The Performance of Authenticity: Making Instagram Casual
If you use Instagram, you have probably seen photos that have been poorly Facetuned. Zooming in on the walls behind and seeing a wavy bookcase. We are constantly being told social media isn’t real and that seemingly perfect celebrities and influencers are also insecure and not the perfectly polished images we see online.
The concept of “make Instagram casual again” emerged as a way to counter this facade, encouraging users to share simple joys–a cool tree, latte art, or a blurry candid between poses. The movement intends to take away the picture-perfect agenda of Instagram and replace it with a more raw version of ourselves and our lives. One way to think of the movement is as a kind of scrapbook, where we can share the uncut, unfiltered, and carefree moments from our days that make us happy. However, does "making Instagram casual again" actually make social media a more "authentic" space?
Appearing nonchalantly takes effort–sometimes even more effort than if you were to pose perfectly still with a smile on your face. While posting a photo of your matcha appears authentic and casual, what we don’t see is the time spent picking out a trendy outfit or the other 100 photos not posted to get the “perfect” picture and the planning of which corner of the cafe has the best lighting. The “natural” look is crucial. Recently, photo dumps have become popular; they should contain images that appear to have been taken almost accidentally. They need to be more honest and clean, with less posing and filtering. More variety is needed in photo dumps; consider including a close-up of the sky or a top-angle picture of your dinner.
The stress should be relieved by the photo dump's lack of creativity. Aren't they about romanticizing life as it is and finding beauty in the mundane?
On a platform like Instagram, being genuine is contradictory. Photo dump templates inevitably emerged, stenciling the right photos to communicate spontaneity and minimal effort. I recall how daunting it was to plan Instagram posts. For hours, I would go through fifty different versions of the same photograph, asking friends whether I should post, and applying the same overly saturated VSCO filter to each image.
Modern Instagram and photo dumps, in my opinion, produce potent illusions of lifestyles that are always available for the camera. It's a more calculated and heavily concealed way of presenting oneself than in the past. Trends that exclude those who believe they don't have an aesthetic life and promote a single stylized kind of aestheticism that everyone should strive for have no place on contemporary Instagram.
I have to admit that I am a hypocrite since the photo dump trend has influenced me. There’s a certain charm in searching for that perfect “vibe” or “personality” shot. At their best, photo dumps encourage spontaneity and imagination in documenting life's moments. Finding the ideal lighting or position that perfectly captures the emotion you wish to portray can be exciting.
The movement to "make Instagram casual again" reveals a paradox at the heart of social media: the pursuit of authenticity often morphs into another form of performance. While photo dumps and unpolished posts claim to celebrate the beauty of imperfection and spontaneity, they can just as easily perpetuate curated and calculated ideals of living. The pressure to appear effortlessly genuine creates a new set of standards that are just as unattainable as the perfectly posed images they aim to replace. Yet, there is an undeniable joy in capturing and sharing moments that feel personal and real, even if they are filtered through a lens of intention. Perhaps the challenge lies not in how we present ourselves but in fostering a mindset that prioritizes connection and self-expression over approval and aesthetics. We can only reclaim social media as a space for honesty rather than curated illusions.
