The Rise of “Casual Instagram”
Messy is on trend
—By Tavleen Gill
My main goal when taking the photo above for my Instagram was to ensure it didn’t scream “I’m trying too hard.” I wanted it to seem minimal and effortless. However, it took many attempts to get the picture I had envisioned. I kept rearranging the items and changing the angle, probably annoying anyone sitting near me who was actually trying to get their work done. I didn’t want to include the cloudy, depressing sky, but thought the plant would look good in my photo. I made sure to take the photo before I actually drank my cup of coffee because who would want to see a half-empty cup. I had two books on my table and chose to include the one that matched the aesthetic I wanted. By doing all of this, I was participating in “casual Instagram.”
The beginning of casual Instagram
Destiny Mitchell, a 22-year-old student at the University of Michigan, first noticed the trend during the initial Covid-19 lockdown. “During the beginning of Covid, people were stuck at home and no longer participating in activities they would have posted about before—and if people were hanging out in social settings, they definitely did not want others seeing due to a fear of judgment,” she states.
While stuck at home with nothing exciting to post about, people began posting random bits of their day. It became common to scroll through Instagram and see endless photos of people going on walks, making dinner, and reading books. People began to take Instagram less seriously and it was refreshing to no longer have to see the perfect, edited versions of everyone’s life. Some individuals, such as Jeevin Neelam, a student at the University of Michigan, preferred this new style of social media. “Although I myself have not participated in this trend, I honestly enjoy seeing the behind-the-scenes moments of people I follow—such intimate moments offer a more personal connection,” he says.
According to Matthew Eggers, a writer for The Michigan Daily, the pandemic highlighted just how exhausting it can be to create curated content for social media. As people began to reject the posed, carefully constructed Instagram aesthetic and instead turned to the authentic, messy content – celebrities were quick to join in on the “casualness.” Several stars, such as Kaia Gerber and Hilary Duff, embraced this new freedom by posting pictures of what they were up to during the lockdown. While some celebrities had probably hoped to use this opportunity to appear more accessible and relatable to their followers, viewers were not easily fooled. According to Mitchell, it had the opposite effect. “ I remember scrolling through Instagram during those months and seeing celebrities post pictures from their expensive yachts and vacation homes, and it really showcased just how different their lockdown was going compared to mine. I didn’t have the luxury to be able to quarantine at one of my ‘several houses’ just for a change in scenery. Most Americans are living such a different lifestyle compared to these people [referring to celebrities] and I think a lot of individuals came to that realization during those months,” she says.
Is casual Instagram casual?
Now, nearly two years after the first lockdown and the beginning of casual Instagram, the trend does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. Instead, “photo dumps”—a collection of random, casual pictures showcasing one’s everyday experiences—have become more popular among users, with celebrities like Gigi Hadid and Kylie Jenner posting their own “dumps.”
However, as the causal Instagram trend continues, many are quick to call it out as “an even greater performance” than Instagram’s performative era. This brings to question whether casual Instagram is actually casual or if it is just a disguise. Rosanna Alexis, a mental and physical health influencer with an Instagram following of nearly 10K, feels that there is nothing casual about casual Instagram and thinks the trend simply blurs the line between reality and a constructed aesthetically pleasing fantasy. “I think this could potentially be very harmful. The posts that I see make it very difficult for people to distinguish whether the content is true to what the user is experiencing, or if it’s a mere highlight reel,” she says. It is easy to create a false narrative on Instagram.
Mitchell expresses similar beliefs, stating, “In order for people to post a collection of photos that are indicative of their everyday lives, they have to actively be prepared to take those random pictures and I think there is nothing casual about that.” In fact, she believes this trend can make many question why their lifestyle does not match what they are seeing on Instagram. Considering a majority of casual Instagram posts consist of fancy restaurants, architecture from trips abroad, and expensive beverages, observers might desire to partake in such activities and live a similar luxurious lifestyle.
Mitchell mentions, “With this trend, influential people are now posting pictures of themselves dressed comfy and wearing loungewear, instead of the high luxury runway fashion we had become accustomed to seeing. This has led to people, my friends included, obsessively purchasing whatever they see their favorite influencers wearing, and considering how fast fashion trends change, overconsumption is the end result.”
Mental health implications
According to Insider Intelligence, the average amount of time spent on social media by Americans increased significantly after Covid. People were spending more time scrolling on Instagram and according to Dr. Leigh White MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, this likely had a negative impact on overall society’s mental health. Previous studies have linked Instagram to depression, body image concerns, self-esteem issues, social anxiety, and other problems.
Dr. White has worked with individuals struggling with eating disorders and says that photoshopped images and curated images can make people forget what bodies in the real world look like, and she ties similar connections to this trend. Dr. White states that this false casualness is essentially a way of bragging about one’s life without seeming intentional, and if viewers are only seeing these hand-picked positive moments and never the negative ones, they can forget the ups and downs of reality and are more likely to believe something is wrong with them.
“If we continue to be stuck in this isolated pandemic time, the impact of social media on mental health will only get stronger. As social media becomes our main form of human connection, people’s perspectives will, unfortunately, rely on this false curation,” says Dr. White.
Is casual Instagram possible?
Many question whether achieving true authenticity on social media is even possible.
According to Mitchell, it’s not. “ Instagram relies on a user’s conscious performance and the act of not caring takes a lot of effort because you have to essentially understand how society would perceive caring versus non-caring to look like,” she says. Neelam believes that at the end of the day, people should post what truly brings them happiness, and whether that’s something that properly illustrates their life or not, should not matter. He thinks issues arise when people begin to care too much about what others post.
Looking back, I find my actions in taking the first photo a little silly. I wish I had been able to enjoy my cup of coffee without needing to take a picture. I wish I had not constructed the entire thing. However, in that moment, doing so brought me happiness. I enjoyed figuring out how to create the photo I had in my head; it was fun. As Neelam says, “As long as you are enjoying yourself, participate in whatever trend you want.”
Feature photo by Tavleen Gill on Instagram