This Year, Selfies Are Deadlier Than Sharks

With the recent death of a tourist at the Taj Mahal, 2015's selfie-related death toll sits at 12—compared to just eight people who have been killed by sharks this year, Mashable reports. "It sounds like a joke, but unfortunately it isn't," writes Cailey Rizzo. The two main ways selfie-takers were killed this year: falling or getting hit by a train. Among the consequences of the daredevil selfie craze: landmarks and events have started banning selfie sticks or selfies entirely, a park shut down because of people taking selfies with bears, and, as Conde Nast reports, the European Union even proposed making certain types of selfies (those containing a landmark) a crime.

Russia's Interior Ministry even instituted a campaign warning of the danger of selfies, Reuters reported earlier this month. Al Jazeera has a picture of the ministry's leaflet, which actually includes the lines "A cool selfie could cost you your life" and "A selfie with a weapon kills." Says an aide to the interior minister, "Before taking a selfie, everyone should think about the fact that racing after a high number of 'likes' could lead him on a journey to death and his last extreme photo could turn out to be posthumous." (More selfie stories.)