Sydney selfies: People snap photos of themselves at the scene of hostage-taking

In every tragic situation, we consistently see a few things emerge: Heroes and villains, discussions of who did the right things and who could have done things better.

And, increasingly, we're seeing photos of people snapping photos of themselves near the scene.

It seems to be a regular occurence now that we see people taking pictures (or, heaven forbid, selfies) near the scene of an accident or crisis. And evidently, the Sydney hostage situation that recently came to an end is no different.

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I would like to take this opportunity to remind people of the smaller issue that a selfie is a photo taken by one's self. So if someone is taking a photo of another person, that is not a selfie.

But the media's misuse of the word selfie is clearly not the main problem here. It's crazy that this needs to be said, but here it goes: A tense police situation is not a time to become a social media superstar. Citizen reporting does have value, and sharing a point of view from the scene makes sense (as long as it isn't revealing any police locations).

But please, do not take the opportunity to splash yourself all over social media, just to prove you were there. It's not the time or place.