Iranian Museums Ban Selfie Sticks

Museums across the country have imposed bans on using selfie sticks for taking photographs, said the director of National Museum of Iran.

Generally, selfies are not merely tolerated, but also encouraged. Art museums, travel agencies and hospitality centers long ago concluded that selfies help visitors give free publicity to attractions.

“However, it is one thing to take a picture at arm’s length, but using a stick three times an arm’s length in a museum filled with valuable artifacts is a hazard,” IRNA quoted Jebre’il Nokandeh as saying.

“Not only that, you may encroach on someone else’s personal space,” he added.

Iranian museums are not alone in their anti-selfie stick stance, as leading museums and art galleries worldwide have considered banning selfie sticks.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston banned the sticks long ago.

Earlier this month, a woman at a pop-gallery in Los Angeles’ 14th Factory lost her balance while trying to snap a picture with a selfie stick, crashing into a pedestal that started a domino effect and knocked down a row of pedestals.

The selfie stick originated with a Canadian inventor named Wayne Fromm who took out a patent in 2005. With the arrival of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the stick spread like wildfire throughout the world.