This was published 9 years ago
Selfie sticks: They're not such a bad thing
The selfie stick: A helpful tool or a sign of the coming apocalypse?Credit: Getty Images
I own a selfie stick. There you go – I said it. I'm out and proud.
Actually, it's not really a selfie stick. I like to refer to it as a "monopod", which is basically a much cooler name for a slightly cooler version of a selfie stick. People even mistake you for a photographic professional when you have a monopod. No one's going to do that with your selfie stick.
Still, my monopod does pretty much the same job as the travel (and, it turns out, music) world's newest and most despised accoutrement: I use it to take photos of myself. Or, more frequently and even more embarrassingly, I use it to take videos of myself.
What is the world coming to, you might wonder, as you stand in a beautiful, far-flung location and watch moronic tourists extending their "wands of narcissism" to capture a shot of themselves mugging for a Facebook profile shot.
Isn't it enough to just see these places, and maybe even attempt to capture their beauty with a standard photo? Do you really need to have your own head in there as well? Everyone already knows you were there – you took the snap.
And those would be reasonable points of view. But there's a case for the defence of the selfie stick. And I – gulp – am going to make it.
What happens if you're travelling by yourself? OK, you don't have to appear in every single photo. But it might be nice to have at least some record of what you looked like while you were on this grand adventure. For posterity's sake.
You could bug other tourists to take photos of you. You could hold your phone up and capture a photo of an enormous head near a small cultural icon. Or you could extend a little stick you pull out of your bag and snap a few quick photos that might actually look good.
Slide it back in your bag, and you're on your way.
A selfie stick doesn't have to be all about narcissism, either. It's also great for capturing group shots when you don't want someone to be left out because they're holding the camera. Everyone gets together, someone extends the selfie wand, and you've got yourself the perfect snap.
There are other times, too, when one of those extendable sticks can come in handy. Going skiing or snowboarding? Now you can get great shots in action.
Want to take a photo of yourself but include all of the surrounding scenery as well? The selfie stick is your friend.
Lost in a crowd of people? Use your selfie stick as a periscope. Raise it, with phone attached, above the sea of heads so you can check out where you're going and how you're going to get there.
I use my selfie stick – sorry, monopod – mostly with a GoPro rather than a phone, to get those great action shots that you're never going to achieve by holding a camera out at arm's length. The wide-angle lens on the GoPro pretty much ensures that you'll capture what you're attempting to, even if you're pointed in slightly the wrong direction.
You can stick it out of car windows, hang it over cliffs, extend it into trees… It's actually a really useful tool, even if you do end up looking like, well, a really useful tool.
There's another, less likely benefit of the selfie stick too, one that people who don't own one should really appreciate: it's managed to lend some sort of travellers' cred to the regular selfie. Remember those?
While everyone used to scoff at the idiots trying to capture their own faces in front of famous monuments, the selfie takers are actually kind of cool now. They've forgone the need for a big obtrusive stick and are just doing it the old-fashioned way: by extending their arm out.
Selfie takers used to be the height of narcissism, the social outcasts of the travelling world. Now, however, they appear weirdly restrained.
So you can at least thank my selfie stick – sorry, monopod – for that.
What do you think of the selfie stick? Handy travellers' tool? Or a sign of the coming apocalypse?
Email: b.groundwater@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater
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