“If I see one more tourist taking a selfie, I swear I’ll break their phone!” Okay wow, first, if you think like that then you may want to consider anger management, and second, how many tourists have you ACTUALLY seen taking a selfie?
Unlike yesterday’s rhetorical question on fares under a grand to Europe, I actually want you to think about whether the ratio of tourists taking selfies to those not taking selfies is so high that it warrants a violent threat?
Statistics say no.
A new study conducted by HotelsCombined found holiday selfies aren’t as common as people think and the so-called ‘obsession’ is completely over exaggerated – unless you’re a 20-something millennial.
Half of the 1,000 Australian adults surveyed said they’re actually really shy when it comes to taking holiday pictures and will only ever share photos from one in every four holidays.
That’s completely different to the millennials who admitted to posting selfies from EVERY Holiday, after they’ve given them a little digital ‘touch up’ of course.
Facebook remains the social media platform of choice for sharing holiday selfies, according to the study, followed by Instagram and then Snapchat.
And of those actually taking part in the holiday selfie, some 37 percent said they’d do almost anything for a great, share-worthy shot, even if it means risking their lives and their freedom (apparently 20-somethings aren’t too afraid of incarceration).
HotelsCombined Australia & New Zealand’s Head of Marketing, Chris Rivett, said the results were surprising because there’s a common perception that people love to capture and post the best moments of their lives.
“The results indicate that, on the contrary, selfies at the beach and photos of our meals aren’t necessarily being taken for the purposes of our social pages, but for the memory, something private that we can look back on, which is really interesting given how prevalent social media is in our lives.”
Chris Rivett, HotelsCombined Australia & New Zealand Head of Marketing
So there it is, don’t ever let someone shame you out of a holiday selfie, because by taking one you’re actually being super edgy.