Generational 2

On board the Statue Cruises ferry en route to Liberty Island.

When I was in Europe several years ago, selfies were at the start of their march towards being part and parcel of travelling. Fast forward to 2017 and selfies are a reason to travel. While I found it amusing those few years ago to see a selfie stick used by an atypical demographic (good ideas are just good ideas though, right?) in 2017 it’s now essential for every age group to show proof of life to the world.

This was the subject of an interesting discussion I had with a tour operator in Arizona. He was commenting that he was getting more and more Americans on the tours that he ran to the national parks and when I quizzed him on the reasons why, he was pretty confident: social media. The desire to humblebrag demands interesting backdrops to frame the face, leading to an increasing number of visitors in search of insta-fame. Indeed, from my observations this was true. People travelling the real world to reinforce their virtual selves is a thing.