When opening a student’s Instagram, you might find a perfectly coordinated feed, or a complete dump of last weekend’s camera roll. The way students treat their Instagram feed, whether a perfectly curated gallery or personal digital junk drawer, varies from person to person.
For senior Stella Mattsson, Instagram has shifted from something she put a lot of thought into, to something that she now approaches more lightly .
“I think I used to be serious, but now I’m leaning more towards casual,” Mattsson said.
She says that the pressure of knowing that everyone can see what she posts led her to embrace the freedom of posting without overthinking every picture.
“I think it’s just more fun, and like it’s not as stressful as doing serious posting,” Mattsson said.
Still, casual doesn’t always mean completely random. Mattsson said that although she doesn’t always follow a rule strictly, she still gravitates towards a specific aesthetic.
For other M-A students, Instagram is less about how their feed looks and more about documenting moments that feel worth posting. Senior Caitlyn Kavanaugh considers her Instagram feed more tailored, even though she wishes she could approach it more informally.
“Most of the stuff that at least I post has to do with vacations or trips or prom, that kind of thing,” Kavanaugh said. “It’s not really ‘just had dinner with my friends’ even if I want it to be.”
For Kavanaugh, the result is a feed centered around big moments rather than just simple, everyday life. She doesn’t necessarily follow a specific aesthetic, although she wishes she would.
Sophomore Airi Oka takes a more flexible approach to Instagram. She says her degree of polishedness depends on what she is posting. Special occasions, such as birthdays or homecoming, might receive a more crafted post. Meanwhile, days on the beach with friends can be posted onto her account without much thought.
When asked about if her feed follows a certain vibe, Oka said her posts tend to lean towards a more consistent theme. “A lot of sunsets, sunset posts. I would say I would put them on my main or my stories or with my friends usually,” Oka said.
While some may take time and dedication to think about the look and feel of their feeds, junior Stella Huang takes a much more relaxed approach. With her account set to private, she doesn’t feel pressure to impress a large audience.
“It’s not like I’m gonna get clout from it because only my followers can see what I post,” Huang said.
Although Huang respects those who take Instagram seriously, she worries about Instagram becoming increasingly performative.
“If it’s one or the other, I’d rather people be more casual about it because then when people are too serious about it, they turn into corporate. And corporate reels are bad,” Huang said.
Junior Julian Gilmartin shares a similar strategy, posting whatever he finds interesting without worrying much about how his feed looks. “Whatever I post is just like whatever I find, whatever I think is cool,” Gilmartin says.
For students, there isn’t one simple formula for running an Instagram. Everyone takes different approaches, whether that means posting solely around important milestones, or simple sunsets and friends. Regardless of whether a student spends 20 minutes choosing the perfect photo or posts a random one from their camera roll, the point of Instagram is the same: to show a version of life that feels authentic to them.
