I can’t believe I am typing this, but I guess Selfie Sticks are kind of acceptable.  I try and fight the good fight against excessive vanity, vapidness and Kardashian whoreness that has influenced a whole generation of young people that make me worry what next is in store for society in the next half a decade or so.

I finally saw the need for a Selfie Stick when we went on vacation earlier this year and we had to ask a stranger to take photos for us.  Sometimes it’s your expensive $3000 DSLR+$1500 lens that you are handing over.  Sometimes and more then often in this day and age, it’s your smart phone that you’re handing to a stranger.  We are trusting complete strangers to take photos for us and not run away or worse, drop your phone.  So now, let me tell you a story Once upon a time ago…………..

One December in the early 2000s I went out with my best friends for a Christmas dinner as it was our annual tradition.  We would get dressed up and go to a nice dinner and take pictures because that’s what young girls do because we are young, dumb and vain (though not as bad as girls are today) when we are in our 20’s.  Luckily, most of us grow out of it.

In some respects, its nice to be nostalgic and have pictures of ourselves growing up and nice to have pictures to look back on, because one of those friends passed away a few years ago.  As we got older we stopped doing this and don’t have any photographic recollection of some of those events where we got together ever happening.  I’m not saying you should take a picture of every time you see eachother or every meeting you have, but the special occasions are nice. With life getting so busy we don’t see each other as often as we did, so it’s nice to have photos to capture those auspicious occasions of happy days.

So one snowy December alittle over a decade ago,  I handed my then boyfriend’s digital camera to a stranger who took some pictures for us. She handed it back to me and it was in my hand, but as she walked away and the strap (a neck strap, sooo it was long) was still around her wrist and yanked the camera out of my hand and it landed on the ground but still attached to her wrist.  We both froze, and my stomach dropped when I picked up the camera as she slid the strap off her wrist, the point and shoot’s lens was fully extended but smashed, kind of like a Mad Hatter Cake.  She akwardly ran away quickly as I stood in shocked and dreading how I was going to explain that the camera was destroyed.

What do you say to someone who was doing you a favour who accidently destroys your property?  Nothing.  You swallow it like a bitter pill and learn your lesson and write blog posts like this, warning others of the dangers of handing your camera over to a complete stranger to satisfy your vainess or need for a photographic record of an event.

Yup, that camera was completely and utterly destroyed, absolutely unfixable.  This was in the early 2000s, so naturally small handheld P&S digital cameras even though it was like 3 mega pixel were very expensive as in like almost $1000.  I had to buy that boyfriend a new camera because I by extension broke his original one. It sucked large because I ended up spending $1000 on a digital camera to replace the one I borrowed, and I still didn’t have my own camera at the end of the day.  Naturally to this day, I have a little anxiety handing over my camera or phone to someone to take a picture for me.

This is where Selfie Sticks come in handy and your vacation or special occasion photos aren’t weird, looking like it was a vacation of only a few people who actually went rather than the whole party. Couples know this as, usually there only a few photos together but lots of solo photos of your SO or you that make it seem like it was a solo vacation. Or you end taking selfies with your arm and have your bodies crammed uncomfortably in the shot (neck crammed up) but can’t get the background of where you are on vacation so the picture still sucks.  People with families know this since it’s a pictures that look like a single parent family vacation with only mom OR dad and the kids but rarely with both parents/everyone.

So for the sake of having sorrowful vacation pictures, Selfie Sticks ain’t so bad. However like many things in life, a small percentage of people have ruined a (kind of) good thing for everyone by not using common sense or decorum.  So if you have a Selfie Stick, please don’t be an idiot and make public perception of all other people with Selfie Sticks look like idiots too just because the only thing you have in common is having a Selfie Stick because you want great pictures.

When used responsibly Selfie Sticks can be fun sometimes because you get random photobombers and people who are complete strangers who like their presence and don’t shy away. They do have an odd ability to shake up a crowd of strangers because for some reason, most people have 5% inner Kardashian in them and like having their picture taken.

All in all, Selfie stick aren’t so bad because they allow you to capture those precious moments and have the ability to create a fun environment without putting your camera/phone at risk of being broken or stolen.  They should however be used responsibly.  What I mean is don’t be that idiot that we hear about on the news that used a Selfie Stick on a rollercoaster and died or worse hurt other people.  Or don’t be that pervert that uses it to look up ladies skirts because if you do, I will go on the news and tell people how you have always been a weird creeper.

Remember, enjoy responsibly and…………..don’t forget to smile. 😉