To be surprised by the number of people who only seem to care about taking pictures of themselves?

[IGaveSoManySigns]

I’m in Rome and spent the day walking around all of the various tourist sites. Everywhere, even in the Vatican city, people only care about taking selfies. Not looking at the information around them. Not taking pictures of the actual sights and historical monuments. Just pouting selfies and videos of them walking. It’s doing my head in!

Depressing isn’t it? I found the same in Paris today

Yes. It's awful. Even worse than people having their phones out constantly is the fact they're pointing it at themselves for social media.

Especially at the Vatican. I’m going in tomorrow and can imagine it’ll be more of the same. Just vapid self obsessed posers with no respect for history!

It’s possible to be interested in the architecture and the history AND take lots of selfies for the memories/social media.

Social media selfies don’t necessarily equal vapid and vacuous and it’s just snobbery to assume they do.

I find it depressing too. And I hate going to art galleries where people take pictures of themselves in front of the paintings, and move on to the next famous one for more of the same, without even looking at the painting itself.

Sorry but I think that standing around (blocking other people’s views!!!), pouting and only being interested in taking pictures is vapid.

Yes me too! I’ve taken one selfie today - at the trevi fountain, after I had taken photos of the actual fountain, took it in and did the coin toss. I didn’t just spend ten minutes stood there pouting

I've never understood the desire to be in photos at all when the photo is of a place. I don't want any people in my photos of sights at all generally, let alone myself. They just get in the way.

If you look back at photos from your holidays from 20/30 years ago, which are more interesting the picture of a church or the one of you sat on granny’s lap shoving an ice cream up her nose? I think the main issue with the selfie phenomenon is that everything is so airbrushed and posed, anything with a bit of spontaneity is often deleted due to double chins or weird expressions.

Sounds like you need to Let Them

It's so depressing. And don’t get me started on the pouting!!

meh, if I want pictures of the actual monuments, I can find a lot online, and much much better than the ones I will ever take.

I prefer photos with people, and me as well. It's these photos I will use and look back in a few years. I'd rather buy one book per trip with beautiful photos in it. I take selfies if I like.

As long as people don't start to do a 30mn photoshoot and expect everyone else to stay away , and miss the view, then who cares.

I would agree if it was Auschwitz or other memory centres like that, but Rome or Paris? They might have better knowledge of history than you, taking selfies doesn't impact the brain 😂. I am just too old to pout unfortunately.

I remember going to Rome 10 years ago and it was the first time I saw selfie sticks - so many of them.

I never take selfies, just pictures of places and things and the odd one of other people.

Exactly this. I don’t need to take bad pictures of a fountain when a million professional ones are available online. But taking a picture of my kids in front of the monument will be worth it to me in a few years to reflect back on fun times we’ve had.

I'm always amused by the couples where the man is standing taking dozens of pictures of his partner who is posing multiple times to get the photo just right as if they are on a fashion shoot. This means blocking everyone else from the prime viewing spot. Bonkers!

why do you think you are any less vapid because you believe photos taken with your little phone are better than professional photos taken from professional photographers? It's not like you can't find amazing pictures of the Trevi Fountain, so why do you need to take yours?

Same thing, if people want to take selfies in front of it, why not? You are not superior.

I agree about people blocking the view, I have no patience for that.

Welcome to 2025.

It’s definitely more interesting having photos of people at places than not.
I agree that theres less interesting in the actual place than being seen to be at the place. The pouting is very annoying.
It is quite telling that some if my friends appear to be aging backwards too. It will be fascinating to see what future generations make if our photos.

There was an "influencer" asked to leave the Vatican because she was dancing and making a tik tok !

I can see maybe a selfie or 2 but I think if you are visiting an attraction or historic place then constant selfies are just inappropriate and dull to look at.

When do the people going round taking endless photos of themselves even get the chance to be interested in the architecture and the history when they are walking round just looking at themselves?
I'm sorry but to constantly take photos of their own faces suggests a level of vanity and obsession with their own importance that is just totally unattractive. Who really wants to look at these photos of their faces but themselves? Everyone else must be bored witless with them.

It’s the self-obsessed world we live in, I hate it too.

The people taking 3000 staged photos of themselves annoy the hell out of me too, I’ve seen so many people this summer pretending to stare out into the distance with someone photographing them on their phone, then call the person over, look through the photos, say they are all rubbish, then go back to staring into the distance when another 1000 photos are taken of them, then just walk off. No real interest in where they are, just about getting the perfect photo of themselves.

And the restaurants I’ve been to where people on close tables have taken a smiling photo of themselves and their food and then spent the rest of the time scrolling through their phones ignoring each other!

Id love to go back to a time before social media when people were actually social!

We were looking through my in laws old photos recently and we skipped all the photos of the sights. They're boring, we wanted to see the in laws and see what they looked like and what they did years ago. Much more interesting than loads of photos of churches or statues etc.

So it's fine if you take a selfie, but if other people do it they're self obsessed and ruining the view for everyone else?

I can't imagine going back to the days before social media. Now people use their social as photo albums, you look or you don't, it's easy.

No risk of being plonked in front of some relatives photos and waste 2 hours of your life going through badly taken after badly taken photo of some monument you don't care about 😂

Give me people sticking to their own social and posting photos you can view or ignore any day!

Can't say I noticed this recently in Rome, however in Lisbon I noticed it and individuals making tik tok videos, not getting it right and endlessly repeating.
Also the National Gallery in London I could not get near paintings for people taking selfies in front of the art work.
When you go to the Vatican tomorrow you will be walking down corridors crammed in like sardines what seemed to me two hours with people holding up their phones. You just have to keep moving with the sea of people.