Social Media Baggage
After another weekend on a typical college campus, the Tweets, Instagram pictures and Snapchats have clearly revealed what students think was yet another great weekend. Pictures capturing moments from the previous nights’ adventures are everywhere…for everyone to see…until the end of time. Our social media baggage will carry with us for years to come. This is nothing new. We have all heard this before.
Now, some believe that finstas are the solution to this social media baggage problem. I beg to differ.
First, what exactly is a finsta? According to Urban Dictionary, a finsta is “A fake instagram account, so one can post ratchet pictures without persecution from sororities, jobs and society as a whole.” I agree that having something that allows you to show the world who you really are sounds like a nice idea; however, why would you want to post something so “ratchet” that you fear that “society as a whole” would judge you for it? Shouldn’t that be your first clue to not post the picture?
Also, even if you think you have made the most secure finsta with no ties to you as a real person, you probably forgot one thing…your face is a pretty good indicator of your identity. Face recognition software is a real thing. If it isn’t already happening, it wouldn’t be hard to develop a program to scan a picture of your face and cross compare it to Instagram accounts to find other accounts or pictures with your face in it. Therefore, making that finsta not so separate from your real social media footprint.
