South Korea bans 'selfie sticks'

The South Korean government has banned selfie sticks, warning that anyone selling one could be slapped with a £17,000 fine or three years in jail.

If you don't know what a selfie stick is, think yourself lucky. While people photographing themselves with smartphones are irritating enough in a busy street, the selfie stick takes that to a new level by extending their reach a couple of feet.

Since first appearing early this year, they've been catching on with tourists - and catching plenty of other people in the eye.

This, though, isn't the reason for the ban. While some cheaper selfie sticks use a timer to take the photo, most allow the user to press the phone's camera shutter remotely using Bluetooth.

This, the the government has decided, makes them telecommunications devices. As such, they need to be tested and registered with the authorities, as they could in theory interfere with other devices using the same radio frequencies.

"The announcement last Friday was really just to let people know that they need to be careful about what they sell," an official from the Central Radio Management Office told AFP.

"We've had a lot of calls from vendors who think they might have been unknowingly selling uncertified products."

As a result, many sellers have been dumping their stock. But, as one told AFP, "They're not that profitable really. There're so many around now that you have to sell them cheap."

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Selfie sticks first took off amongst extreme sports buffs, keen to show off their exploits online. But over the last year they've taken off in Asia, and their popularity's spreading elsewhere. Amazon UK has over 2,000 items listed, with prices starting at about £2.50.

The selfie itself is now everywhere - according to US researchers, more than half of 18 to 33-year-olds have posted one online. Last year, 'selfie' was picked as word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries, after its use online increased by 17,000% in a year.

As well as being a symptom of narcissism, selfies have taken off as a fundraising stunt, with no-makeup selfies raising £8 million for Cancer Research in just six days earlier this year.

But experts have warned that the selfie trend is a boon to advertisers, who scan social media accounts for their logos and brands and target promotions accordingly. They've also been credited with damaging people's self-esteem, fuelling deomand for plastic surgery and putting children at risk of cyber-bullying and even abuse.

Read more on AOL Money:

How big companies use your selfies

Instagram: young, rich and self-indulgent

Police seeking "selfie" phone thief