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www.metroworldnews.com Xxxday, Month Wednesday, August xx, 2013 13, 2014
Deadly selfie: How the self-portrait went extreme Trend. The quest for recognition and fame is driving selfie aficionados to take more dangerous photographs. For the last two years at least, selfies are consistently at the top of internet popularity around the world, but this trend is starting to be dangerous for young people who are looking to excel with more extreme self-portraits. The death of a young Mexican who shot himself in the head by accident while posing with a loaded gun is a clear example. While in the majority of cases selfies are harmless and can be considered a part of the normal response to technological shifts and broad culture in how we communicate, “the problem is that if our views of self are increasingly tethered to how ‘others’ perceive us, this can lead to increased anxiety and vulnerability as well as pull focus from more internal rewarding and stable sources of self-image,” Dara Greenwood, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, Vassar College, told Metro. Christopher Barry, a psychologist from the University of Southern Mississippi, told Metro that “individuals who have unstable self-esteem are more likely to post selfies based on their physical appearance”. In that way, according to a new study by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, ‘selfie’ trend increases demand for facial plastic surgery. In addition to any personal effects, caused by the limited success of post a selfie in a social network, Greenwood considers that “selfies can also end up falling into a form of
No more addiction Dara Greenwood explains how to combat dependence on selfies in four steps: • Leave the phone behind when taking a walk. • Turn it off when meeting friends for lunch or on a hike. • Allocate a smaller window of time for catching up with friends and family each day. • Selfies shouldn’t eclipse other meaningful forms of being human and being social.
Better known as the “Russian Spiderman”, Oreshkin takes selfies from the top of buildings. / KIRILL ORESHKIN
social competition and a way to secure a more high profile or high status role relative to others.” It is precisely this kind of competition which can lead people to seek further more extreme selfies, even risking his or her life. We have recently witnessed selfies that ended in tragedy. The most recent is the case of 21-year-old Oscar Otero Aguilar from Mexico City. A desire to take ever more impressive
selfies of himself to post on social media caused his own death when he dared to pose for a self-portrait with a loaded gun to his head, while resulted in accidentally shooting himself dead in the temple. In another similar case of daring gone wrong, a Polish couple was killed on August 9 after they tried to take a selfie on a cliff in Portugal and fell hundreds of feet. In contrast to the tragedies
Q&A
resulting from the selfies, this type of risky pictures can also represent fame and an income opportunity for some people, such is the case of Kirill Oreshkin, better known as the “Russian Spiderman”, who has achieved a worldwide notoriety thanks to his extreme selfies, taken without any protection from the top of buildings. Although Oreshkin assures that he does it for fun, the young Russian also sells
his images for up to $99 on his website. Indeed, selfies have become a global phenomenon even the most important heads of state such as Barack Obama and religious leaders like Pope Francis have enjoyed. There is no exact number of how many selfies are published daily, but a recent survey by TIME magazine found that Makati and Pasig City, Philippines, is the city with the largest number of published selfies, with 258 per 100,000 people. Even the Oxford English Dictionary named “selfie” as the Word of the Year in 2013. Experts agree that selfies themselves are not dangerous. But when people are proving their self-esteem to be recognized by social media users and risk their lives to make the most spectacular shot, that´s where things become unsafe. Like any trend, selfies can be used both ways – good or bad. Everything is in the photographer’s hands.
DANIEL CASILLAS MWN
Q&A
“ Selfies are becoming a social competition”
this summer!). Many of us live far away from our original and important social ties and so the urge to immediately share experiences and images seems a very basic and understandable motivation to stay connected.
DARA GREENWOOD
Who is more likely to publish selfies? Research has found that people with higher scores on narcissism are more likely to engage in show-and-tell style social media use (posting updates and pictures). This is not surprising given that narcissists are primarily oriented around their own ego, goals and experience. Selfies can also end up falling into a form of social competition (look where “I” was, beat that!) and a way to secure a more high profile or high status role relative to others. However, narcissism is sometimes characterized by a more deep form of anxiety about being overlooked or
Associate Professor Department of Psychology Vassar College, New York state
What’s your opinion on selfies? I think it is important to note the current fad of selfies is at least in part a normal response to broad cultural and technological shifts in how we communicate. Because of social media and the speed with which visual information can be conveyed, posting selfies has become a kind of shorthand for what in the past might have taken the form of a much less frequent newsletter or vacation slideshow (i.e. look what I did
Examples of extreme selfies
undervalued. In this case, selfies may afford temporary or superficial assurance of one’s self-worth, particularly if the pictures are “liked” or noticed in an explicitly positive way online. What might be the dangers related to selfies? If our views of self are increasingly tethered to how “others” perceive us, this can lead to increased anxiety and vulnerability, as well as pull focus from more internal rewarding and stable sources of self-image (being a good friend, enjoying nature, getting immersed in a work project, etc.). When we are constantly viewing ourselves from the outside in, we may lose out on more meaningful forms of social and emotional engagement that come from feeling unselfconsciously caught up in the moment (sometimes referred to as “flow”). INTERVIEW BY DANIEL CASILLAS/MWN
“I’m not going to stop” KIRILL ORESHKIN
Moscow-based extreme selfie taker
When did you fall in love with extreme selfies? I started doing them before I heard the word “selfie”. I have always been climbing onto the roofs of buildings and taking photos. It’s my big passion. I began to take pictures of myself on high points, because, for instance, at the top of spires it’s very difficult to get a shot from the side. So, it was just a solution. It’s very dangerous, I guess. When I first starting doing this in 2011, I was very
With a charging bull Andoni Obregón tweeted a selfie with a beast on the rampage at San Fermin’s Running of the Bulls in Spain.
After a plane crash This passenger, who survived a crash just offshore of Kalaupapa, Molokai in Hawaii, took a selfie to capture the moment.
In a fighter jet A pilot took a selfie while flying his fighter jet.
scared indeed. But fear gradually faded away. As of late, my photographs have become kind of popular, so the public expects more and more from me. And I’m not going to stop! Have you ever had an accident doing a selfie? No, I never had a serious one, because I always try to be very careful. Sometimes security guards of buildings try to stop me. But they only blame my actions on words. What do you think of the notion that selfies reflect narcissism? I’m not addicted to selfie-making. The everyday “taken in front of the mirror” shot is not for me. In truth, I don’t have so many of them, but each one is a work of art. INTERVIEW BY DMITRY BELYAEV/MWN
With a shark This diver did not care that a great white shark photobombed his selfie.
In space International Space Station astronaut Aki Hoshide’s self-portrait won plaudits in 2013.