The Pros & Cons of the Selfie Stick!

The selfie stick.

I’ve gotta confess that I never thought I’d get one.

You see, despite the fact that selfies are a daily self-care practice for me, I like to be subtle about it. Selfie sticks seemed a little too bold for me.

None the less, as someone who teaches and works in the medium of selfies, I felt like I needed to try it. Plus, I was about to head to teach at a retreat for teens and knew that it was something they’d have fun with.

As it turns out, I had a blast using it an my perspective has changed a bit. But there were some clear pro’s and con’s of using one of these tools, and I thought I’d share them with you.

I think there are some pretty divided opinions on this new trend. When shared about it on Instagram it was one of those moments when a handful of people immediately unfollowed me. I think people have lots of feelings about selfie sticks!

But none the less, they are becoming more common and I think we need to chat about them.

So, what do you think about selfie sticks? Do you have one? Would you try one?

It so happened that I was also about to go on a bit of an epic trip back to where my family is from, Latvia, and then a solo stop in Paris. I knew that I likely wouldn’t bring the selfie stick out in Latvia (as I doubted it was really the culture of selfie taking there yet and I was right) but knew that 100% it was coming out to play in Paris.

So I’ve been playing around with the selfie stick for a month now and thought it was time I shared with you both the good & the bad about the selfie stick!

Pros:

A Wider View

One of the criticisms of selfies is that its all about ourselves, that selfies are all about us taking photos of our face. Of course, selfies are so much more than just arm’s length photos too. What I dig about the selfie stick is that it becomes not just about ourselves but our surroundings too.

With selfie sticks, from the outside it still might look that way but within the frame its not. We get more of the world around us in it. We get more room for our friends or the people around you in it. It actually becomes less about us and more about our context.

Above you’ll see an example of the difference a selfie stick can make in terms of the amount of area surrounding us that can be in the photo.

A definite pro for the selfie stick that you might not know about unless you try one.

Different Perspectives of Ourselves

While mostly I find that people are using a selfie stick in the same way we’d take an arm’s length selfie, reaching in front of them and upwards, there is actually a lot more possibility than that using this tool. Like the above photos, it helped me get the Eiffel Tower in the photo with me!

• Try reaching to the side and getting a profile shot
• Or getting a shot from above looking down at you
• Or experiment with taking a foot selfie reaching down with your selfie stick
• Try aiming upwards at yourself too

Just like taking selfies in general, there isn’t just one way to take a selfie. Try taking a bunch of different perspectives of you using a selfie stick and you’ll get quite different photos than you would trying the same things at arm’s length!

Cons:

Safety

As you may be hearing, selfie sticks are getting banned from a  lot of concerts and events. When they are fully extended, they really are quite long. I totally get why this could be a problem especially within a crowd!

But the truth is many people using them aren’t using them within a crowd. Just the other day I saw a lady in her 70’s in the park using one. Lots of people have them.

So rock your selfie stick if you have one and yes, be careful in a crowd. But I say don’t let that stop you, just use the basic consideration that you normally would when taking a photo. Maybe don’t bring it to that concert but do bring it out when hanging out in a park or a place where you have lots of space.

Stability

This is where I find the selfie stick super challenging. The longer I’d extend it, the more I felt like it was getting shakey, that my hand was getting shakey holding it out there. And I could see that lack of stability in the photo too.

Some selfie sticks (even the super cheap one I got) have a shutter button near the handle so you can click it to take the picture. At other times I set up the Gorillacam app that I’d normally use when taking a selfie beyond arm’s reach and let it take a bunch of photos at once.

The good thing is that we can use the selfie stick without extending it fully and still get a change in perspective but you’ll find your photos are likely more stable.

Subtlety 

The selfie stick isn’t really subtle. In reality, it’s not supposed to be! But many of us do like to keep our selfie taking subtle.

But if we follow the same intuition we normally do around taking selfies and find spots where we’ll feel comfortable taking a photo, the selfie stick will feel more comfortable to use. I felt SO comfortable using my selfie stick at the Eiffel Tower as so many people were (and it was the new thing that people were walking around selling, yelling ‘Selfie Stick, Selfie Stick’…for reals) but in other situations where I want to keep it more subtle I might take a different kind of selfie.

Trust your selfie intuition. Rock the selfie stick when you feel like it (even if no one else is using one) and know that there are other kinds of selfies you can take in the moment if you’d like something more subtle!

Should you should get one?

If the idea of using one excites you, go for it. If not, don’t worry…there are so many other ways to take a selfie. I think whatever tools will help us have fun taking selfies.

Will I use mine often? Just like with tripods I tend to go without them and find spots to put my camera or phone down to take the photo, but I think every so often I’m going to bring the selfie stick out for fun.

There really are a tonne of selfie sticks out there and because I wanted to experiment with it, I got the cheapest one I could at a pharmacy but I do feel like it won’t last too much longer (especially with travels) but it’s a great way to just go for it and try it without a big investment. Amazon has tonnes of selfie sticks to choose from in that range.

But if you’re looking for a sturdier, longer lasting selfie stick the My Selfie Plus Selfie Stick is one I’m excited to try. Gorillapod makes one too that looks pretty amazing. You might also see them called Monopods as well, though Monopods have been a one legged tripod for cameras in the past (and the selfie stick is the phone camera version of it these days).

So, what do YOU think about selfie sticks? Have you tried one? Would you try one? Are you having a blast using it? Do you have any other tips to share?