Photography evolves along with the platforms where we share and keep them. Facebook used to be our primary digital scrapbook, but it has been dethroned by Instagram, thanks to its 20-photos-in-one-post update and emergence of Instagram dumps.
As an introvert myself, I hate being perceived by people in everything I do. Hence, I made an Instagram dump account to share anything—be it a blurry photo or anything out of the ordinary. But even though I’m in that safe space where only my favorite mutuals have access to, there is this pressure that comes with keeping a cohesive aesthetic or trying without trying too hard.
Social media, specifically Instagram, is deceptive to the point that some of us strive to have the picturesque life everyone believes. And that sometimes forces me to tone it down.
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A no-context carouselMy old Instagram account was just a bunch of fourth-grader selfies in different filters, poorly edited photos of random food, and shoefies nobody asked for. Similarly, Instagram is becoming casual again, where most people share photos with no context, something that holds so much personality that it’s a waste not to share.
But what comprises casual Instagram today?
The photo dump aesthetic is basically a hodgepodge of random, unrelated pictures (and even videos) posted together. It can be a highly zoomed-in photo, weird out-of-place images, your favorite milkshake, a blurry selfie, beautiful sunsets and sunbeams, an unhinged meme—anything that is so random and pretty. This kind of content paves the way for making Instagram casual again.
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We’ve seen famous personalities like Kendall Jenner and Rei Germar dump photos that seem to be curated, posting anything that reflects them but is not good enough to deserve their own posts.
In a video essay by Malaiya, she defines casual Instagram as being low maintenance and low effort. It’s like a scrapbook that is not too calculated and strategized. It has gained traction today because of the story elements it entails—a direct representation of the lives of such people. With the COVID-19 pandemic confining us in our homes, this allowed us to transition to a slow-paced life and appreciate the mundane, and we just want to share it with everybody else.
However, this kind of content can be argued to be almost as equal to performative Instagram, with model-like portraits, highly contrasted filters, and on-point poses and dresses.
This raises the question: Is photo dumping about valuing the simple things in life or just another performative curation?
Effortlessly cool and authenticOne punchy takeaway from Malaiya: “Making Instagram casual again seems unrealistic in a way if everything is just a mere curation.”
Admit it or not, we try to find the best photos on our camera roll that constitutes what a photo dump is, which sucks us into a mindset that our photos should be cool and casual but also cute enough to post. We strive to capture memories candidly but have the purpose of appearing aesthetically pleasing and dreamy. It’s about wanting to be effortlessly cool without ever looking like we care so much.
@cozyiakili♬ original sound – akili
According to TikTok user @cozyiakili, casual Instagram is like a reality TV that tries to convince viewers that this is a casual moment without trying but in fact trying hard. They may not be heavily edited or staged but they are strategically curated and put together to convey a specific narrative. We’re aware of how Instagram is a facade yet we willingly participate in such trends that make the internet a disillusioned reality. And I for one admit to being part of, and I’m most likely to continue living in that so-called bubble.
For the most part, a certain level of wealth and status comes along in this narrative since, let’s face it, it’s so expensive to appear effortlessly casual, just like what we see on celebrities’ photo dumps.
The bottom line: Social media will always feed us with realities most people want to portray. It has been long established that Instagram is just a curation of the things and moments in our lives we want to share with the world and voluntarily engage in. Such pictures speak to us viewers like, “Hey, here is something that reflects me and something that I like; I want you to be part of it.”
The best thing we can do is to appreciate and romanticize the little joys or any random phenomenon we encounter without succumbing to the aesthetics of a far-fetched reality.pera7