Besides, says Fromm, for inventors like him and Ueda it's not all about the money. "It's that you're actually creating something fun or useful or helpful for people. So I'm happy that the world has embraced the selfie stick."
But has anything been lost? What about that brief interaction between strangers, the kind exchange of a favour? Fromm doesn't miss it. "Once you break silence with strangers," he says, "they feel they have the right to continue to talk to you.