Monthly Archives: July 2015

If you’ve spent any time on social media this week, you might have noticed a disturbing new trend – people who deliberately get sunburns in ornate and visually interesting patterns. A quick internet search of the term “sunburn art” would have you thinking that hundreds of people are risking dangerous sun exposure every day. However, when you really start to examine #sunburnart on Twitter and Instagram, it turns out that many of the pictures are photoshopped, accidents, or jokes. There only seems to be about 10-15 real examples of sunburn art – hardly a “sensational” trend. In fact, one of the most shared pictures is a clearly photoshopped image from an 11-year-old Onion article. But while sunburn art is not as big a problem as some media outlets may have you believe, it’s at least helping to spread the word about the dangers of sun exposure. Put simply, every time you get a sunburn, you increase you risk of skin cancer.