We love that Instagram can give us a snapshot into the lives of our friends, family and favorite celebrities. It’s our go-to social media app for showing off our photography skills, sharing our fab selfies and celebrating weekly holidays (who doesn’t love a good #mancrushmonday?). However, there are a few overused trends we could do without. Here’s our guide to the 10 most clichéd Instagram photos you should probably stop posting.
1. The #ThrowbackThursday... from last week
“#tbt to last weekend with my favorite ladies!”
Contrary to popular belief, #ThrowbackThursday is not an excuse to post a photo of you and your friends at the bar last Friday. A true throwback should be from years ago (not weeks!). While a cute baby picture of you and your siblings is adorable, reposting a photo from last month’s spring break is just repetitive.
2. The “studying for finals” photo with laptop and notes
“#finals #studying #workinghard”
What better way to show everyone how hard you’re studying for finals than to spend time arranging your study items, taking a photo of them, editing that photo and uploading it to show off all the work you’re (not) doing? While you’re at it, we’d appreciate it if you refrained from posting woe-is-me finals week Facebook statuses, too.
3. The unnecessary food photo
“I’m basically housewife material #omnomnom”
There are Instagram-worthy meals, and then there are the filtered photos of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the caption #housewifestatus. While the meal you just made for yourself may be delicious, the only food we want to see on our Instagram feeds are those jealousy-inducing pics that could be classified as #foodporn.
4. The Starbucks cup
“Starting the day off right with a #Starbucks latte.”
We’re willing to bet that every college girl has posted a photo of that green logo at least once. Although it can be tempting to share your excitement about the Frappuccino you’re about to consume, once you’ve seen one Starbucks drink on Instagram, you’ve seen them all. We promise Instagram will survive without one more photo of a misspelled name on a plastic cup.
5. The beach vacation
“I could get used to this. #paradise”
If you spend your spring break on the beach without Instagramming a photo of your legs in the sand, did you really go to the beach? Instead of succumbing to the trend, why not try taking a different approach? Take a pic of you in the water, jumping on the beach, building a sandcastle, etc. The photo ops are endless!
6. The text message screenshot
“I love my friends lol”
The inside joke between you and your friends may be hilarious, but to the rest of your followers, it’s just a random text post in between photos of puppies and pancakes. And after all, doesn’t posting an inside joke on social media kind of defeat the purpose?
7. The post-workout pic
“Just had the best #workout! #feelinggood #fitness”
This falls under the same category as tweeting about your workout. We’re happy that you’re getting fit, but if we see one more gym selfie, we’re going to give our thumb a workout and keep scrolling.
8. The airplane wing
“What a view. #flyinghigh #travel”
This is the best way to say, “Look, I’m traveling somewhere cool and exciting!” without actually saying it. Life may be about the journey and not the destination, but we’d much rather see pictures of where you’re going than photos taken from the seat of a plane.
9. The sunset
“Sunset on the drive home from work. #nature #nofilter”
Quick, take a picture of the sun before it goes down so you can post it on Instagram for everyone who hasn’t looked outside! As amazing as the sunset may be in person, it just doesn’t have the same effect when seen on a tiny phone screen.
10. The #nofilter #nomakeup selfie
“Just woke up! #nofilter #nomakeup #selfie”
This type of selfie is posted for one of two reasons: either you look amazing sans makeup and you want everyone to know it, or you edited the photo with three different apps to make people think you #wokeuplikethis. Either way, enough is enough.
The key to having an on-point Instagram feed is creativity. Next time, resist the clichés and put your own unique twist on your photos!