Picture this: I make my favorite cozy meal, spaghetti and meatballs. I begin to carry the heaping pile of pasta from the stove to the table. In one sweep, I trip and fall on the ground. But miraculously, my glorious noodles survive. Rather than complain about the stain on my shirt, I eagerly take a funny picture and share this story on my finsta.

The finsta: a private Instagram account where people post funny stories and pictures, rant about school and share small victories throughout their day. In short, finstas serve as a place to share the bloopers of one’s life.

The accounts have been made fun of and discouraged by Comedy Troupe and The Odyssey Online alike just for being a place to show off explicit behavior or complain about mundanities. Yet these ‘fake’ accounts can have a positive influence on our perceptions of others.      Social media sites like Instagram have the reputation of portraying a person’s life to be pristine and stress-free. A guy might post an action shot from football, a sweet anniversary picture with his girlfriend, or him and his dudes at a party. A girl might post a “candid” laughing picture from Homecoming, then one from her vacation in Mexico and, of course, an artsy picture of an açaí bowl for good measure.

And here enters the finsta to shatter the illusion. Glenbrook North students, both boys and girls alike, have a vibrant community of these finsta accounts, where a variety of media is uploaded. I’ve witnessed  everything from silly videos to embarassing selfies with a caption describing school stress, to posts about relationship troubles or a bad day.

But no one is  jealous when I sift through the comments on more serious posts. I find comments of encouragement and love, even from people who aren’t close with each other. 

  And I’ll certainly admit, I’ve fallen into this trap of trying to curate a flawless feed, retaking a picture from three different angles in 13 different poses until it was ‘Insta-worthy.’ But switching onto my finsta quickly reminds me that it’s okay to struggle, and even find  humor within the stress.

The tendency regular Instagram users have to strive for flawlessness creates an illusion of perfection that’s dangerous.Nobody’s life is that great. Even the most photogenic people in the world deal with stress, pain and bad photos.

Although it may be called a fake Insta, finstas bring us all back to reality.