Do you remember the time when it was difficult to take your own photo by yourself? A couple of years back, selfies were not easy to do with film cameras or Polaroid cameras. People back then needed a camera stand or a tripod with a camera timer and the hope that they would get around to where they want to be before the timer would tick off just to have a perfect picture of them. Thanks to the modern and digital era, people invented digital cameras and camera phones. It was in 2000 when the first camera phone was introduced to the market.

This ignited the “dawn of the phone cameras” that is now a very competitive market. Dual camera phones were invented with bigger screens and clearer pictures. Photo sharing was also made very easy in the online world with just one click. Today, people are very engaged in selfies and photo sharing, which has positive effects, because this can also improve one’s self-appreciation and self-expression. As they say, “If you’ve got it, then flaunt it!”

However, there are also people who take selfies to a different level! Just like substances, selfies are so addictive that people started taking selfies almost everywhere, sharing them on social media platforms and overdoing it with their self-expression. There are times that people snap a photo even at the brink of death.

Brace yourselves! Here is a list of some of the selfies that just really went way too far.

15. Perfectionist!

Taking selfies can now be considered as an addiction. Triana Lavey, a talent manager in the City of Angels – Los Angeles, California, wanted to try everything just to look good on selfies. However, filters just did not work out so well for her as it takes a lot of time. Feeling so tired of trying to look good every time she snaps a selfie, she decided to have a plastic surgery that will make her selfie-ready.

She spent a hefty $15,000 for the surgery that included additions to her cheekbones and chin and a good nose lift. She was worried about how she looks on social media, so she changed it. After all, there are haters that will always try to judge someone’s physical appearance. Although this looked like a selfie addiction, she is happy with the result.

14. Lee Thompson’s Public Stunt

Lee Thompson is a known travel blogger and daredevil photographer. One of his unforgettable photos that broke the Internet was his daredevil photo on top of the Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil. Is it life threatening? Yes, it is!

Lee was in Rio covering the World Cup when he received special permission from the tourism board of Brazil to climb the 130 feet iconic statue, but take note, it was inside the statue. There are a total of 12 flights of stairs inside before reaching the top and Lee finished climbing it in about 25 minutes. So, his entire daredevil challenge was legal and just a public stunt. There was even a video showing how he climbed the Christ the Redeemer statue.

13. Daredevil Selfie

James Kingston, another daredevil, just landed a special spot on the list of the most dangerous selfies! He had this goal of having the ultimate selfie ever. James climbed a crane in his hometown at Southampton, just to reach his goal. It was even dubbed as one of the craziest selfies. There were no safety measures or harnesses as he dangled from a crane.

He also has more “ultimate selfies”, as he calls them – selfies and videos climbing up bridges, buildings, Wembley Stadium’s arch, and the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris. He was even able to install cameras on the evening before his climb. Unlike Lee, James’ attempts of daredevil selfies were not legal. In fact, he was taken to a police station and was interrogated. Luckily, he was able to get out with no charges filed.

12. Another Daredevil Selfie

Today’s world has a lot of daredevils. Meet Yaroslav Segeda, a Ukraine resident who was influenced by Lee Thompson’s daredevil acts. However, Yaroslav is the type of daredevil challenger who will freak you out as he was also freaked out while doing his acts. He admitted that he had been worried and freaked out at the start of the climb, but he was always relieved when he reached the top.

It seems that there are many daredevils who take urban climbing to different extremes. Yaroslav has a compilation of every daredevil photo he had and the photos can actually cause vertigo. Also, unlike Lee, Yaroslav pulled off his stunts illegally. These daredevils surely are lucky not being charged.

11. Auschwitz Concentration Camp’s Selfie/s

This is not a daredevil selfie, but an inappropriate one. The Auschwitz Concentration Camp was one of the largest concentration camps from the Holocaust during World War II. Auschwitz was actually comprised of three camps – a prison camp, an extermination camp, and a slave-labor camp. This concentration camp was established by the Nazis in Poland.

Why does it have a gloomy and heart wrenching vibe? Auschwitz was the largest mass murder site in the human history. Jews were delivered to the concentration camp and over 1.1 million were murdered with the pesticide Zyklon B. This was a very horrible part of the human history and just by looking at it, people can almost feel what these innocent people went through. So, it is not proper to smile and take a selfie in this gloomy place. Respect begets respect.

10. Big Bad Bear

Look, the #BearSelfie is on this list. This happened in 2015 when this man and other tourists headed into the woods just to find a bear and snap a selfie. After that, they ran for their lives before the bear noticed them. This was a trend until the United States Forest Service stopped it before someone got hurt.

Bears are predators and they’re overprotective of their territories, too. These are large and strong animals that people would never like to meet, because these can easily tear a human body apart. These are not our cuddly bears at home and the brother bear in the animated movie that will spare a human life. Luckily, the #BearSelfie trend on Instagram already ended because if someone got hurt, there’s no taking back.

9. Running of the Bulls

First, people wanted to disturb the bears. Now, this guy was taking a selfie with a distressed bull. In 2014, the police department of Pamploma, Spain went looking for this man on the photo who caused additional distress to the bulls and additional injuries. The man was also fined a hefty amount for taking a dangerous selfie. Recording devices are prohibited during the running of the bulls on the street.

