Instagram has been a thing for 11 years (!!) and in that time, the app has totally changed and involved in all aspects, from why we use it (i.e. it’s now a viable marketing tool) to how we use it (stories, reels, etc).
Our Instagram habits have also vastly changed and the most recent trend is one that intrigues me greatly: the photo dump.
Back in the day, we would post the most basic-ass shit on our page, like our morning coffee or a funny poster we saw on the street (I’m sure your IG mems remind / haunt you everyday). Nowadays, that stuff goes straight onto our Instagram Story and we’re much more selective of what we post to our main page because we’re all about the ~aesthetic~ and plus we don’t wanna piss our followers off with a gazillion posts of random crap.
No. One. Wants. To. See. Photos. Of. Your. Sad. Little. Meal. Prep.
The photo dump is almost a glorious fusion of both concepts as it includes a bunch of random snaps all packaged together in one lovely post.
They usually include a fun variety of photos, too, from the aforementioned rando shit (your coffees, your street signs, etc), but also cute selfies and shots of your nearest and dearest.
The photo dump becoming a popular trend during the pandemic is definitely not a coincidence, I feel, and I guess you can chalk it up to two things:
- We have more time on our hands now to sit around and curate a carousel of images, rather than be spontaneous and drop shit on the fly without thinking about how it’ll look.
- There are less ‘yuge moments that deserve their own post, therefore the daily mundane (but magical) stuff is all we have to share.
I am absolutely here for this trend and I hope it sticks around. It means our feeds aren’t as overpopulated and it means that when I wanna see what my pal Billy Bob’s been up to lately, I can have a peek into his life via his latest photo dump.
My only qualm with the photo dump is that I hate the word ‘dump.’ First of all, the association with poo is yuck, and just as a word it’s so clunky and annoying. In fact, the other day I saw someone caption their photo dump ‘photo *poo emoji*’. Bestie… no.
You don’t need to call it a photo dump for it to be a photo dump. For example, earlier this year I was having a nostalgic moment and I posted a photo dump to commemorate the bonkers year that was 2020 and my caption reflected that. Observe:
