Let’s talk about finsta:

What are its implications for the Millennials and Post Millennials?

As the forms and functions of social media evolve, a considerable number of debates and concerns have been raised over the relationship between social media and Millenials as well as post-Millennials generations now. Studies have also shown that there are both positive and negative impacts, from psychological to social, associated with the use of online social platforms. In spite of that, as online socialization has already merged with our every day’s interaction with the community, people, therefore, develop various strategies to cope with the problems that came along with the use of the social media.

“Finsta” is one of them.

This is a not-so-recent trend that has been continuously spotted among the Millennials and post-Millennials, specifically people at the age of 13 to 28. (Given that the official legal age of using Instagram is 13.) But my focus here is not to give you a list of the impacts of using finsta or social media; I am here to discuss the psychological, personal, and social implications of it and in particular, to the millennials as well as post-millennials.

(This is my personal real Instagram and finstagram FYI.)

Before explaining the implications, it is crucial to clarify what I mean by finsta and the usages of it. For those who are not familiar with this terminology, Urban Dictionary defines ‘finsta’ as “a combination of the words Fake & Instagram (Finstagram)…Finstas are mainly kept private and have funny or clever usernames.” In short, it is a private Instagram that people use to separate their social circles, through allowing a limited number of close friends to follow, and post instantaneous photos that often have fewer edits. On the other hand, you still own the “rinstagram” (real instagram), which is the official Instagram account that you use first and allow people that you are not so close with to follow.

Supposedly, in finsta, you post them without worrying about people’s judgements. The majority of the creators are usually women with a few exceptions of male users.

So why do people use #finsta? Speaking from my experience as a heavy finsta user as well as after examining several sources, people mainly use it for the following reasons:

1. Finsta is where people can record your daily life without the fear of spamming people. You are also essentially updating your friends’ circle with your mental well-being, emotions, or just any small little thing that you encountered in life.
2. You are given the opportunity to post an unfiltered or minimally edited photo, without worrying about how your choice of VSCO or afterlight filter might not be consistent with your other Instagram feeds.
3. You can also avoid spying from your parents, future employers, and schoolmates that you don’t know.
4. Through posting your feelings, regardless of whether that is a crying selfie or hangover face, you are validating your feelings, which is beneficial to mental health.

There are, of course, oppositions against the finsta phenomenon. In parents’ perspective especially, finsta is almost like hidden heaven for teenagers, in particular, to “celebrate their social improprieties,” ranging from posting drunk (while being underage) photos that were taken at parties, cyberbullying other peers, to even making racist comments using private accounts. To the parents, finsta is just another modern version of the “bygone days when kids would write notes to friends at school and hide under the bed.” (Varma-White) Due to the anonymity of the accounts, they are said to be “carefree” and bear no consequences when uploading the contents.

Psychologically, it is even more beneficial for the young generations to have a closer and smaller online social group.

With finsta, you no longer feel obligated to follow acquaintances who you met at parties or the awkward classmates that you barely talk to outside of classes. All you follow and care about are the “real friends” that you have in real life. A research done by Pace University has suggested that more frequent Instagram use has negative associations with social comparison and depressive symptoms for people who follow more strangers, but positive for those who follow less. (Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal) In other words, as people spend more time on using finsta and following only close friends, chances that they focus more on themselves and maintain existing friendships will be higher and therefore less likely to be associated with depression.

Besides the security and focus given by the intimate feature of finsta, the fact that people use almost on a daily basis to record their little moments of life is also helpful for them to maintain healthy mental health. According to a study done at Cornell, writing about your most genuine feelings and journaling your life events on Instagram allow you to reflect on your life and the experiences later on, eventually helps you to develop your inner-self and self-consciousness(Wang, Lee, & Hou).

Though the creators of finsta might not realize, the intrinsic motive behind opening a new account and allowing only a small group of friends to follow is that they are still searching for the reassurance, validation, and attention from your social circles. As they have to follow the unwritten “Instagram etiquette” when posting on their real Instagram, they might endure the anxiety of posting the right photo with best filter and captions. These, however, ironically discourages them from actually sharing their life — as opposed to the mission of Instagram “capturing and sharing the world’s moments” (Wilson). Within the finsta community, one can post an unfiltered photos with a caption about his or her instant reaction. In the other words, finsta owners can express their true self freely. This idea seems to be a remedy to the often-criticized phenomenon that people are using their (real) Instagram accounts as Business Card and personal branding tools

However, the idea of double identity, in fact, emerged before the creation of social media. Humans naturally behave differently in front of people with different levels of intimacy and social interactions, just like you speak differently when you are at work as opposed to at home with family members. It is normal to have multiple identities and the existence of finsta actually helps people to separate their identities (Brown). The only concern here is the discrepancy between the public self (you on your real Instagram) and the private self (your finsta). Too large of the discrepancy can lead to conflicting mentality and therefore self-doubts. Though, a well-polished real Instagram does not necessarily mean that you are a fake person. According to the famous psychologist Erik Erikson, your public self (real Instagram) can be seen as a display of your ideal version of self, and that can become your source of motivation and aspiration to work on improving yourself (Oswalt).That said, even if setting up a finsta can help with your social media mental illness, what truly matters is to have control on your mind when you are scrolling through Instagram and posting photos.

The commercialization of the social media might sound like an irrelevant contributor, though, it does have a considerable indirect impact on the increasing popularity of the use of finsta.

Even before the introduction of new “sponsored contents” feature (this function allows advertisers to post their products on your feed, even you do not follow their accounts), advertisers have been paying the celebrities, fashion or fitness bloggers, to post a “perfect” photo with their products in it. This action perhaps is the beginning of the “Online Perfection” trend and yet what’s worse is that celebrities are usually the role models or standards of “beauty” of the millennials or even younger teenagers. Looking at the perfect hair (after using fancy shampoos) or flawless skin (with the highest coverage newest foundation), Instagram users may develop insecurity because of the so-called standard beauty. The advertisers and celebrities also instil the materialistic mentality to the unconscious Instagram users, along with the cultural materialism, creating more pressures for the millennials. Undoubtedly, to avoid social comparison or these “triggering” contents, people turn to finsta and cherish their very last Instagram freedom.

Undoubtedly, on a personal level, Instagram is an inclusive platform that allows everyone to post photos and that not only validates our emotions, but also fulfils our attention need by making sure your photo is seen by everyone.

This intention is healthy — until people start to feel obligated to post instantly (aka “Insta”-gram) and feel incomplete when they do not post their life events on Instagram. Just like Facebook, the owner of Instagram, we give up our privacy in exchange for free photo sharing service. In this sense, as people become more aware of their value of privacy, they might choose to post on their finsta, instead of displaying them to the public.

Also, when we are talking about social comparison, we have to be aware of two types of social comparison: positive ones that provide mentoring and inspiration for us and negative on that brings in anxiety.

On Instagram, you think you are being compared, and thus you compare yourself with others too, which results in negative social comparison, when it comes to online socialization, often only your Internet persona is being embraced — rather than you as a person in real life. This is why people are getting upset on social media and are seeking for alternatives like finsta. It is crucial for us to recognize the fact that social media is a double-edged sword: you see a broader world through the lens of others, but whether that is the reality and how do you deal with it are equally important for us to consider. Finsta is not a remedy to the phenomena of overbranding of online personas but the presence of finsta, however, should be a reminder for us to reflect on our use of social media.

Bibliography

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