to take a hazardous photo or that would temporarily disable a smartphone’s selfie function are options, according to the report. Education campaigns and public policy programs are also thought to be effective ways to help people recognize dangerous behavior, like establishing no-selfie zones in areas where the threat is high. For example, Mumbai police, the report noted, recently classified 16 zones across the city as selfie free.

“With the growing trend of dangerous selfies, it becomes important to spread awareness of the inherent hazards associated with people risking their lives simply for the sake of recognition on a virtual forum,” the report said. “This work is a small contribution towards making the world safer, by making the people aware.”

Last year, no-selfie zones were also established in certain areas of the massive Hindu religious gathering called the Kumbh Mela because organizers feared bottlenecks caused by selfie-takers could spark stampedes.