With the two-week long Coachella Music Festival just ten days away (wristband activation is available online), a notable prohibited item this year will be “selfie sticks.”
Under their festival info and Frequent asked question (FAQ) section, they recently released this list (full list here):
Lollapalooza joined Coachella as well by saying they will not allow “GoPro attachments like sticks, selfie sticks & monopods.” In an article originally by Brooklyn Vegan, these were the only 2 named festivals so far to lay out this enforcement.
Complaints about the use of selfie sticks became apparent in 2014. In reference to Coachella's use of the world “narcissism” with the selfie stick enforcement, this jokingly comes from the association of selfie sticks with the terms “narcisstick” or “wand of narcissus.”
Because of their distraction and inconvenience to other festival-goers, a ban on selfie sticks has been regulated and under debate for some time. In 2015, Soundwave Festival in Australia became the first to put a ban on them because of their help to illegally record sets. We'll have to see if more follow their lead. Selfie sticks have also been banned in many museums and sporting events. Most notably, The National Gallery in London banned them to help, among other things, “the overall visitor experience.”
