7/6/2017 India tops in selfie death cases, finds IIIT study | The Indian Express

Home India India tops in sel e death cases, nds IIITstudy

India tops in selfie death cases,

finds IIITstudy
The ongoing research is now focussing on creating a mobile application to
evaluate dangerous selfie-clicking spots and an interactive platform for users
to check such spot.

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Written by Tabassum Barnagarwala | Mumbai | Published:November 25, 2016 3:25 am

People take sel es at a public park in New Delhi (File/AP Photo)

At least 127 people have lost their lives in

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dangerous attempts to click a selfie in the last
two years, of which India has reported the
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pictures on social media platforms. The researchers have studied the reasons of
taking selfies, locations where selfie-addicts are attracted towards to click a picture
and the characteristics of the deaths.
maximum deaths. The selfie-addicted
generation witnessed 76 deaths in the
country. Most were hit by trains or fell from
heights or drowned while clicking selfies.
In a first of its kind study, Indraprastha
Institute of Information Technology, Delhi
(IIIT-D) along with Carnegie Mellon
University in USA went through data over the
last two years from March 2014 till
September 2016. After India, Pakistan came
second with nine selfie-related deaths in two
years followed by USA with eight deaths.
The report Me, Myself and My Killfie,
released this week, shows the increasing
trend of selfies and of uploading those

In 2015, an estimated 24 billion selfies were uploaded on Google, the study showed,
with people in age bracket 18 to 33 most prone to clicking selfies.

In 2014, 15 deaths due to selfies were recorded, which rose to 39 in 2015 and 73 in
2016 globally. Other countries where a large number of people died while
attempting selfies were Russia, Philippines and Spain. The researchers used Twitter
to stream through 1.38 lakh tweets to understand what kind of locations were
dangerous for selfies and reasons why people took them.

Deaths were maximum in cases where people attempted to take selfies at a great
height, and accidentally fell off. The second highest deaths were due to drowning.
In January this year, three girls fell into the sea while attempting to click a selfie
near Bandra Fort in Mumbai. The Mumbai police identified 16 no-selfie zones
subsequently where people were advised to not take their pictures.

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7/6/2017 India tops in selfie death cases, finds IIIT study | The Indian Express

Clicking selfies has become a symbol of self-expression and often people portray
their adventurous side by uploading crazy selfies, the report observed. Other
dangerous locations the report found were near railway tracks and while driving a
vehicle.

The ongoing research is now focussing on creating a mobile application to evaluate

dangerous selfie-clicking spots and an interactive platform for users to check such
spot. It is disturbing that India has reported so many deaths due to selfies, mostly
of children. Through the research, we speculate that ease of technology and
availability of smart phones has led to such an addiction, said Dr Ponnurangam
Kumaraguru, Professor of Computer Sciences at IIIT-D, who authored the study.

The study observed that women take more selfies than men although death was
higher among men. At least 75.5 per cent deaths were that of men who attempted to
take a picture in dangerous locations. Most of the victims who died at dangerous
locations were aged less than 24 year. Selfies have reached a level of addiction in
youngsters. Some have to compulsively take a certain number of selfies every day
failing which they start having withdrawal features like irritability, palpitations and
decreased concentration, said Dr Sagar Mundada, attached with the psychiatry
unit at JJ hospital. The hospital receives over a dozen cases of online addiction
every month from different socio-economic background.

tabassum.barnagarwala@expressindia.com

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