In the 'year of the selfie,' a hot Christmas gift item
Capping off Twitter鈥檚 鈥測ear of the selfie鈥�? An extendable arm 鈥� it鈥檒l perfectly frame a quick self-portrait. A Bluetooth-enabled pole may be the greatest holiday gift that hasn鈥檛 quite caught on this year.
that these poles are popular in Asia and in parts of the UK for taking group shots and action pictures. Poles with Bluetooth , but the price drops without the enabled technology.聽
Celebrity call-outs to the selfie movement marked 2014, a year in which Twitter says the word 鈥渟elfie鈥� was tweeted 92 million times.
Perhaps Ellen DeGeneres first highlighted the need for an extendable selfie pole at the Oscars in March. She gathered stars around her 鈥� including Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Meryl Streep 鈥� but noted 鈥渋f only Bradley鈥檚 arm was longer.鈥� If so, more Hollywood stars could have been in the picture.
In January, The Chainsmokers,聽New York City-based DJs, released a song called #SELFIE, in which a spoken-word audio track . (鈥淚 only got 10 likes in the last five minutes / do you think I should take it down? / Let me take another selfie.鈥�)
According to a , the selfie poles are 鈥渁n invasive species.鈥� One critic asks, 鈥溾�楾his is less awkward than asking a stranger to take a photo for you?鈥欌�澛�
鈥淭heir stick is a loud (and proud) declaration of self-portraiture,鈥� according to the magazine. 鈥淣o covert selfies for them鈥n the cultural war over whether selfies are self-expressive art worth elevating or digital narcissism taken to new levels of ridiculousness, the selfie-stick is a new battle line.鈥�
But is the selfie fanfare more generally starting to fade?
Several times this year, many felt the self-indulgent pictures crossed a moral line.聽
Even in Monday morning's hostage situation in Sydney, Australia, several passers-by took selfies at the occupied caf茅, .聽Many of such posts shared on social media attracted negative commentary.
And a young girl faced intense criticism for taking a selfie in Auschwitz last June. She later tweeted that she did not understand why it was 鈥渟uch a big deal鈥� that she was smiling, the.
called attention to social media images taken at funerals, including one captioned: 鈥淟ove my hair today. Hate why I鈥檓 dressed up #funeral.鈥� In response, , 鈥淎re we losing our humanity?鈥� : 鈥測es, people actually do that.鈥�
Though it racked up millions of mentions, the selfie was absent from聽, which was released last week. The list includes more serious topics, as well as athletic events: the Super Bowl, the 鈥渂ring back our girls鈥� in Nigeria movement, Maya Angelou鈥檚 death, the World Cup, Ferguson, Malala Yousafzai, and the fall midterm US election are among the 鈥渕oments that made this year memorable.鈥�
