Envision this: it’s 2012, and you tap that tempting little rainbow-striped camera icon on your iPhone 4s. Perhaps you’re posting a B&W photo of a flower you snapped, a Grumpy Cat meme or a selfie with the sepia filter. Or, maybe, someone tagged you in a best friend challenge. You post what you want when you want. Instagram is “casual.” Then suddenly, sometime around 2014, it’s not.
A few years after its genesis, Instagram began accumulating a reputation for its performative perfectionism. Suddenly, people started to download apps to plan their “feeds,” developed elaborate themes and favored specific filters. “Posting anxiety” became a widespread phenomenon as everyone seemed to experience the surmounting pressure to post pictures that would receive as many likes and comments as possible. Instagram officially became the social media app that required people to “try the hardest.”
Ironically, a recent trend on TikTok presents an Instagram counterculture. The so-called “casual Instagram” aesthetic offers an alternative to the editing apps and filters commonly associated with Instagram. Instead, it encourages users to assume a more relaxed, intuitive approach to the app (a nostalgic callback to Instagram’s early days). But the question is: what exactly does a low-pressure Instagram look like?
The key to casual Instagram is mastering the camera roll “dump.” This style of posting (reference @1nternet.gf on Instagram, for instance) features the spam-like sharing of photos directly from one’s camera roll. Often, this requires taking advantage of the multiple-select feature on the app to upload slides of images. These “dumps” feature filter-less collections of seemingly random photos (including perhaps a snack, a selfie, a landscape, an outfit, and some books in a single post). Such compilations intend to offer a more holistic peek at the poster’s life than the conventional approach.
However, perhaps more ironic than its spawn on TikTok, the casual Instagram trend has spurred controversy that it is even more performative and cumbersome than its stylistic predecessors. Many concerned TikTokers (and iconic YouTuber Emma Chamberlain) argue that the trend requires a larger and broader spread of content. They also point out that the poster must stage their photos to appear natural. Thus, the trend is highly misleading.
Ultimately, whether casual or otherwise, Instagram posts will never be a true embodiment of a person’s life. Though it’s essential to keep in mind that the app features highlighted snapshots (a person rarely chooses to post something negative or unflattering to them), it really can be difficult and overwhelming to do so. Hopefully, if you take away anything from this “guide,” it is that no social media trend is entirely organic.