It's pretty well mandatory on vacations to whip out the smartphone and click away at the sites you come across in exotic locales. And taking selfies is proof to your buds and family that you were there firsthand to take in all the attractions on full display on your social media account.

That said, those who take the selfie route to dangerous extremes might pay for it in the long run when it comes to their travel insurance.

3 Millennial Respondents

If you get injured while immortalizing your trip on a digital still, the insurance company might void your travel insurance, especially if the images suggest reckless and drunken behavior. That's potentially an additional sting to whatever pain, suffering and extent of medical treatment a hurt vacationer might experience.

A survey conducted in October and released on Monday by the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada has determined that vacation selfie accidents are far more common than previously thought. Roughly 13 percent suffered an injury while taking a picture of themselves in a hazardous situation, with those stats spiking to 18 percent among millennial respondents.

2 Risky Behavior

Even more sobering is a finding from the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, which revealed that worldwide selfie-related mishaps resulted in the deaths of 259 tourists between 2011 and 2017. Drowning was the biggest cause of death, followed by falls, fires and vehicle accidents. The average age of those who died was 23, most of them male.

The medical journal blamed the popularity of cellphones on what it calls risky behavior motivated by the need to be seen as "cool" on social media. It also called for the establishment of areas prohibiting selfies, a measure already adopted by some country. However, the Canadian study found another culprit, citing one in five respondents who admitted to binge-drinking, downing more than five beverages within two hours during their vacations.

1 Common Sense

The Canadian association hinted that common sense while taking a selfie will go a long way towards injury prevention. It also suggested that vacationers take time to decide what type of travel insurance they should carry, given that 26 percent of survey respondents were unsure about what kind of coverage they need.