A Study Says Selfies Are Officially A Public Health Problem Due To The Amount Of People Falling Off Cliffs And Waterfalls While Taking Pictures For Social Media

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(Source)- Tourism hotspots in Australia offering stunning scenery and natural attractions for selfie takers also risk luring people to their deaths, new research has found. The dangers for social media users are so great that they represent a "public health problem" that requires an urgent overhaul in communicating the risks, said the University of New South Wales study. 

In the leadup to their deaths, victims often climbed over barriers and fenced areas to reach the ideal selfie spot. Signage warning selfie takers of potential dangers was not enough to deter such behaviour and instead social media apps should consider direct messaging users, the report said. 

Pools and other other aquatic locations in Australia offering picturesque images of water and cliff edges were big drawcards for selfie-takers. But they also hold hazards, such dangerous currents, waves, drop-offs, and slippery surfaces that could result in serious injury or even death.

The report called for a public health-style campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of selfie-taking.

When we were warned about how man was going to be taken down by the machines when the internet really started humming back in the day, I figured we would get some sort of cool Terminator robots blowing our brains out or our bodies being used as batteries to power some sort of futuristic AI like in The Matrix. Nope, turns out the mini computers in our pockets causing us to act like lemmings in our never ending quest to cash in some internet points by taking pictures in front of a cool view is the real enemy here.

Now I can't act like I'm not guilty of checking my notifications to see how many times strangers online clicked a heart of a thought I had or a picture I took and have walked into a wall or ten while doomscrolling on Twitter X social media. But it is simply amazing that a species that scratched and clawed its way to the top of the food chain would need PSAs telling them not to stand at the edge of cliffs or waterfalls since the giant signs telling them not to go there were being climbed over and ignored. Darwin must be doing somersaults in his grave right now.

I remember when I was growing up, we were flooded with PSAs about how bad drugs were for you.

Fast forward a few decades and you will see we have a never-ending opioid crisis as well as some of those drugs we were told were bad for us being legalized. So maybe we should look into plan B on how to stop this public health crisis, which I feel like involves building actual photo op spots or nets? There are more questions than answers when it comes to stuff like this but I think we can all agree that it feels crazy that mankind made it to where it is today in the power structure of the animal kingdom after reading a story like this.