Here are 15 places around the world where your selfie stick is no longer welcome
A couple poses for a selfie in Seoul, South Korea.
Leave your selfie stick at the door.
That’s the message from a growing number of museums, galleries, sporting stadiums and music venues around the world in response to the now ubiquitous extension pole favored by selfie-loving smartphone photographers everywhere.
From the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to the National Portrait Gallery in the Australian capital of Canberra, the selfie stick, otherwise known as the “wand of narcissism,” has been put on the list of prohibited items alongside umbrellas, backpacks and sharp objects.
“From now on, you will be asked quietly to put it away,” Sree Sreenivasan, the chief digital officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 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.”
The popularity of the selfie stick has been driven by the selfie craze gripping social media-savvy smartphone users around the world. The articulated pole enables them to take self-portraits or group shots without their arms getting in the way.
But not everyone is a fan.
It’s not just the “obnoxious factor” that has people annoyed by the selfie stick. There are also real safety concerns — for people and priceless works of art.
"We can confirm that selfie sticks are banned on matchdays at Emirates Stadium,” a spokesperson for English soccer club Arsenal was quoted as saying.
“The club's ground regulations prohibit any object that could be used as a weapon or could compromise public safety."
A spokeswoman for Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., said selfie sticks were banned to “preserve the safety of the artwork and the visitors who come to enjoy it.”
The list of places that have banned, or are seriously considering banning, the selfie stick is growing.
Here are 15 selfie stick no-go zones.
1. Hermitage, Amsterdam
2. National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
3. Museum of Modern Art, New York City
5. Some British Premier League soccer clubs
6. South Korea has banned the sale of unregistered selfie sticks.
7. Palace of Versailles near Paris will introduce a ban "within a few weeks."
8. The Getty Center, Los Angeles
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10. Many British music venues
11. Art Gallery of Ontario is considering a ban.
12. ZoukOut dance music festival, Singapore
13. National Gallery of London
14. Ultra Music Festival, Miami
Sergi Alexander/Getty Images
15. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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