You’ve seen them. They are everywhere. People looking at a cell phone on a stick. What they are actually doing is taking photos of themselves. Here are the top ten reasons:
- 10. Germaphobia. You can’t stand the thought of anyone else touching your cell phone.
- 9. Halitosis. No one will know how bad your breath is.
- 8. Ignorance. You never realize how stupid you looked taking a photo of yourself.
- 7. Xenophobia. You don’t have to ask strangers to you to take your photo.
- 6. Envy. They might have a better cell phone than you.
- 5. Paranoia. They might be spying on you.
- 4. It the newest Minnesota State Fair sensation – cell phone on a stick.
- 3. Narcissism. You have too few pictures of yourself.
- 2. More narcissism. You just like taking photos of yourself.
- 1. Even more narcissism. You have to be in all your photos.
Although selfie sticks appear to be a relatively recent invention, they were actually either invented in Japan or on QVC in 2006. More recently, sales of selfie sticks have taken off and they were listed in Time Magazine’s 25 best inventions of 2014. See The Short History of the Fast-Selling Selfie Stick and Exactly Where Did the Selfie Stick Come From? for more details.
Selfie stick from a 1995 Japanese catalog of useless inventions.
All About Images Blog 
Hopefully this isn’t a repeat comment that I made earlier but we saw these all over Italy in Sept. Not sure if the people were selling them to tourists or renting them. We resisted but I did just buy one..haven’t tried it out yet but as stupid as I may look..lol..I am often here with just one other person..a grandchild usually and I thought it would be fun to do some group selfies!!
Glad you got one, Jenn! The other options for the family photographer are: a tri-pod and camera with timer (too bulky and time-consuming); being left out of the photos (now that’s just sad!); asking someone else to take the picture, thereby omitting them from the from the finished product, (see above) perhaps by saying, “Pardon me, but I am here, too, would you mind taking the next shot?”, which just might also be interpreted as somewhat narcissistic! 🙂
I ordered 5 for gifts, but do not have one. I think it would be great for photos with grandkids!
Last year was the first time I have seen them in Asia. As Jenn wrote you might think you look weird using one of these monopds.
However remember some years back, you would have said the same about just making a picture with yourself, now we simply call that making a selfie 😉
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