You do it all the time. And you do it alone, all by yourself.
We’re talking about selfies, of course, and how popular they’ve become. But there’s a whiff of utter loneliness when you snap pics of yourself. It’s that you’re alone.
That’s why the selfie stick was invented. Now, to take it up a notch, the Selfie Arm, currently only a prototype and not yet being sold on the market, is a fake arm and hand that attaches to your smartphone and takes pictures of yourself.
Justin Crowe and Aric Snee, artists who are both located in New Mexico, produced the arm and say it “offers a far better experience than using a straight stick.” In their press release released earlier this week, Crowe and Snee said the arm is, “a sarcastic solution to a quintessential problem – nobody wants to look alone while they mindlessly snap pictures of themselves.”
The duo said they made the selfie hand as a kind of commentary on our “constant, gnawing need for narcissistic internet validation.”
So you’re alone and you don’t want to feel shame about not having a single friend or family member around you to snap a pic of yourself. Now, with the Selfie Arm, you clamp your smartphone on the elbow, your phone takes a pic of yourself while you hold hands with the fake hand, and, voila, suddenly you can pretend that you’re with someone who’s behind the camera taking a snapshot of you. You know, like your “boyfriend” who lives in Canada. The process won’t actually look like you’re taking a selfie because you’ll be holding hands with the fake hand, and only that hand will show up on your snapshot. Sounds a bit desperate and creepy? Well, in a way it is.
Sure, the fiberglass arm looks fake, lifeless and prosthetic, but now you can pose in front of that Cheesecake Factory that you love to go to, but can’t because, well, you’re alone. What happens, though, if the arm goes viral and everyone starts using it? Well, everyone will know you’re alone.
Maybe the next iteration of the arm will be a real-life doll whom you can take with you when going out so you don’t have to dine alone. Cheesecake Factory, here we come!
