The News Minute | February 08, 2015 | 03.20 pm IST

Can your selfie obsession cause public nuisance and damage to precious property? Yes, feel many museums and other organisations and hence they have banned use of selfie sticks in their premises.

The prevalence of the device has led New York City museums and others to ban the use of selfie sticks, according to reports.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, is one of the first in NYC to officially ban the stick, although it's technically always been restricted.

"It has long been a policy that visitors may only use handheld devices to take photos, without any camera extension devices. We have simply added selfie-sticks to this policy, which is in place to ensure the safety of our visitors and the Museum's works of art," a representative from the museum was reported as saying by The Observer.

Other museums have either already banned the sticks or are seriously considering it. Guggenheim and The Frick no longer allow them while the Met hasn't yet reached a decision.

The reason for the restriction is the threat of accidental damage to museum exhibits and artwork, like potentially tearing through a rare Picasso painting. Stopping to position for a selfie can also lead to congestion in already crowded museums.

That means museum-goers will no longer be able to show off to the world how cool and artsy they are for hitting up the MoMA on a weekend.

With IANS