While scrolling through Instagram, you might be seeing more and more people posting “photo dumps” or close up pictures of seemingly random things. While before on social media all you would typically see on Instagram was meticulously posed and perfect photos tailored to be aesthetic, complete with feeds of all matching colors, the tide is turning and now many influencers and social media personalities are trying to become more candid. Even if it takes effort to do that as well.
Casual Instagram refers to the idea that there should be less pressure posting, and following the conventional norms and unspoken rules of the platform such as “you should only post once a day,” “your pictures need to match your feed” etc. The message of the trend says that aesthetics and perfection is overrated because everything is fake anyway, and it’s about posting the mundane more forgettable parts of day to day life.
The entire act of posting a picture can be performative: making sure the angle is right, the setting looks picturesque, you look good enough to be posted to the internet for all to see, and even deciding if the photo you intend to post looks right and fits on your feed. Some might say that having a casual account is even more performative than non-casual Instagram because people are aware the seemingly candid pictures are posed, and out of the possible 50 photos they’ve taken behind the scenes, the one that looked the most “natural” was picked.
Having a causal Instagram is, in itself, a manufactured aesthetic of authenticity and casualness. Many of the larger influences or celebrities, such as Emma Chamberlain or Bella Hadid, who have recently picked up the trend, are people that have the privilege and money to be in a nice setting, go out a lot, travel, have nice furniture and do things, free time to create posts, etc. Now, obviously that’s not a main requirement of having a casual Instagram because you can post literally anything you want online. However more and more people are finding it difficult and exhausting because you want your photos to look perfect but also like you didn’t even mean to take them at the same time. Seeing celebrities and influencers posting such cool, casual pictures on their feed every single day of just their daily life can be a harsh reminder of everything their own life doesn’t look like, and it puts pressure on those who want to start a casual Instagram because of fear it won’t look like those around them or on their explore feed. There are still endless opportunities to compare yourself on social media, even if the pictures being shown aren’t perfect.
As someone with a causal Instagram who followed the trend, I have to say it is liberating being able to post whatever you want, whenever you want, without the usual fear and anxiety that comes with posting on social media for all your followers to see. I created a new account completely separate from my main one and I’ve had it for almost a year now, and I love it more than anything in the world. As time went on, I found that I felt like I was constantly restrained by the digital unwritten rules of posting on social media. What would they think of me when they saw this picture? Would they think I had friends? Would they notice I barely post? I would barely have an online presence, only posting once or twice a year when I felt I had the perfect social media worthy moment. Then, once I posted, I would painstakingly count how many likes I got, filled with anxiety and dread as I would drudge over whether I should just delete the picture altogether if the likes weren’t coming in fast enough. I felt a newfound freedom in posting anytime. The pictures didn’t have to be perfect, they didn’t have to be of me or my social life, they could literally be because I liked how the light looked in my bedroom or the print on the wall of a hotel. I would post almost every day: pictures of pages of books I was currently reading, shoes I wanted to buy, homework that I was working on, an outfit I loved or magazines sitting on a table. All of these represented me much better than the 2 pictures a year I posted back when things needed to be perfect. Having a so called casual Instagram has made posting fun again, I’m so much more excited to see the likes come in when I’m proud of the pictures I’ve been taking and people actually want to see the day to day doings of my life. The little snippets of the things I post make me happy and reminiscent of what I had just done, and I love seeing how my platform has grown on an account that is finally a true representation of myself.
Here are some of my final thoughts. Having a casual Instagram can be fun, as long as we remind ourselves it’s not an actual representation of real life. If you like taking posed photos because it makes you feel more confident, do that! If you like posting random photos any time of day do that! We shouldn’t take social media so seriously, and let’s at least enjoy the experience and feel free post to enjoy yourself and enjoy your life as authentically as you can, and post for your own enjoyment and not for anyone else’s.