The Chinese women who took selfie shots and posted it in Sina Weibo were criticized by netizens for becoming so obsessed with their body image. Taking photos of an iPhone covering their knees, A4 paper covering their waists and a pen underneath their breasts are indicators of a dangerous trend of females in China becoming so concerned with their physical shape.
However, there is one more dangerous trend involving mobile phones which majority of people around the world engage in. But the danger lies not so much in taking a selfie but the location where the self photo shoot was done.
One perfect example is a 19-year-old Chinese girl who was hit on Saturday by a train in Guangdong Province while taking photos of flowers, herself and the passing train. The South China Morning Post reports that the victim was one of half dozen people taking photos of blooming roses at a railway crossing in Liantang Village, located at the Nanhai District of Foshan City.
The girl was posing near the rail with flowers in the background. According to Sina.com, she waited for the train to approach so the coach would be included in the photo. The train driver apparently noticed her and blew the train’s whistle to warn her she is too close to the tracks.
However, she did not budge and preferred to get the perfect shot, only to be hit by the train and thrown from the tracks. Her “picture-perfect” selfies are now circulating online, but the victim did not live to appreciate it because paramedics declared her dead at 1:34 p.m. when they arrived at the tracks.
She is not the first victim of a speeding train hit while taking a selfie. Employees at Xiaotang Hospital in Nanhai said that similar accidents have occurred in the same spot several times. According to Digital Trends, in 2015, there were more people who died from selfie accidents than shark attacks. Twelve people died last year from selfies, while only six from shark attacks, said George Burgess, director of shark research at the Florida Museum of Natural History.