Our generation is defined by the creation and explosion of social media. Sending streaks photos and casually swiping through Instagram posts has become an extremely normal way to kill a few minutes of spare time. Over the years the birthday posts, ranging from "stay off the roads" to legal #18" to "#nastynineteen", quickly build up before we even realized how much time has past. But the real question is: when do the birthday posts stop? Nowadays I roll my eyes at any adult (even my mom) when they try and work Instagram, but I've never thought about what happens when I'm her age...does that automatically mean I must deactivate my account? Is there a certain birthday which dictates that it is no longer okay to post bikini pics on vacation, or dysfunctional group photos with friends?

Just because you may look good in your 40th birthday face-tuned and filtered Instagram selfie, doesn't mean the app has aged just as well.

pc https://www.insider.com/instagram-influencer-reali...

While growing old and operating Instagram is a questionable topic, what happens to the children who were born with an Instagram account? There are so many accounts created under the name of the newborn baby by young parents, famous couples, or just regular moms trying to show off their adorable baby. While these are my favorite accounts to stalk to awe at the adorable babies...what happens when that baby is at the age where creating an Instagram account is appropriate? 13 year old me creating my instagram account, "meghank456" of course, would have found it totally lame if my mom had been running an account for me since I was a baby. In addition, imagine being able to stalk your own Instagram page, that you have never personally posted on, and literally see your own life in squares, starting from the day you were born.

I pose these questions as a reminder to the words that were drilled into our heads from a young age about posting on the internet: once its posted, its there forever. I personally would not want to be able to search up an Instagram account under my name that my mom created and see pictures of my awkward brace-face teenager phase, but middle school me m

Both these dilemmas have no singular answer, and if they do, I'm not the one to argue it, as I will 100% be the mom posting bikini pics in Mexico with my kids while simultaneously updating each of their accounts with charming beach pics of their own. I pose these questions to shift the focus from which vsco filter you should use, or which cover shot looks best of your feed, to what pictures would I want on the Internet 20 years from now, or which baby photos would I have been comfortable with my mom sharing for anyone to see 20 year ago. The typical teenage girl has probably changed one of her social media bios to "my life in squares" at least one point in her life, but soon enough, as Instagram shifts to define our generation as old, and the generation of our children as new, accounts may truly represent one's life in squares.

pc @everleighrose on instagram