Bringing the 2012 energy back to Instagram
Do you remember the peak years of Instagram? Peace signs curled around the eye, heavy side fringes and even heavier filters. God, it was bliss. There was something so freeing about posting #deep quotes and emo song lyrics alongside photos of you and your mates going to the local park, and just not giving a shit. We were young and we were wild!
When did we all collectively decide that casual posting wasn’t cool anymore? I remember being 13 years old and starting my first Instagram account. Oh, the excitement at using all the different filters and effects in a disastrous attempt at being ‘edgy’. Being able to connect with other teens and show them how cool my clip-on hats looked in my school pictures (yup, a mini hat attached to a huge hair clip. It is as cringe as it sounds.) Just taking a picture in the heat of the moment and posting it, not giving a single FUCK about fitting a certain ‘theme’ or ‘aesthetic’. GOD, I truly miss feeling so free. In fact, I miss it SO much, I chose to return to my roots and post casually on Instagram for a week.
I have roughly 2.5k followers on Instagram (cheeky plug hehe follow me @caameron_taaylor) and my number of likes can range from about 300-500, give or take a bit. Instagram has become a wonderful platform for me to serve fire looks, share my views on issues such as body image and confidence, and build connections with a community of incredible people. But, I have admittedly fallen into the ‘aesthetic trap’. Taking pictures for the gram, with all the best angles and filters that fit my desired theme. When it comes to posting, I also upload pictures at a time of the day when I know heaps of people will be online. I actually check my Messenger numbers to see how many people are active, lol that’s so embarrassing.
Casual posting, without trying to fit an aesthetic and NOT uploading at peak times, was a CHALLENGE. From Monday to Friday, I was uploading the most mundane shit. On the Monday, I posted a photo of my boyfriend with Wendy’s fries, to which I got a commented ‘cute’ with two love hearts from a uni friend. Tuesday, I posted THREE times in a day, breaking the unspoken ‘no-double posting’ rule: an un-edited blurry selfie of myself in the car, a photo of my boyfriend out at dinner, and a picture of what I ate. My mate commented ‘sounds like you got the perfect man’ when I said he feeds me well, which was pretty fair.
It wasn’t until Wednesday when someone actually approached me, noticing my change in posts. After posting two bulldog photos and a quick snap of me and my boyfriend eating fruit in the car, one of my best friends snapped me, saying ‘I’m loving your new Instagram vibe, I think it’s really cool that you’re just posting whatever you want’. I would’ve taken the compliment more to heart if I wasn’t doing it for work purposes, but it still felt nice to hear that there were people out there enjoying the casual posts. Thursday, I went to Wellington and posted pictures of an aesthetic restaurant wall, and the famous ‘Share The Love’ neon sign at Te Papa. Friday, I ended the week of with a chill pic of me wearing my boyfriend’s plaid shirt in bed. Honestly, the fact no one said anything goes to show that no one really cares about what you post. You can literally post as casually as you want, and people will just go with it. But, if that’s the case, why did I care so much? I came to some conclusions.
Firstly, these types of pictures are usually reserved for my Instagram stories. This is because they are only up for 24 hours, and then they DISAPPEAR, like magic. It doesn’t feel as permanent and fixated as a newsfeed post does, and people don’t have the ability to leave public likes and comments. Stories aren’t displayed all alongside each other on your platform like newsfeed photos are, so there’s less pressure to fit to a theme and aesthetic.
Secondly, we are living in a time where influencer culture is at its PEAK. We see people like the Kardashians and Shani Grimmond exhibiting all the best facets of their glamorous lives - put-together outfits complete with hair and makeup, exciting outings to beautiful locations, unrealistically perfect body shots. Being exposed to this constant flawlessness causes us to feel that our own lives are inadequate. In turn, we try to curate our feeds to reflect a better version of our lives that, let’s face it, probably isn’t even real. Social media is just one big facade, but we play into it anyway.
Thirdly, I care SO much about how my Instagram looks, that just thinking about casual posting was a whirlwind of emotions. Thoughts of how ‘it’s gonna mess up my feed, everyone is gonna judge me for it, I can’t edit the pictures on Lightroom because that’s not casual enough so now everything looks dull’. It’s sad to admit, but I know a lot of other people may relate to these thoughts too. I’m not gonna lie, I have these same thoughts now as I look at the posts I’ve made over the week. And I’m probably gonna archive them, so my feed goes back to looking as pristine as I’ve tried curating it look.
WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER? I was showing shots of my authentic life, the real things that I encounter on a daily basis. But, the whole time, I was worried that people weren’t perceiving me in the cool, confident way that I strive so hard to be. They weren’t seeing the best sides that I want to put out there. They were seeing the reality, as mundane and normal as it is. But THAT IS MY LIFE. And there was a part of casual posting that was SO fun and freeing. I wasn’t thinking as much as I usually do about my posts, I saved so much time by not editing the pictures, and I didn’t try to fit to a certain matching theme or aesthetic.
In saying that, I definitely think I could’ve done a BETTER job and cared a little less. I still found myself trying to get the best angles, pair the photos with cute captions and emojis, and doing numerous takes to get the ‘perfect pic’ instead of just posting the first shot I took. That just goes to show that even while casual posting, I was still doing it in a way that I’d hope would impress others and create a desired image of myself.
Would I casual post on a regular basis? I wanna say yes, trust me. I don’t want to care so much about what my Instagram looks like and how others perceive me as a result because, as I said, it seemed like that everyone was chill with it. Why wouldn’t they be? And I know that one day, Instagram won’t even exist and we would’ve spent hours obsessing over this app for nothing. But, the truth is, I DO CARE. It will take so much more reflection and unlearning to reach a point where I don’t care about my Instagram in such a superficial way. I enjoy getting outfits of my hot girl fits and showing them to the world, IS THAT A CRIME???
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a cool Instagram but, admittedly, it is SO ridiculous how much I, and many others, care about how we look online. Trying to be hot on the gram 24/7 is a full-time job that I don’t get paid for, and I’m exhausted. Let me post myself eating a bowl of pasta in peace!!!! In conclusion, let’s just normalise casual posting, cos no one even cares.