Sorry, Selfie Sticks: People Will Have to Take Their Own Photos at Museums

Ah, the selfie stick. A fantastic tool for introverts travelling alone who don’t want to bother someone to take a picture. Of course, that’s not what the selfie stick is being used for—from large groups of people to you and your sweetie, the selfie stick is helping thousands of people get everyone into the shot they want.

However, this isn’t always a good thing. As selfie sticks find their ways into hands of more and more tourists, major sites around the world have been flooded with duelling photographers aiming to get the perfect shot. And now, they’ve found their way into Australian restaurants, bars and even workplaces and school.

But logic has won out, at least among the highest of cultural organisations: the art museum. Australian art galleries—following in the footsteps of US and UK art institutions—have banned the contraption, for the safety of not only the art, but of people in general.

The National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and the National Portrait Gallery have banned the selfie stick, more to protect the reputation of the gallery than anything else, but have actually done so in the name of saving artwork from potentially unrepairable damage.

The Australian Open, as well as European foot games, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Guggenheim have taken similar measures as well.

“From now on, you will be asked quietly to put it away,” Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer at the Met, told the New York Times. “It’s one thing to take a picture at arm’s length, but when it is three times arm’s length, you are invading someone else’s personal space.”

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Information sourced from Mashable.