As you all know, pretty much everyone has an Instagram account. What you also probably know is that more and more people are creating another Instagram account for themselves and are calling it a “Finstagram” aka “Finsta”. Incase you don’t know what Instagram is I’ll briefly describe it to you; it’s a social media networking app that people use to post pictures of themselves, friends, work, food, etc. And if you don’t know what a Finsta is, it’s a fake Instagram.

What’s the point of having a finsta? Not really sure but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have one. With that being said, I don’t use it to portray myself as a crazy, mean, bully like some others I have seen. People have finstas because it’s where they post things that they don’t particularly want certain people — jobs, parents, family, etc — to see. It's for only their closest friends to see. They wouldn’t post a screenshot of them bitching out their boyfriend on their real Instagram, but they will on their finsta for whatever reason. Now, like I said I do have one but I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I believe that it’s okay for someone to publicly humiliate and dehumanize another person just to get a few likes. That’s incredibly disgusting and I don’t think that should be what finstas are for.

Finstas should be where you can post things you don’t want certain people to see, but it shouldn’t be things that you assume that they won’t see. HELLO PEOPLE SCREEN SHOT. Anyways, I think it could be used for jokes and funny stories that some people may not want to be annoyed with when following your real Instagram, this is how I use it. I post an ugly photo of myself, and then have a paragraph-long caption that describes how bad my day was or something that happened to me. I use it to be funny, not to bully people. I’ve seen way too many friendships and relationships exposed and ruined because of finstas. COME ON PEOPLE THIS IS SOCIAL MEDIA GROW UP.

The real question is, are real Instagrams portraying the fake side of people and the Finstas are portraying their true colors? I mean, people on Instagram post flawless, well-edited pictures of themselves for all of their followers to see, and more if they’re not private. This is just a message to everyone that you literally should never assume ANYTHING about someone based on the pictures they post or the things they say because it’s always sugar-coated. Unless of course it’s on their finsta, then they could be portraying their true selves and personalities.

What people should also take into consideration when you have a finsta, or any type of social media is that it doesn’t go away. You can post something and delete it but as soon as it’s on the internet it will never go away. Our parents tell us our whole lives not to post anything we don’t want future employers to see, so just because your finsta may be private that doesn’t mean that someone can’t figure out how to see it. Lets just use finstas for funny, annoying posts, not to hurt someone’s feelings because you think it’s funny.