Are Selfie Sticks Actually Illegal?

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - From Disney to the White House, attractions across the country are banning the use of selfie stick.

Other than the death from embarrassment you will no doubt face 30 years from now when you take out the selfies you and your friends, duck pouts on a posed for the camera and get asked: why are you in every single picture you took with that stupid look on your face? You're blocking the Grand Canyon, Gramma—why are selfie sticks being banned, and what's the penalty?

Amusement parks, tourist spots, and other public spaces are banning them because of the danger that selfish tourists might hit other people in the head, drop the stick or the phone from an amusement park ride onto someone's head, or become so distracted by them that the selfie-taker walks into traffic.

There's no law that bans the use of a selfie stick specifically, although reckless or dangerous behavior is illegal whether or not you look like an idiot while doing it, and disobeying an express rule at the White House can lead to legal penalties. If you're visiting a spot that bans the selfie stick, you'll have to rely on what we big haired, Adam ant t-shirt wearing teens did thirty years ago to preserve the moment for posterity—use your arms or ask strangers to take the picture.