You’re probably familiar with Instagram, the most popular photo-sharing platform right now, but have you ever heard of Finsta? No, it’s not any latest app or #challenge, Finsta refers to a Fake Instagram account (Finstagram). It shouldn’t be confused with your secondary or business Insta profile. It’s simply a secret account that teens mostly use to share photos, videos with a smaller but tightly-knit audience.
Among most people, Finsta accounts are pronounced to be a safe place from noisy family members & other toxic people. Finstagram is a place where teens can be perfectly imperfect, share the good, the bad, and maybe their hidden side with the trusted circle of friends.
Instagram VS Finstagram
Why Do Teens Love Finsta?
The obvious reason, teens create Finsta accounts to hide from prying family members and parents. While the usage of it varies from person to person. But it’s rather clear that they use Finstagram to show their different sides of themselves. For some, it is a perfect place to represent their mischievous side. For the rest, it can be a great spot to showcase their trivial side that is only visible to their close friends.
In all, Finstagram is a side that Teens don’t want certain entities like collegemates, sororities or family members to see. There are even dedicated websites and Finsta Name Generator tools like SpinXo that offer users the ability to generate potential Finsta names based on hobbies, nicknames & other random words.
Is There Any Cause Of Concern Of Having Finstas?
Sure, having a secret account isn’t always harmless. Some teens use Finstagram to share silly and light-hearted moments of life with a limited circle of people while others might use them to showcase pictures that are inappropriate.
“A recent study concluded that the gap between parents and kids, when it comes to creating secret social media profiles, is quite huge. When done a survey, around, 28% of parents thought their child does have a Finsta or a secret account & around 60% of teens aged between 13-17 did actually have fake accounts without their parents’ knowledge.”
Because of the nature of Finstas, most of the parents might not have any idea about what content their kids are sharing. Is it just something plain fun or something to be worried about? But either of the cases, parents should be very careful and alert to counsel their kids about online safety.
Social Media Usage & Mental Health
In general, it’s your responsibility as a parent to monitor your child’s online activities. Even teens, who aren’t posting unsuitable stuff, memes or worrisome content on Finsta, might get affected by Social Media exposure. They might feel at a certain point, why everyone’s living a perfect life, except for them. This may cause mental health issues or exacerbate anxiety or depression to develop.
Read this guide to keep your children safe online & introduce them to a way to help them cure Social Media Addiction. You can install an app like Social Fever on their device to help them monitor & manage the time they spend on Social Media. The Android app is dedicatedly designed to keep a tab of social media activities. it records the time you’ve spent on each app installed on your phone, and notifies you when the time limit exceeds to use the specific app.
It is very easy to use as it will show you the recommended apps which are taking too much of your time in the recommended apps section. Here you can add or remove applications as per your requirements and assign the time limit for their usage. The application will send you reminders when you are done with the assigned time. It takes care of your health as it reminds you to drink water, set reminders for earphone usage and eye strains with too much phone usage at one stretch.
Get Social Fever on your Android device from the download button given below-
Have a look at its amazing set of features that can help you, & your child, beat Smartphone & Social Media Addiction. Read here!
Bottom Line
Admit it or not, but Social Media has firmly woven its way into the fabric of our lives. From the days of heavily filtered collages, bulky borders, and frames, to the time when getting more Instagram likes on each post is all needed. The platform has undoubtedly evolved to become a place where the World just sees the best of us. It has evolved to be a significant place for creating sleek feeds that shows the World the best of us.
These Social Media Platforms can be a bit intimidating, but it still is an integral part of your life. So, you must guide your kids to strike the right balance between their Digital & Real life.
However, if you ask me, at some point we all wish for a safe place where we can share our feelings, thoughts, and perceptions without fearing judgments. And, if Finstas is a way to serve such purposes then why not!