Nine days ago, a 17-year-old girl lost her life while trying to catch one of its fleeting moments in a selfie with friends at Marine Drive.
She is not the first who got so engrossed in getting the perfect frame that she had no thought to spare for her safety. A wave crashed on the parapet, dragging her into the raging waters on a high-tide day.
Even before ‘selfie’ was declared Word Of The Year by Oxford Dictionary in 2013, the phenomenon had laid a large effect on a whole generation.
The arc of the selfie plot saw many high points as celebrities began democratising it through social media, got many followers.
The Mumbai police even urged citizens to be alert through tweets. On June 28, they tweeted #SafeMonsoonTips: “Don’t make ‘taking a selfie’ mean ‘taking your own life’.” Last year, it was #SafetyBeforeSelfie: “Selfies prohibited as no one wants you dead’
Across the globe, India has witnessed far more selfie deaths than any other country between March 2014 and September 2016, says a collaborative study, Me, Myself and My Killfie: Characterising and Preventing Selfie Deaths, by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Delhi. Of the 127 reported selfie deaths, 76 happened in India.
Speaking about the psyche behind this fad, clinical psychologist Salma Prabhu said, “The craze is indeed too much, not just for youngsters, but also adults. Capturing an element of thrill and posting immediately on Facebook, Instagram or SnapChat is the mantra. The number of views, likes, loves, wows, RTs and followers are important. Comments fill up the vacuum of self-esteem. No one wants to be left out.”
Technology relentlessly reinvents the craze. Manufacturers release phones specifically designed to click the ‘perfect selfie’. Props like selfie sticks bolster it. “It’s great, except that we get too excited and take undue risks. The number of likes is of no use if you are dead,” said Prabhu.
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