With selfie or not, people at the San Fermin’s annual Running of the Bulls Festival are not always safe. Although this was a tradition, there are always numerous injuries, and worse, several fatalities since it began in the 1900s. Each year, dozens of people require medical attention after running with the bulls.

8. War Selfie

Although this photo is tad inappropriate, there are some valuable lessons we can learn from it. Looking at the photo, these are young and brave Shi’ite fighters in the middle of the artillery gun fight against the Islamic State militants. First, this war photo is really dangerous as they can be harmed during the firing.

They are young and you can’t blame them. They are young and yet, they are at war. They are not at a bar taking a selfie of their drinks and their party life. They are not on the road flaunting their new car. They are not in their room watching their favorite movie or playing their favorite video game. Most importantly, they are not home spending time with their families. They are young and yet, they are not safe. They need to live their life to the fullest. Maybe, they saw this as an opportunity to snap a selfie while they are still together, not to flaunt that they are brave soldiers, but to treasure this moment that they are still okay.

7. The Floor is Made of Lava

Almost everyone loves the game “the floor is made of lava” and some adult just take this to the next level. This risky photo of a man taking a selfie right next to the bubbling lava just made the Internet go crazy. The background of the photo is Erta Ale, the most active volcano in Ethiopia, Africa. There are several volcanic craters and two lava lakes. With the looks of the lava, this is one of the lava lakes that have been active for decades.

Just recently, the molten lava lake was flowing out of its crater with fissures. The molten lava just filled another crater that needs careful observation because of the tendencies for this to erupt. Although this is too far from the neighborhoods to hurt people, tourists like this man can easily be a part of the molten lava lake.

6. He Made it Through the Fire

While some have selfies with angry animals, others also have selfies with war’s anger. This man was photographed in front of burning oil in the town of Qayyarah in Iraq, near Mosul. The background is like an apocalyptic scene in a movie. This was not just an accident. This was a field that was set ablaze by the Islamic State militants in hopes that the Iraqi forces will stay away.

This was not the only photo that broke the Internet during this time. There were also photos of an air force pilot who was just going to perform an air strike and photos of people dying in violence. In fact, this man’s selfie, although dangerous and way too far, was meaningful.

5. Look, Tornado!

A tornado is a calamity wherein there is a rapid rotation of air between earth’s surface and a cumulonimbus cloud. There are even different types of tornadoes – multiple vertex, land spout, and waterspout. Tornadoes are one of nature’s worst calamities and the damages can uproot trees, knock out an entire building, and even end human lives. Taking a selfie during the tornado formation is just way too risky as the formation sometimes can become so fast. Its strength also varies and no one really knows how long a tornado can last. A piece of advice to the guy in the selfie: get yourselves as far as possible from the tornado formation. This selfie is a big “NO”.

4. Don’t Selfie and Fly!

Do you remember the commercial flight pilot’s selfie where he leaned out the window with a selfie stick while flying the plane? It broke the Internet really hard. But, that selfie was not way too far, because it was just edited and it was really impressive. In addition, why would a pilot of a commercial flight risk his life and his passengers in a totally reckless way to get that selfie perfected?

This selfie, on the other hand, just broke every little rule of flying. One must remember that safety always comes first. What if something went wrong? He could not take it back for sure. So, for all the pilots out there, don’t take a selfie and fly!

3. Selfie Turned Crash

If there was a commercial flight’s pilot who broke the Internet with his edited photo, there was also a pilot who broke the rules and caused a very traumatic incident – a plane crash. In 2014, a pilot of a Cessna 150K in Colorado died along with his passenger in a plane crash. As the pilot flew the plane, he took selfies and texted, which caused him to lose control of the plane. Is there proof of this? Yes, a Go Pro camera was mounted on the windshield of the plane. It may not have captured the plane crash, but it captured the pilot’s previous flights. The footage showed that the pilot and the passenger were snapping selfies and the pilot was texting.

Again, don’t text or selfie and fly. It is too risky.

2. Selfie Took a Student’s Life

Filipinos were deemed as the number one selfie-lovers, as per Time Magazine. Reports say that there were 258 selfie-takers in every 10,000 Filipinos. In 2014, an incident was reported about taking selfies with caution. A 14-year-old student in the Philippines fell off the stairs while taking a selfie with her friend, resulting to multiple head and body injuries. She was taken to the hospital; however, it was too late.

Although it was clearly an accident, responding medical officers said that the teachers and the school staff, in an adrenaline rush, carried the student and rushed her to the hospital that also caused further dislocation. It was reported that the student had a broken rib that pierced her kidney.

The shocking and sad incident will be a reminder that everything, including taking selfies, should always be exercised with proper caution.

1. Selfie Turned into Gun Shot

In 2014, there was also a reported incident in Northern Mexico City that another selfie had cost a life. The man was supposed to be posing for a gun selfie; however, he accidentally pulled the trigger and resulted into a severe head shot. He was still young at about 21 years old. According to the reports, he had been drinking with friends before the accident. The selfie was supposed to be posted on Facebook; however, a mistake took his life. One of his friends was arrested, because of the loaded gun, while another one went on the run.

His Facebook account was full of selfies and photos of him sitting next to alcoholic beverages and cars. He seemed to be fond of sharing his party life on Facebook. Although his selfie was not posted, he will be remembered.