Forget about selfies! It's all about #shelfies

Selfies are SO 2013. If you want to show off your photos online, it’s all about the #shelfie for 2014.

On Instagram, there’s been a massive increase in the number of people taking photos of their bookcases and shelves, and the hashtag is now accompanied by nearly 40,000 pictures on the photo-sharing app.

Danika So, a 20-year-old political science and business student in Toronto, has become a dab hand at taking a shelfie, living in a dorm room means that the items in her pictures contain seemingly boring objects, like an open book and a bowl of popcorn, but Danika takes as long as necessary to make sure each one is perfect.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, she said: “Some of the shots require a lot of preparation. I’ll rearrange large pieces of furniture and stand on chairs. It’s a miracle my roommate still thinks I’m sane.

“It’s wonderful to see mundanity transformed. I’d like to think that I would be taking these photos regardless of Instagram, but the rush of awesome I get when someone likes my posts is really concerning.”

New York interiors stylist (and active Instagrammer) Hilary Robertson, claims that the reason people love taking a shelfie, is because a shelf “is like a museum of you.”

Also speaking to The Wall Street Journal, she added: “It’s more personal and more likely to trigger funny anecdotes. There’s a longing for individuality out there.

“There’s something very liberating about being able to take quite a good picture without the whole apparatus of a shoot. The filters can make all the difference.”

As you can see from the picture above, we tried to take a shelfie, but it turns out we’re just not as on trend as we think we are…