But how and why was this trend born?

Since the Summer of 2021, Pop Stars and rappers have begun to publish “authentic” photos in order to demonstrate a certain “authenticity” in their million-dollar lives: situations that happen to everyone, sometimes absurd, funny or unseemly.

The sense of dump posting is just that, to humanize one’s own feed in order to show oneself “without filters” and at the limits of embarrassment; a concept that perhaps is fine if linked to the life of a Star.

 

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Un post condiviso da snoopdogg (@snoopdogg)

But in our “simple” lives, what role does this trend play?

Dumping has spread as a counterpoint to the millions of Instagram posts flaunting money, upper class living, luxury cars, sculptural bodies in exclusive locations, designer clothes, Rolex bust downs and bottles of Dom Perignon Luminous;

 

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Un post condiviso da 50 Cent (@50cent)

Its ancestor is the photo album uploaded to Facebook, posted by social neophytes, who in addition to not having any kind of basic photographic notion, were also devoid of any kind of digital aesthetics.

Not only that, the dear old cell phones took photos that left something to be desired, and the first digital cameras never did the photos justice in terms of resolution and lighting.

It all resulted in a vacation album that was published half-assed, with no selection between interesting photos and trash. But it was all the result of pre-digitization times.

How does this type of expression appear today, devoid of aesthetics and a bit naïve? Certainly less spontaneous than the dear old FB gallery, more forced and homologated.

The “Show Off” of Instagram has gone to the next level, discouraging what was once defined as “unpublishable” and destined to be trashed.

The result is a feed of “junk” that is supposed to distinguish being “cool” (?) from those who flaunt a poser’s life.

But are we sure this is really the case?

WORDS: Manuela Palma