If you are unaware, a finsta is a “fake instagram” account where users can post unfiltered pictures and captions to a select group of people; explicit or personal content is effectively hidden from potential critics including relatives, enemies, ex-lovers, and anyone else unapproved by its owner. The finsta trend has gained popularity recently, so much so that it seems like EVERYONE has a finsta. What used to be an occasional source of entertainment has become my entire instagram feed.
I can’t say whether I like the trend or not. I definitely see my peers in a new light. By following their accounts I am now privy to information regarding their hookups and first experiences (or frequent usage) of drugs and alcohol and their emotional ups and downs. I know about their families and fights with their friends and conflicts with their roommates. And I have the opportunity to give support or disagree or relate--and to seek the same for myself. Especially going off to college, finstas can be a positive thing: a source of support and entertainment, assurance that someone else is going through the same thing.
Yet, the problem with finstas is that we need them in the first place. Social media has become so filtered and edited that we now need alternative accounts to say and show how we really feel. Social media platforms are filled with pictures of smiling faces and groups going out and roommate appreciation posts that mask the tears someone just cried because they miss their family or the awkward silences that we all face (especially at the beginning).
As a freshman, it’s almost a competition: who can look the most put together, who can have the most friends, who can go to the most parties. It sounds stupid, but it is a pressure so real that many go to great lengths to make their life look great--or even worse, feel that their lives are inadequate because they’re not always having fun or going out every night or making an unlimited amount of friends. Social media has become a source of insecurity because it is impossible to live up to a lie.
There is no denying the positive power of social media--its ability to serve as a support system is evidenced by the finsta world--but it must be harnessed in the correct way. There is no reason that social media should be so polarized--only showcasing our successes and smiles--while completely casting aside our struggles and conflicts and everything inbetween.
