{"id":5254,"date":"2013-07-13T19:53:17","date_gmt":"2013-07-14T01:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5254"},"modified":"2013-07-13T19:53:17","modified_gmt":"2013-07-14T01:53:17","slug":"how-selfies-became-a-global-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5254","title":{"rendered":"How selfies became a global phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><A href=\"http:\/\/m.guardiannews.com\/technology\/2013\/jul\/14\/how-selfies-became-a-global-phenomenon\">Elizabeth Day<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It starts with a certain angle: a smartphone tilted at 45 degrees just above your eyeline is generally deemed the most forgiving. Then a light source: the flattering beam of a backlit window or a bursting supernova of flash reflected in a bathroom mirror, as preparations are under way for a night out.<\/p>\n<p>The pose is important. Knowing self-awareness is conveyed by the slight raise of an eyebrow, the sideways smile that says you&#8217;re not taking it too seriously. A doe-eyed stare and mussed-up hair denotes natural beauty, as if you&#8217;ve just woken up and can&#8217;t help looking like this. Sexiness is suggested by sucked-in cheeks, pouting lips, a nonchalant cock of the head and a hint of bare flesh just below the clavicle. Snap!<\/p>\n<p>Afterwards, a flattering filter is applied. Outlines are blurred, colours are softened, a sepia tint soaks through to imply a simpler era of vinyl records and VW camper vans.<\/p>\n<p>All of this is the work of an instant. Then, with a single tap, you are ready to upload: to Twitter, to Facebook, to Instagram, each likeness accompanied by a self-referential hashtag. Your image is retweeted and tagged and shared. Your screen fills with thumbs-up signs and heart-shaped emoticons. You are &#8220;liked&#8221; several times over. You feel a shiver of \u2013 what, exactly? Approbation? Reassurance? Existential calm? Whatever it is, it&#8217;s addictive. Soon, you repeat the whole process, trying out a different pose. Again and again, you offer yourself up for public consumption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elizabeth Day: It starts with a certain angle: a smartphone tilted at 45 degrees just above your eyeline is generally deemed the most forgiving. Then a light source: the flattering beam of a backlit window or a bursting supernova of flash reflected in a bathroom mirror, as preparations are under way for a night out. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}