Are you concerned by the number of people visiting tourist attractions wielding selfie sticks? And do you grow tired of the number of selfies appearing on social media sites? You’re not alone.
A backlash against selfies is afoot. Disney DIS, +0.65% , which celebrates its 60th anniversary on Friday, is cracking down on selfies. This month, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland followed last month’s move by Disney’s U.S.-based theme parks by banning selfie sticks. The Sistine Chapel in Italy and Palace Museum in Beijing also recently banned them. The Coachella music festival in California, which took place in April, and the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, which begins on July 31, banned them too. In fact, Coachella’s rules state: “No Selfie Sticks/No Narcissists.”
Read: Selfie sticks and 5 other things banned at Disney resorts
These venues may be doing these selfie-lovers a service. There is a dark side to people who constantly share photos of themselves online, an increasing body of research suggests. People who post selfies on social networks are more likely to exhibit what some psychologists call “the dark triad” of personality traits, according to two recent studies of nearly 1,200 men and women who completed personality tests and answered questions on their online habits. This dark triad consists of narcissism (extreme self-centeredness), Machiavellianism (manipulation of others) and psychopathy (acting impulsively with no regard for other people’s feelings).