How Instagram Replaced Aspiration With Performative Relatability

Instagram has been a platform of the unattainable, with highly curated luxury and the message, “This could be you,” but with the growth of social media, the digital landscape has undergone a major change. The gloss and glory of curated luxury are fading and are being replaced by the performance of relatability. The era of influencers has shifted towards creators who behave like ordinary users.

The transition has been driven by the force of User Generated Content (UGC). Traditional advertising on social media has been slowly replaced by UGC as marketing discovered that UGC has a bigger impact than traditional ads because it feels more native to the audience. When a creator films in a messy room or shares stories from their life speaking directly to a shaky camera while recording their daily GRWM (Get ready with me) videos, it presents a message of “I am just like you." Yet even the realness is often a very calculated choice.

In this era, an individual is no longer separate from the brand; they become the content. Each creator has a niche: fashion, comedy, wellness, fitness, or art. They never shift from one niche to another; if they do, it might not work out for them or their brand image. Identities are reduced to aesthetics or “cores” designed to fit specific audience archetypes. Everything is about Instagram metrics and algorithms, as the primary goal remains account growth rather than personal connection.

The quest for relatability often veers into deception on Instagram. Some influencers are accused of making a fake narrative of struggle or poverty to sell the performance of relatability while secretly living an elite lifestyle. Many Instagram influencers have been accused of cooking up stories just for views and even using a theme of sadness to gain sympathy and support. Reddit forums frequently discuss how influencers manufacture stories for engagement. They are faking stories, faking life struggles, or even faking their work.

Many influencers have been accused of stealing work from other artists, passing it off as their own to gain a following. Even if they are privileged, they cosplay not just to be relatable. Another use of social media is to brag about wealth under the guise of self-care after a stressful day, using hooks like, “I had such a hard day; come with me for some retail therapy," which many users consider incredibly tone-deaf. This performative relatability is used purely for advertising and engagement.

The constant performance has altered how one experiences life. People are more about curating the “perfect candid” moments or creating content from experiences. People focus more on how they want to live the moment rather than actually living the moment, even if they are enjoying it. Meticulously planned candids and real life interrupted by cameras for the “perfect” sunset after hundreds of photos taken for that one “effortless” Instagram post.

The result? A constant sense of burnout. Over time, people realize how strange and harmful this endless self-promotion is. One user on Reddit, ThrowRAchristmastime, compared the experience on Instagram to scrolling through a “highly addictive coupon book."

This led us to a critical question: Whom is the Performance For?

If everyone is performing their version of “realness and relatability” for the algorithm, is the performance even acceptable? While influencers and creators have traded the unreachable heights of luxury for the “just like us” narrative, the stage remains the same, with “relatability” being a mere sophisticated performance.