Precious lives lost just for a picture

Selfie Obsession

But first, let me take a selfie.This is what one says before the start and end of every affair.No marriage,conference or picnic is complete without a selfie. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bitten by the selfie bug. He prefers to wind up his high­ profile meetings with a selfie picture.

  Nothing wrong in recording a memorable event. But the selfie addiction has taken a dangerous turn of late. In a bid to freeze a moment, people are throwing caution to the winds. The other day a youngster almost lost his life while taking a selfie with a train steaming behind. He was so absorbed in his crazy thing that he ignored repeated warnings of passengers on the railway platform in Hyderabad. Call it guts or bravado, he stood his ground holding the mobile at arm's length even as the train thundered into the station. "Just a moment", he is heard saying before the train hit him.

  This is not a solitary incident. Sometime back there was this news of a woman tourist taking a selfie with her kids standing precariously on a rock only to go down in a flash into the swirling waters of the Nagavali river in Odhisha's Rayagada district.Precious lives lost just for a picture. How sad ... and foolish. Looking for unique and unusual angles while taking self-portraits in scenic locations is claiming lives almost every day. This mania has turned into a global phenomenon. And an end to the selfie syndrome doesn't appear to be in sight

  Perhaps it is the sign of the times.Superficiality, selfishness, selfies and self-destruction are the guiding principles in this age. And the crazier you get the better it seems to be.Thanks to the growing celebrity culture everyone wants to show off and indulge in self-gratification. This is the age of brevity where a tweet receives more attention than a considered piece of prose. Everything is programmed for WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram with download, upload and sharing becoming the buzzwords. Most of our time is consumed in tweeting and updating our status. In such a scenario if selfies go horribly wrong, no wonder.

  The main culprit appears to be the front camera on the mobile device. While the rear ones show you warts and all it is the front camera which gives you the option to showcase yourself in the best way possible. Taking risks is okay, but one must be realistic.The problem is that most of us are crazy and don't pretend to be anything else.

 J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The New Indian Express

Dated February 22,2018