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In 2018, a global study revealed that 259 people died while trying to take a selfie at extreme places between 2011 and 2017.

259.

It doesn´t sound like a big number at the first thought. After all, there are thousands of people who die in car accidents each year. But a car accident is something that sadly can´t be fully prevented. A death caused by trying to find the "perfect" picture can. People are climbing on high buildings and pose on the edge or on cliffs or with guns. All these things got people killed. And for what? For likes and followers.

Two days ago, I saw the movie "Assassination Nation". A really weird movie, with a really absurd plot and some really strange moments. It´s about a small town in the US where some people suddenly get hacked by an annonymous person and their secrets are revealed online for everyone to see. This has huge consequences for the people; one kills himself, the other looses his job and such things. Some guy then says that a girl called Lilli is the hacker and the whole town decides to kill her and her three best friends (yeah, I know. Seems very far fetched, doesn´t it?). But they survive and in the end, it turns out that Lilli´s little borther had been the hacker. He gets arrested and at the very end of the movie, his parents ask him why he had done that, he just answered: "Hm, well, for the likes.".

This was something that really struck me hard, even if the rest of the movie defenitely was far away from a thought-provoking masterpiece. I mean, let´s think about that: "For the likes.". It almost seems like this is the answer to almost everything these days.

Why did you harass that person on Twitter? For the likes.

Why did you promote this clothing line? For the likes.

Why did you defend this person´s oppinion or didn´t do so? For the likes.

Why did you post that certain post? For the likes.

Why did you climbe on top of the Empire State Building and balanced on the reilling while taking a selfie? For the likes.

"For the likes."- people are killed by this. No matter whether it is by taking a selfie at a dangerous place, or by suicide because they were harrassed on the Internet or because they crashed their car into a tree because they tried to comment on Instagram while driving.

We all want to be appreciated and respected by other people. Social Media and the Internet increased that need even more because suddenly, we all have access to millions of other people. The more followes we have, the more we crave getting even more and the more the pressure rises to please those we already have. So we go for extreme measures like taking very dangerous selfies (or how the movie displayed it: by hacking other people and reveilling their secrets). And why? Ah, yeah, for the likes.

Where is this supposed to lead?

The study from 2018 also revealed, that the number of deaths due to a selfie is strongly increasing. In 2011, there were only three reports of selfie-related deaths. In 2016, there were already 98. And the number may be much higer since not every incident is reported as death caused by a selfie. For example, certain road accident while posing for selfies are reported as death due to road traffic accident.

If we need to go greater and greater length for getting the attention we want to get, where does that leave us in a few years? How far will we go for the "perfect" picture or the most likes?

The answer is: probably much too far.

Are likes and followers something that it is worth to die for?

I don´t think so.

Likes. Followers. That shouldn´t be things that are so important in our lives that we are willing to risk our lives for them. The fact that already 259 people needed to pay the highest price for these things only shows that they are already far too important. These people should have never felt the need to go that far to just "get noticed". In the end, it´s not worth it. All their likes and followers didn´t save them.

So, to all the people out there who think they have to do something dangerous or extreme just to get respected in this world, I say: please don´t do it! The price is far too high and in the end, it will never be worth it. No matter how extreme your selfies are, you will never get the amounts of likes and followers your crave. It´s like a drug: the more you get, the more you will want. It´s a hole that just keeps growing. You can´t fill it. Especially not by putting your life at risk for such a silly thing as a selfie. No amount of followers or likes is worth your life.

There are so much more importanr things than followers and likes. Lifes is something far too precious to treat it so carelessly.

We shouldn´t forget that.

-TheUnknown-

Description

In 2018, a global study revealed that 259 people died while trying to take a selfie at extreme places between 2011 and 2017.

259.

It doesn´t sound like a big number at the first thought. After all, there are thousands of people who die in car accidents each year. But a car accident is something that sadly can´t be fully prevented. A death caused by trying to find the "perfect" picture can. People are climbing on high buildings and pose on the edge or on cliffs or with guns. All these things got people killed. And for what? For likes and followers.

Two days ago, I saw the movie "Assassination Nation". A really weird movie, with a really absurd plot and some really strange moments. It´s about a small town in the US where some people suddenly get hacked by an annonymous person and their secrets are revealed online for everyone to see. This has huge consequences for the people; one kills himself, the other looses his job and such things. Some guy then says that a girl called Lilli is the hacker and the whole town decides to kill her and her three best friends (yeah, I know. Seems very far fetched, doesn´t it?). But they survive and in the end, it turns out that Lilli´s little borther had been the hacker. He gets arrested and at the very end of the movie, his parents ask him why he had done that, he just answered: "Hm, well, for the likes.".

This was something that really struck me hard, even if the rest of the movie defenitely was far away from a thought-provoking masterpiece. I mean, let´s think about that: "For the likes.". It almost seems like this is the answer to almost everything these days.

Why did you harass that person on Twitter? For the likes.

Why did you promote this clothing line? For the likes.

Why did you defend this person´s oppinion or didn´t do so? For the likes.

Why did you post that certain post? For the likes.

Why did you climbe on top of the Empire State Building and balanced on the reilling while taking a selfie? For the likes.

"For the likes."- people are killed by this. No matter whether it is by taking a selfie at a dangerous place, or by suicide because they were harrassed on the Internet or because they crashed their car into a tree because they tried to comment on Instagram while driving.

We all want to be appreciated and respected by other people. Social Media and the Internet increased that need even more because suddenly, we all have access to millions of other people. The more followes we have, the more we crave getting even more and the more the pressure rises to please those we already have. So we go for extreme measures like taking very dangerous selfies (or how the movie displayed it: by hacking other people and reveilling their secrets). And why? Ah, yeah, for the likes.

Where is this supposed to lead?

The study from 2018 also revealed, that the number of deaths due to a selfie is strongly increasing. In 2011, there were only three reports of selfie-related deaths. In 2016, there were already 98. And the number may be much higer since not every incident is reported as death caused by a selfie. For example, certain road accident while posing for selfies are reported as death due to road traffic accident.

If we need to go greater and greater length for getting the attention we want to get, where does that leave us in a few years? How far will we go for the "perfect" picture or the most likes?

The answer is: probably much too far.

Are likes and followers something that it is worth to die for?

I don´t think so.

Likes. Followers. That shouldn´t be things that are so important in our lives that we are willing to risk our lives for them. The fact that already 259 people needed to pay the highest price for these things only shows that they are already far too important. These people should have never felt the need to go that far to just "get noticed". In the end, it´s not worth it. All their likes and followers didn´t save them.

So, to all the people out there who think they have to do something dangerous or extreme just to get respected in this world, I say: please don´t do it! The price is far too high and in the end, it will never be worth it. No matter how extreme your selfies are, you will never get the amounts of likes and followers your crave. It´s like a drug: the more you get, the more you will want. It´s a hole that just keeps growing. You can´t fill it. Especially not by putting your life at risk for such a silly thing as a selfie. No amount of followers or likes is worth your life.

There are so much more importanr things than followers and likes. Lifes is something far too precious to treat it so carelessly.

We shouldn´t forget that.

-TheUnknown-