As time moves forward, technology improves and new ideas are created. Those ideas are either liked or disliked by the public, and from there, trends are born.

One of the many trends currently progressing through social media are “Finstas.” Finstas, a portmanteau of the words “fake” and “Instagram,” are created by people wishing to post ideas or pictures they normally would not share on their normal Instagram accounts. Most Finstas post to a smaller group of people and are private accounts. People who own Finstas can post several different things including embarrassing content, rants, hate speech, drug use and much more.

As these types of posts can be found on people’s normal Instagram accounts, they are more likely to be found on their Finsta accounts. However, with Finstas becoming a trend, people are becoming more comfortable with posting whatever they want to the internet. With the filter of good and bad content being posted online slowly withers away, what truly is the limit to what humans should post online?

Finstas (and other fake social media accounts) allow people the comfort to hide behind their screens and say whatever is on their minds. From this, people don’t have to necessarily insult someone face-to-face, but virtually. Some people may say feeling comfort hiding behind a screen could be a positive influence as confidence is brought up, but these levels of confidence are not always a positive. As insults are easier to post rather than compliments most of the time, harmful and/or offensive content can be shared easier. Little do people know, that content can still be spread, even if the account is private. People will get hurt in the process and the content can even spread to job employers.

An example of someone whose career is possibility ruined by a mistake on social media is Logan Paul. The YouTube vlogger uploaded an offensive vlog containing footage of his journey through Japan’s Aokigahara forest, mainly known as the “suicide forest.” Upon travels, the group discovered a man, hanging from a tree, who had commited suicide earlier that day. Although the Vlogger blurred out the man’s face, the group continued to laugh about the situation, and without thinking, the vlog had been uploaded to Youtube. The video became number one trending on Youtube’s homepage. Paul received tremendous amounts of hate comments and backlash on his channel for the vlog. As the content posted was extremely offensive, presented a hanging body and went against YouTube’s guidelines, YouTube removed the video immediately. Although the video was removed, Paul realized his mistake and posted an apology video. The video was one minute and 44 seconds long and Paul apologized for his poor choices and decisions. Most people are still offended and now, Paul’s career is suffering.

Nowadays, people are looking for quantity over quality on social media. Instead of posting positive content, negative and shocking news seems to bring more followers in. An example of this could be clickbait, which is something to get the users to want to watch the video or view the content. Clickbait can be shocking, negative, offensive or anything unsuspecting that can be used to tally more followers. Through current times, are likes and followers just the new way of gaining approval from the world? Are humans really willing to post anything just to get attention on the internet, disregarding if it is positive or negative?

Although everyone needs to be cautious on the internet, people or celebrities with large platforms need to be even more careful about what they post. As demonstrated by Paul, one of highest influencers of the public, one reckless mistake can easily destroy careers. Larger accounts need to be managed with such a large fan base. With a greater audience, you have a greater responsibility.

Not to mention, social media makes people want to do certain things or try things out. Behind the comfort of their screen, users are posting more and more videos of drug and alcohol use. Other users see these videos and ignore them, while others are slowly becoming more interested. As they see that drinking and drug use are now “trending” and have such an influence that they end up trying it out for themselves, leading to addiction.

A few years ago, a trend called “the knife game” was born. This game consisted of singing a catchy tune while stabbing the spaces between your spread out fingers with a knife. If the knife hits your finger, you loose, and obviously bleed. Because of the tune being so catchy and more people trying the game out, the game spread rapidly, leading to several videos of people attempting it.

In current society, people are losing filters on what content decides to get published. At this point, it does not matter whether it’s good or bad, but whether it receives a lot of likes, follows and more importantly, attention. This content can start trending and lead to positive or negative influences on the people it touches. People need to start realizing that their actions lead to consequences, and need to be careful of what is published on the internet. Although it is more comforting to post behind a screen, think twice before you click or tap the share icon. Don’t let your content ruin your future.