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Selfies Now Kills More People Annually Than SharksBy Jennifer Booton | July 6, 2016 The Great White shark used to be one of the most effective killing machines on the planet—or so we thought. Nowadays, the act of taking a selfie or getting the perfect shot while traveling is proving far deadlier.The development of front-facing cameras on smartphones and growth in popularity of social media sites, such as Instagram, have created a culture that values risk-taking when seeking the perfect shot while traveling. In the hiking, traveling, backpacking and extreme sports worlds, that often means putting oneself in dangerous situations, such as slacklining between canyons, standing on cliff ledges, climbing trees, or pushing beyond boundaries.Two travelers reportedly died in different instances in Peru recently while standing too close to the cliff ledge when posing for a photo. Last week, a 51-year-old man died when losing his balance at the edge of a cliff at Machu Picchu, in an area closed off to the public. He fell 130 feet. Prior to that, a South Korean tourist fell in northern Peru while taking a selfie at the Gocta waterfall, one of the tallest waterfalls in the world. He plunged more than 1,600 feet.There have been dozens of deaths related to tourists taking selfies in recent years, according to Condé Nast research. Last year, Condé Nast Traveler pointed out that the selfie now claims more lives than shark attacks — and that’s just the widely-reported cases involving tourism.
I just consider that thinning the herd.
