Why Selfie Sticks, ‘Free-Range’ Kids And Museums Don’t Mix

She said the High has placed an outright ban on those ubiquitous digital camera devices as museums are being deluged with visitors who prefer to capture an image instead of a solemn moment of contemplation with art.

On “City Lights,” Feaster expanded on a commentary she wrote last month for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about how the noisy distractions of harried modern life are increasingly crowding out the tempered, quiet space of museums.

“There is this huge inability for people to adjust their behavior for the circumstances,” she said in a conversation with producer Erin Wright. “There’s been this erosion of public space.”

While Feaster said her criticisms were prompted largely by behavior she’s seen from selfie- and smartphone-addicted adults, parents letting their kids roam museums as they please is another major issue.

“Free-range children are everywhere,” she said.

These are hardly new complaints, and Feaster acknowledges the challenge museums face in trying to attract a younger generation of patrons can be a tricky one.

At the same time, she lamented that “we’re losing a reflective aspect of life and the world around us.”