Wanna a better selfie? Get a selfie stick
Selfies at tourist attractions are nothing new. But until recently, if you wanted a

perfectly composed picture of yourself with a landmark in the background, you might have

asked a passer-by to take the photo.
Now, though, relatively new gadgets called selfie sticks make it easy to take your own wide-angled self-portraits or

group shots. Fans say the expandable rods, which allow users to hold their cellphones a

few feet away, are the ultimate convenience. No more bothering passers-by to take

pictures. No more fretting about strangers taking lousy shots or running off with a pricey

iPhone.
But some travelers bemoan the loss of that small interaction that came with politely

asking a local to help preserve a memory. And critics express outright hatred of selfie

sticks. They see them as obnoxious symbols of self-absorption. They even have a derisive

name for them: narcissi (nar-sissy) stick.
Sarah Kinling of Baltimore said she was approached "17 times" by vendors

selling intergrated

selfie stick at the Colosseum in Rome.
"They're the new fanny pack. The quickest way to spot a tourist," she

said. "The more I saw them in use, the more I saw how much focus people were putting

on selfies. And not turning around to see what they were there to see."
When Kinling wanted a photo of herself with her sister and sister-in-law, she asked

strangers to take the shot.
"Even when the other person didn't speak English, you hold your camera up and

make the motion and they understand," she said.
But some travelers say it's better to stage your own vacation photos. Andrea

Garcia asked a passer-by to take her photo in Egypt and later realized he'd zoomed in

on her face, cutting out the pyramids behind her.
"I couldn't really be mad at him. He wasn't my photographer, I didn't

pay him," she said.
The experience made her appreciate the selfie sticks. She sees tourists using them at

1 World Trade near her office in New York's Lower Manhattan. "Take control of

your image!" she says.
Selfie sticks are just starting to show up at attractions in the U.S. But they're

found in many destinations overseas, from Dubai's skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, to the

Eiffel Tower in Paris. A soccer stadium in London, White Hart Lane, has even banned them

because they obstruct other fans' views.
The Four Seasons Hotel in Houston just started making them available to guests,

"similar to the way many hotels provide umbrellas," said hotel spokeswoman Laura

Pettitt.
The sticks range in price from $5 to $50. Simpler models merely grip the phone. So

users must trigger the shot with a self-timer on the camera. More sophisticated versions

use Bluetooth technology. Or they connect the phone to the stick with a cord. A button on

the grip triggers the shot.
The mobile phone with camera can be mounted on a

selfie stick with

light by securing it tightly to the phone holder. After ensuring adequate lighting,

the telescopic pole of selfie stick holding the mobile phone can be positioned at a

desired length and angle placing the camera close to the lesion [Figure 1]. The camera has

autofocus which focuses the lesion and the lesion can be seen clearly on the screen of the

smartphone, without getting closer to the patient, or the lesion can be magnified by the

user while examining or the image of the lesion can also be clicked from a distance of one

meter [Figure 2]. Then the mobile phone mounted selfie stick can be brought closer to

examine the lesion further. Also, the clicked images can be saved for subsequent

examination. Besides, when the undersurface of scrotum or any other inaccessible part

needs to be examined, the mobile phone camera mounted on a selfie stick can be used in

selfie mode. It is also possible to examine oral mucosa using a selfie stick. To examine

oral mucosa and for dental examination, the patient is instructed to retract the buccal

mucosa with a mouth mirror and guided to turn his head slightly to the opposite side of

retraction to enhance the view of the oral cavity. Then with the help of mobile phone

camera mounted on the selfie stick complete examination can be performed [Figure 3].
Love it or hate it, 2015 has been, without a doubt, the year of the selfie. Whether

you were standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, meeting the cast of "Mad Men" or

showing off your new haircut, everyone across your social media platforms knew exactly

what you were up to in 2015. And with the invention of the now somewhat notorious selfie

stick in 2014, it seemed that the selfie is, for better or worse, here to

stay.  
Notorious might be a bit of a stretch, but a device that started as a harmless tool to

help over-share vacations has snowballed into a near-controversial issue, with selfie

sticks increasingly banned around the world for reasons that range from safety to privacy

to just plain obnoxious behavior. Walt Disney World's ban on selfie sticks earlier

this year was probably the most publicized, but it is just one in a long list of landmarks

and tourist attractions doing the same.   
The selfie fad started humbly in 2010 when Apple introduced the iPhone 4 with the

front-facing camera, inspiring people to snap self-portraits and broadcast them across

their social media platforms.
Today, the practice has mushroomed into a full-on phenomenon as tourist attractions,

city streets, national parks and landmarks are packed with travelers memorializing their

self-portraits in front of the world's destination icons.
As of June, it was reported that 300 million selfies had been posted to Instagram to

date, according to DMR (formerly Digital Marketing Ramblings).
And that doesn't even take into account SnapChat, Facebook or Twitter.
The selfie stick, an extendable metal rod to which one can attach a smartphone,

revolutionized this fad by making it easier for users to capture themselves at wider

angles beyond the reach of one's arm. Some of the latest models are even equipped with

remote or Bluetooth controls that enable the user to better time photographs. But if

you've traveled anywhere in the last two years you're probably quite up to speed

on this phenomenon because, let's face it, they are everywhere.
The ubiquity of selfie sticks has met with mixed reviews. While they are, in fact,

sweeping the globe (more than 100,000 selfie stick ring light had been sold as of December

