Most likely if you're living with Internet connection and an iPhone in the 21st century, which I assume many of you are if you're reading this, then you're familiar with the app Instagram. Instagram is a social media platform primarily for sharing pictures that has taken off in the last five years or so. It started as a good photo sharing platform for photographers and eventually got taken over by teenage girls posting pictures with their friends, selfies of their new haircuts, and artsy pictures of their college campuses. For people today Instagram is their main social media account. It's how they portray their life to the world; it's an image of themselves that they can create. So naturally, one wants to create the idea of perfection.

I truly can't explain to you the amount of time that the average person puts into their Instagram photos. First they have to edit it on VSCO (another photo sharing app), then they have to re-edit that edit on Instagram. People often make a few different possible edits, then they proceed to share them with their friends in order to determine which one is the best.

"Don't use the Mayfair filter or people will know you edited it to make you look tan, but don't leave the photo with a filter that makes you look just as pale as you really are."

Once the picture with the best editing is successfully chosen, one must then determine a caption.

"Don't use basic song lyrics but also don't use lyrics that nobody would know. Actually scratch that, don't use lyrics at all that is soooo sophomore year of high school."

Make your caption clever but also like you didn't put as much thought into it as you did. Most importantly don't use too many hashtags because then you'll just look "thirsty for likes." Make sure to switch over to your feed after posting and like everyone else's recent pictures. Like for like, right! Lastly, make sure you're posting your picture at what people call "prime time." This is usually between the hours of 8:00 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. so that way when people check the app before bed they'll be sure to catch your picture and up your like ratio.

I may have presented "the rules of posting a popular Instagram" above in a sarcastic manner, but I assure you those are all real life occurrences that happen when people go to post Instagrams. Maybe not every person puts that much thought into it but I do know many people who do. I think the pressure that we put on ourselves to get likes on our Instagram is what has caused an uprise of "Finstas" or "Finstagrams," an abbreviation of the words "Fake Instagram."

A "Fake Instagram" is when someone has a second Instagram account, a fake account that takes place behind the scenes of their real account. The general idea is that these accounts are where people post pictures and videos from their nights out partying without it being seen on their real account. However, that is a broad generalization. A "Finsta" encompasses so many more aspects of life than just nights out. A Finsta is an honest representation of one's true self to the world. It's a protected account only shared with close friends and followers. It's the place where you can post your not double or triple but quadruple chin selfie and hashtag that you're beautiful the way you are. It's the place where you can talk about your day without sugarcoating the fact that the first thing you did this morning was step in dog vomit. A Finsta is made in good humor with a judgement free zone. But why do we feel the need to document our lives on the Internet, a not so private place?

I think the obsession with social media is really a psychological human trait that goes back many centuries. I would argue that a Finsta is merely just the technological ages' version of a diary. Humanity for centuries has felt the need to document their everyday lives, thoughts and feelings on paper and pen. Now, people have taken to doing so just with different tools: their iPhone. There is a validating property in taking note of your daily life, it puts things into perspective and solidifies it. People have had a habit of doing this for hundreds of years and this is merely an adaptation.

I asked people why they felt the need to have a Finsta. Many of the replies were similar; people wanted a space where they felt they could truly be themselves. Here are just a few of the replies I compiled all from friends about 17-20 years old:

People make Finstas to reveal their true selves and to show off their weird side.

I think people make Finstas because there's no rules or judgements and they know the friends who follow them won't judge. You can post whatever you want and it's more real than Instagram pictures because usually you don't edit and they are usually funny as well.

Often times Instagram is stressful because we can't help but worrying about likes or getting the perfect picture. Insta is more about creating a certain image for yourself while Finsta allows you to be silly. Most people you let follow you are your close friends so you feel that you can be more of yourself, which is what Instagram should really be like. Finsta is more real than Insta, and that's the appeal.

This leaves me with one question: Which one really is the Fake Instagram?