From Snapchat to Twitter to Instagram, the biggest craze everywhere is to click a perfect selfie. Everyone from your favourite stars to even your parents seem to try their best to grab the flawless angle. June 21 is celebrated as National Selfie Day in United States of America and everywhere people are coming out armed with their smartphones to share their perfect selfies with the right filters to mark this day. DJ Rick McNeely is credited with initiating the Selfie Day in 2014.
It is undoubtedly the time to celebrate with pics and hashtags on social media. But do we really need a Selfie Day? Think about it! Since it has become a global rage especially among the teens, there have been hazardous incidents too that are forcing us to rethink about celebrating the time of taking selfies.
Why we need a No Selfie Day?
According to US data released in 2016, India has the highest number of people who have died while taking selfies. Deep down we think that the act is a bit narcissistic, but rarely do we consider them to be dangerous. There has been reported selfie deaths which gives more insight into this depressing phenomenon on the whole.
Mumbai seems to be particularly dangerous for people taking selfies. In 2016, the city brought in a ban on clicking selfies in 16 zones after rising number of selfie-related deaths. Anyone going into the ‘off-limits areas’ of Mumbai, even if they are not taking photos, are fined Rs. 1,200. News reports of selfie-snapping related tragedies are dime a dozen. The latest death, ahead of Selfie Day 2018, was when a 33-year-old woman from Delhi died after falling into a 500-ft deep valley while taking selfie at Matheran, a popular hill station in neighbouring Raigad district, Maharashtra.
Today, selfies are everywhere. Award functions to research in academia, not to forget the Facebook walls and Twitter feeds is full of our friends and celebrities clicking the perfect angle. But such increasing fatalities while perforing selfie stunts make us think if there is an actual need to celebrate Selfie Day.
We are also tired of seeing so many selfies on our news feed and it would be great to take a break from them. Snapping a pic with friends is not really harmful; but our obsession to click the perfect one shouldn't make us forget about the value of our own lives. And this is why we need a No Selfie Day.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2018 10:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).