The Finstagram Phenomenon: Is This The Next Big Social Media Trend?

The age old struggle of the 21st century: how can one avoid being fraudulently optimistic on social media without also being a total downer on someone's timeline. Or worse, a completely dramatic over-poster. Finding balance in the digital age is difficult - but in the end, every self-aware internet native is going through the same struggle as you. 

Luckily, the genius minds of our generation have come up with a consolation prize to the un-winnable fight that is being a thoughtful yet fun millennial. Enter: Finstagrams! A finstagram (which is short for a fake Instagram) is a secondary account on Instagram that a user makes exclusively for their close (read: real) friends. Then said user proceeds to post unflattering yet accurate (and most of the time hilarious) posts about their daily life so their crew can laugh with them about life's trials and tribulations that don't normally make it to feeds. 

Finstagrams are, at the risk of being far too earnest, a glimmer of mundane and unflattering hope. They infiltrate Instagram, a place where even the #nofilter hashtag is wrapped up and delivered with a lovely little bow of a caption and an inexhaustible positivity. But if you're following your BFF's finsta, your feed full of sunset pics and filtered selfies will be interrupted by a grainy picture of the old man that she encountered on her commute home wearing a distressed denim hat that reads "Send Nudes." And, because of this, you'll be reminded that other people aren't actually living non-stop sunsets and flattering angles. Now that's inspirational.

[Photo via @vanellimelli]