Ah, the old cable release !
I still have one somewhere, left over from my 120 and 35mm film days. However, the little digital compact camera has a smooth-topped shutter button (no threaded slot for a cable release), so won't work on that. The camera does have a timer, at 2 seconds and 10 seconds, but of course that would mean setting up either my tripod or mini-tripod.
Most of the time I'm OK, and can use the compact for general, quick shots, but now and then the stiff fingers prevent a smooth button operation.
When that happens, I should really get off my ar*e and use one of my DSLRs, which have an easy shutter release button, and image stabilisation.