This is dominatrix: gender, eroticism, and control in the dungeon summaryYou Won't Regret It, a new weekly column featuring recommendations, tips, and unsolicited advice from the Mashable culture team.
Perhaps you're familiar with "finstas," the secondary Instagram accounts used primarily by Teens™ to post photos they don't want to share on their primary accounts. (The word "finsta" is a portmanteau of "fake" and "Insta.")
Finstas can house a wide variety of pics, from shitposts to risqué selfies to hyper-specific memes the user only wants their best friends to see. They're generally private, with highly curated followings -- it's not uncommon for finsta accounts to only have 10-15 followers. Unless you've been invited to follow someone's finsta, it's generally impossible to tell who the account belongs to. It's essentially a secret, unfiltered Instagram oasis.
SEE ALSO: This Instagram poet is making young people feel less aloneThis Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
And while the finsta might seem like a phenomenon strictly for the teens, I'm here to recommend making one at any age. After all, you never really grow out of self-indulgence.
You never really grow out of self-indulgence.
Instagram, like all other social media apps, is a platform for anxiety. There are unspoken rules: your images should fit an aesthetic standard. You shouldn't post too much. You should be judicious about whose Stories you're watching and when.
On your finsta, those rules go out the window faster than your aunt can slap a Nashville filter on some flowers. Suddenly, you can post whatever you want: a half-eaten doughnut you saw on the ground, a text from a crush, an incredible selfie that happens to be lit poorly. You can post long journal entries with no details spared. You can post highly-filtered photos of your manicure, or dozens of Stories about how good you are at the mobile version of The Sims. You can be as honest, as indulgent, as prolific, as performative as you want. And the only people who can see it -- the only people who know you're doing it at all -- are the ones you've selected yourself.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Of course, there are a few best practices for the finsta user. Most importantly, you must be extremely picky about who you allow to follow you. Do you trust them? Do you want them to see your gorgeous, authentic Insta vomit every day? If you're even a littleunsure, don't accept the request. One of the advantages of a finsta is that follower counts don't matter. And it's more awkward to have to soft block a follower later.
It makes sense that the finsta is a teen phenomenon. Functionally, it's similar to the LiveJournal of the mid-aughts, earnestly toeing the line between social network and diary. But the desire to communicate without perceived restriction isn't unique to teens. We all want to share dumb posts sometimes. So why not pick a username with a 420 joke in it and get finstagramming? You have nothing to lose -- no one will know you did it. Unless you want them to.
Want more clever culture writing beamed directly to your inbox? Sign up here for the twice-weekly Click Click Click newsletter. It's fun – we promise.
Previous:STOMP Back in L.A. Through Jan. 5
Best adapter deal: Get the Apple 140W USBAnt Group plans acquisition of Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay · TechNodeEverything to know about the new Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG fitness trackersBest Instacart deal: Get a $100 Instacart gift card for $85China's chip imports decline by 15.4% yBest robot vacuum deal: $350 off Eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuumManchester United vs. Athletic Club 2025 livestream: Watch Europa League for freeUltrahuman aims to make all US ring orders in AmericaThe Poet of Infinite LongingCardinals, conclaves, and canon law take over the internet I love Reylo fanfiction — and so does publishing, thanks to AO3 Apple Black Friday deal is all about gift cards Best Black Friday drone deals in 2023: DJI, Holy Stone, and more Kindle Paperwhite Black Friday deal: $20 off Kindle Paperwhite Best Black Friday Apple AirTags deals in 2023 8 Best Bose Black Friday deals: QuietComfort Earbuds II and more Fitbit Black Friday deal: Over $90 off Fitbit Sense 2 Best Black Friday Roomba deals at Amazon 2023 NYT's The Mini crossword answers for November 24 Black Friday 2023 laptop deals at Walmart: Save up to $551
0.1405s , 10023.7578125 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【dominatrix: gender, eroticism, and control in the dungeon summary】The case for having a 'finsta' as an adult,Feature Flash