Instagram, We Need To Talk
I’m sorry, but it’s not working. I’ve not wanted to admit it to myself, but it’s not been working for quite some time now. And something needs to change.
For months now, maybe even a year, I’ve been increasingly uninspired by my own Instagram posts. It’s not that I’ve grown tired of photography. No, it’s something else, and it’s taken me a long time to figure out what it is. But I think I’ve got it now. I’m tired of showing a polished surface, of being aspirational, and of the lack of realness.
How it all started
When I started using Instagram, it was still a photo sharing app. Yes, people shared good thoughts in the captions, but overall, sharing beautiful photos was a central part of what Instagram was about.
Granted, I wasn’t good at photography in the beginning. Scroll back through my feed to see it for yourself. But after a year on Instagram, I started putting some more effort into my photos. I took a course in 2017 which made a huge difference.
At this point my photos where still playful ones about creativity, but in 2018 I shifted my style. This was when slow living lifestyle photography became trendy, and I embraced that trend. During 2019, my account saw its biggest growth, and I personally think this was when my grid looked its absolute best. I still consider it a creative achievement.
The thing is, back then curating your posts felt like a communal creative challenge. Instagram’s own account held weekly photography challenges, everyone was practicing, learning, getting better and cheering each other on. It was not about showing a polished surface. It was a creative expression, to show the kind of life you love through photos.
And then Instagram changed, and it changed again, and then reels came and completely messed everything up. Over the years, it has moved further and further away from that communal creative space that it once was. What then felt like a creative expression now feels shallow, like a polished surface.
Relationship status: it’s complicated
It has become a bit of personal joke for me: everyone has a complicated relationship with Instagram. Me. More or less all my coaching clients. The creative friends I talk to. Society in general. Just look at what happened after Instagram was down for a couple of hours the other week - it has been discussed and talked about more than is reasonable.
Over the past year or so, I’ve felt less and less inspired to share Instagram posts. I’ve also felt less inspired by the posts of accounts I follow. But there is one space I haven’t grown tired of: stories. I’ve gladly shared little behind the scenes snippets throughout my days, asked questions through polls and text boxes, and I’ve happily looked at other people’s less curated shares.
The last couple of months, I’ve unsubscribed from accounts I’ve followed only for pretty pictures. Instead, I’ve felt increasingly drawn to accounts that feel real. Maybe they share more of the behind the scenes, or they share their honest thoughts. Or they’re not too planned out and curated.
This is part of a larger trend in my creative life: I’m drawn to conversations. To the complex and human. To honesty and community. I’ve overdosed on the aspirational, and I’m craving depth. In so many ways, this is what my inspiration is pointing towards, and I’ve decided to follow it.
So finally, I asked myself this: what would I share if I started over on Instagram? And the answer was quite different from what I was sharing.
The future of me and Instagram
I’m not breaking up, no. I still find value on Instagram, the value has just changed. And it’s time for my posts to embrace that change.
I have been enjoying Instagram stories, and I wondered - what would it look like if I shared more like I do on stories on my grid? Not as in five posts per day, definitely not, but that more casual, behind the scenes type of sharing.
More life, less lifestyle. More creativity, less curation. More real, less perfect.
It’s not about using my phone instead of my dslr camera, or not editing my photos. It’s not about sharing “bad photos” just to look more casual, or not taking photos of the beautiful nature around me. I still love photography. But it’s about the kind of photos I share. About showing more of the beauty in the mess that is life. Sort of where everything started on Instagram, before the years of perfecting and worrying about the algorithm.
And you know what? It feels like a creative challenge. It feels FUN, for the first time in a long while.
So last week, I shared the photo above - a real selfie, eyes into the camera, a slip of paper in my hand with the message that I was tired of the highly curated. What happened? Well, this photo got the highest reach since the heydays of my curated grid. And it got more comments than any other post as far back as my stats go - probably ever. Clearly, I’m not alone with these thoughts. And it’s not necessarily the most curated photos that get the most engagement.
Since then, the conversation has continued in my comments. Many express a longing for more connection and community. To feel more free in the posts they share and break their visual themes. The reasons for wanting less curation are many, and what that might look like varies widely. There are those who have felt the need post photos that look a certain way, and just want to post what they feel like posting. Then there are those who’s work is photography, who just wants more connection and authenticity around their work.
This feels like a conversation we need to have. In fact, this discussion sort of feels like Instagram back in the day. And who knowns? Maybe this becomes a new communal creative challenge. The challenge to show up in a way that feels more real.
Save this blog post on Pinterest