2014, according to Bloomberg News), not everyone is a fan.  
A spokesman for Disney said of Walt Disney World's decision to ban selfie sticks

from its theme parks around the globe, "The main reason we did this is because it has

become a safety concern for guests and cast. Even though they were never allowed on roller

coasters and rides, people would still bring them in."
"They shot photos while riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with sticks,"

the spokesman said. "We had to stop the rides and take time to reload and get them

going again. It was a big safety issue for everyone on the ride. That was the reason we

made that decision."
The ban became effective in the U.S. on June 30 and at the international parks on July

1. Selfie sticks are, however, still allowed in Downtown Disney and at Disney hotels and

resorts.
Disney has been far from alone in the fight against selfie sticks. The Coachella and

Lollapalooza music festivals banned the devices this year, as have Beijing's Forbidden

City, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, all of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the Sistine Chapel,

Versailles, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in London and

all sports stadiums in Brazil.
"Banning selfie sticks in [Brazil's] stadiums began as a gradual process in a

couple of cities and states," said Joao H. Rodrigues, U.S. & Canada Media Relations

executive in charge of the international promotions for the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism

and the Ministry of Sports.
"Local police, in charge of security at the stadiums, realized that people could

be injured by selfie sticks, either by accident or during fights,"  Rodrigues

said. "Fast forward a few months and now all soccer stadiums in the country have

banned them."
Selfie sticks are also not allowed during most Carnival parades and, most recently,

the organizers of Rock in Rio announced that they wouldn't allow anyone to bring

selfie sticks to the concert grounds.
In places like national monuments, theme parks and museums it is understandable that

hordes of tourists toting 2-foot-long metal rods could gum up the works.
Not only do they disrupt the aesthetics of otherwise picturesque photo ops, they

present safety and privacy issues.
London's National Gallery issued a statement banning



separate self filling light as part of its promise to protect paintings, copyrighted

materials, individual privacy and the overall visitor experience.
In other places around the world, the ban on selfie sticks is more widespread and

extreme, as people have gone above and beyond in an attempt to out-selfie their fellow

followers on Instagram and Facebook, suggesting that the selfie craze is reaching

ridiculous levels.   
In July, the Russian Interior Ministry revealed a brochure highlighting selfie safety

tips; according to Tass, Russia's news agency, at least 100 people were injured in

2015 while taking selfies, and 10 people died.
"The guide entitled 'Take Safe Selfies -- A Cute Selfie May Cost You Your

Life' aims to minimize the number of selfie fatalities and stop the dangerous selfie

trend," Tass reported.
Similarly, Lake Tahoe felt it had to go so far as to ask visitors to refrain from

taking selfies with bears. As if it were not abundantly obvious, the destination has had

to spell out specifically that having one's back to the animals presents a safety

issue, a clear indication that common sense flies out the window in the name of out-

selfie-ing Instagram and Facebook followers.
South Korea banned the selfie-stick nationwide last November, although since then the

government has limited this ban to sticks that use Bluetooth technology because, according

to the country's radio management agency, the sticks might interfere with other

devices using the same radio frequencies and therefore are seen as "communication

devices."
Still, despite the bans, despite rising safety issues and despite overall questions of

common sense, folding selfie stick portable are as

prevalent as ever. The public will not be denied a quality selfie, and photophile

suppliers are only too happy to feed the frenzy.
In December 2013, Turkish Airlines released a YouTube video ad called "Kobe vs.

Messi: The Selfie ShootOut," in which Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi engage in an epic

battle of selfies。
The spot, which was voted "ad of the decade" by YouTube as part of its 10th

anniversary celebrations, has drawn 142 million views to date.
In fact, many travel brands -- hotels in particular -- are capitalizing on the selfie

trend as a marketing and promotion tool, realizing it can be a brilliant promotional

strategy since guests who show themselves having wonderful experiences offer priceless

free publicity by inspiring their friends and family back home to have similar

experiences.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants noticed the volume of guests posting selfies at Kimpton

properties: at the pool, the beach, at Wine Hour and even hundreds of #RockTheRobe selfies

in its signature animal-print robes.
"We love the 'selfie movement' because it gives us a glimpse into what

people love about the brand and what they are experiencing and feeling at our

hotels," said a Kimpton spokesperson.
"Next, we wanted to find a way to reward people for continuing to post and share

these moments with us."  
In order to make the selfie experience easier, the brand has been hosting an ongoing

social contest built around selfies and has stocked every hotel with selfie sticks, which

are available for guests to borrow from the front desk. Using the hashtag #AdoreTheSelfie,

participants post a selfie and are automatically entered to win an array of prizes.
Similarly, the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, Calif., has an

Indulge Your Selfie promotion: Guests are given a loaner selfie stick upon arrival and are

encouraged to tag themselves around the property with a variety of hashtags.