Instagram Instants Brings Back the App's Casual, Simple Roots

When it first came around in 2010, Instagram was a very casual space, requiring very little effort from its users. It was a place where one could take a photo, choose from a few filters (there were just a handful), and just share it with friends online. I personally have not known that side of Instagram. While I am millennial through and through, I was late to the party and joined the Instagram bandwagon post its Zuckerberg-fication.

Meta bought Instagram in 2012, and ever since then, the social media platform has been going through a constant upgrade. Unlike Facebook, which many argue has now become the go-to social media platform for boomers, Meta has managed to preserve the youth of Instagram. Today, Instagram remains one of the few social media platforms that has stood the test of time and has managed to stay relevant even through the highs and lows of the social media world. It has helped many unleash their creativity and also kept many engaged through the pandemic, a very difficult time for the world.

Instagram and the feature OD

Since its takeover, Meta has been adding new features to Instagram over the years, one after another. I remember when Instagram added features like Stories, Reels, and created a full-blown ‘For you’ page, and how it felt almost wrong that the platform was so blatantly copying the features of other social media platforms.

Following the Meta takeover, Instagram went from being a fairly simple photo-sharing app that connected friends and acquaintances to an app loaded with features and influencers, brands, trends, and algorithms. It became the birthplace of minor celebs and influencers with followers in the millions, sharing mini vlogs, snippets, sketches, dance videos, advice, tutorials, opinions - basically everything and anything. All of these changes over the years have at times made The Gram a very curated, arduous space where every photo, video, or even 24-hour stories are carefully captured, edited, and posted on a schedule.

Lighting, transitions, equipment, and mics all have become part of our everyday life and language thanks to Instagram. Life on the Gram is no longer quick, casual, or simple, and seems targeted at a larger audience than just your friends.

Instant(s)-ly Refreshing. Pun Intended.

Which is why Instagram’s newly launched feature - Instants - comes as a breath of fresh air. This new feature is low effort, casual, and as Instagram itself puts it, “ephemeral.” Just like Instagram used to be. If you are not familiar, it is a very simple way to share everyday slices of your life with your close friends or mutuals (followers you follow back) using quick snaps. Unlike most other updates from friends and the people that you follow on the app, Instants does not appear on the home page or create a special page of its own or even hog regular app space - it instead sits quietly, hidden in your DMs, peering out from a corner.

And it is unbelievably easy to use. Far from the workings of regular postings on Instagram that give users a plethora of filter and edit options (there are AI filters on the app now too), as well as the ability to take and retake and obsess over who interacted with their post, Instants keeps things incredibly simple. It is so simple to use that you end up using it without realizing it.

When I first used the feature, I accidentally posted random, accidentally clicked photos. And I was not the only one. No one expected an Instagram feature to be so quick, so simple, and so easy to use. If not for the ability to delete photos that you have uploaded on Instants, the feature almost seems unforgiving, but once you understand the workings of it, it actually becomes an extremely effortless way to share slices of everyday life with your friends. Those who still have not come around yet and dislike its spontaneity can turn the feature off.

Instants Delight…and Bringing Back Those Classic Gram Feels

I, for one, enjoy taking random photos. And forgetting about them. It feels quite nice to see updates from friends and family that disappear after a quick glance. The feature does not offer any edits apart from the ability to add captions. Also, unlike Stories, you have to put the caption first and then add the photo. The feature does allow some engagement - those whom you allow to see these quick photos can react, reply, and even share them, and like Stories, they cannot be viewed after 24 hours. Instants cannot be screenshotted either. There is an Instants app as well, which gives quicker access to the feature, but for me, it works better as a built-in feature than a standalone app.

Best of all, when most of Instagram forces me to overthink, undershare, calculate, and compare, this one feature offers some respite. Seeing my friends share everyday photos that actually feel like a snippet out of their day makes me feel more connected to the person instead of seeing some well-edited posts. This in no way means that people should stop curating, creating, or paying attention to little details in what they post on Instagram. I enjoy art that comes with all that effort, too. But Instants does make Instagram slightly more casual, a little more comfortable, and feel more intimate.

I may not have been on Instagram when it started out and was a much simpler photo-sharing platform, but Instants in a way reminds me of how it must have been at one time - just an app to share images with friends.