Instagram photo dumps aren’t cool anymore [Video]

At the end of each month, I lie horizontally and swipe through the photos I’ve collected. I favorite the good ones and narrow them down to 10, curating a representation of the last 30 days of my life. It’s a collection of randomness — selfies, close-ups of pasta, images of friends petting a dog, scenes from a concert, and a quote from a book — posted in an Instagram carousel and dubbed a photo dump. 

Photo dumps entered the cultural conversation in 2021. The Kardashians did it, the influencers did it, and our friends and lovers did it. It launched into popularity as a middle ground between those who posted constantly and those, particularly younger users, who had decided that posting on Instagram at all was no longer cool. This was, in part, a response to the unreachable Instagram aesthetic and perfection perpetuated by the app; photo dumps were a sort of messy alternative. At the same time, Instagram was …