A couple years ago, we had just started uttering the word "selfie" to describe photos we take of ourselves. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a device cropped up to make taking those often-narcissistic images even easier: The selfie stick.

Overnight, selfie sticks started popping up everywhere. While the tool was helpful for some and an annoyance to many others around them, its immense popularity drove it from "most loved" to "most hated" to (sometimes) "banned" in a matter of months. What happened to drive the selfie stick out of popular culture? And how did it even get there in the first place?

Turns out, the selfie stick isn't quite as new of an idea as you may think it is. Here's the fascinating lowdown on the meteoric rise and fall of the selfie stick.