Finstagrams are “private” Instagrams meant only for your closest friends. Many kids just refer to them as their private Instagram account. Here’s the definition from the Urban Dictionary:
“Finstagram, finsta for short, is a mixture of Fake & Instagram. People, usually girls, get a second Instagram account along with their real instagrams, rinstagrams, to post any pictures or videos they desire. The photos or videos posted are usually funny
or embarrassing. Only your closest friends follow this account."
Teens create Finstagrams to have a place where they can be themselves with only their “closest” friends. I talked to a 13-year old named Maya who has two accounts, as do most of her friends. Her Finstagram account has 70 friends while her main “public” account has 800. Maya’s Finsta-friends are people she may regularly hang out with at school or on weekends. Her regular account is not truly public in that she has to accept each person. She says she only accepts people that she knows are at least friends of friends.
Maya only has about a dozen pictures on her regular account, posting maybe once a month. According to her, the types of pictures she puts up have to be “really good.” Every picture is not necessarily a selfie, but each photo is a “beautiful” or artsy shot, whether it is a sunset or a picture of herself that she feels confident people will like. On the other hand, she posts pictures to her Finstagram page every other day. These can be silly shots, or moments that she wants to share with her closest friends. These people on her regular account “get” her and she says she doesn’t feel judged by them so she’s willing to put up many more pictures. She also uses her Finstagram page to communicate to the wider group things like meeting up to hang out downtown. Maya says communicating via Instagram versus group text is easier when you don’t want to get notified over and over, and go back and forth with people.
Ahhh… the intricate life of a teen.
So, today for Tech Talk Tuesday lets talk about private vs public accounts:
October 17, 2016
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Finstagrams are “private” Instagrams meant only for your closest friends. Many kids just refer to them as their private Instagram account. Here’s the definition from the Urban Dictionary:
“Finstagram, finsta for short, is a mixture of Fake & Instagram. People, usually girls, get a second Instagram account along with their real instagrams, rinstagrams, to post any pictures or videos they desire. The photos or videos posted are usually funny
or embarrassing. Only your closest friends follow this account."
Teens create Finstagrams to have a place where they can be themselves with only their “closest” friends. I talked to a 13-year old named Maya who has two accounts, as do most of her friends. Her Finstagram account has 70 friends while her main “public” account has 800. Maya’s Finsta-friends are people she may regularly hang out with at school or on weekends. Her regular account is not truly public in that she has to accept each person. She says she only accepts people that she knows are at least friends of friends.
Maya only has about a dozen pictures on her regular account, posting maybe once a month. According to her, the types of pictures she puts up have to be “really good.” Every picture is not necessarily a selfie, but each photo is a “beautiful” or artsy shot, whether it is a sunset or a picture of herself that she feels confident people will like. On the other hand, she posts pictures to her Finstagram page every other day. These can be silly shots, or moments that she wants to share with her closest friends. These people on her regular account “get” her and she says she doesn’t feel judged by them so she’s willing to put up many more pictures. She also uses her Finstagram page to communicate to the wider group things like meeting up to hang out downtown. Maya says communicating via Instagram versus group text is easier when you don’t want to get notified over and over, and go back and forth with people.
Ahhh… the intricate life of a teen.
So, today for Tech Talk Tuesday lets talk about private vs public accounts:
October 17, 2016
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Many young people are overwhelmed by constant social media use, which can displace important activities like sleep, schoolwork, and friendships. Over 200 school districts are suing platforms like Meta for harms related to social media addiction. The blog covers what problematic social media use is from a clinical perspective and how our kids can talk with a friend (or family member) if they are worried their friend might have some level of problematic use.
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A week ago, Instagram announced changes to its rules for “Teen Accounts.” All new teen users will be defaulted into these accounts, and current teen users will transition over the next two months. Instagram’s head of Products, discussed these changes, and one comment surprised me. She mentioned that teens aged 13 to 16 will need parental permission to have a public account, hoping this would encourage dialogue between teens and parents about social media use. However, I feel this still puts too much responsibility on parents when we need broader societal solutions. I discuss this and the rest of the changes in today's blog.
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We have created a table that compares the 4 most common social media platforms and the specific ways they are similar and different. Spoiler alert, they are way more similar than different. It makes perfect sense since companies see what young people use on other apps and incorporate such features into their own apps.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
