A couple of years ago a trend emerged on social media that was met with much controversy: the "finsta", or as my mother says, the "fake Instagram". While one's normal Instagram account is perfectly ordered with a clear aesthetic and clever bio and features photos carefully selected and timed out, a "finsta" will be filled with the story of what really happened that night you took the cute picture.

Initially, I myself was totally against the concept of a "finsta". I viewed it as a way to post on social media without the stress of worrying about "likes" or about the image that it creates, or as an opportunity for people to tell crazy partying stories to an audience larger and more anonymous than a group chat. In a way, I had viewed it as more image-preserving than a normal Instagram: no stressing about likes and the opportunity to show a still fabricated "real" form of one's self.

However, after getting to college I noticed for the first couple of weeks how posed the "first week of college" photos looked. Kids I had grown up with were standing with groups of new friends in front of new backgrounds. I found that going to people's finsta accounts became a good way of telling how they were actually doing. The finsta was where they posted their stress about classes, their fun stories about new friends, and generally reflected on their first couple weeks living on their own. While I could always text my friends and find out this information directly from them, finstas were helpful for those quick updates or for people that I hadn't been as close with but still wondered about and cared for. As initially skeptical as I had been of the finsta trend, I've really found it growing on me lately. I have begun to see it more as a place where people can feel freer to share their actual feelings and experiences in a more informal way.

It took me a while to get to this place, but I know understand the power of "fake" instagrams to allow people to be their most "real" selves.