FAntonia Hugo has nearly 1,000 followers on Instagram. She is 17 years old and lives in a village on Lake Sipplingen-Constanz, where there are twice as many residents as those who follow Antonia. Antonia is neither a photographer nor an internet celebrity. She graduated from school this year. On their profile, you can see young people who smoke, wear sunglasses, and brush their teeth. Sleeping cat. The picture comes from the Berlin subway or rural grassland. Unobtrusive, undisguised. Anyone can see these phone snapshots, and their personal information is public. Does she know the people who follow her? And why should she care who sees her?
“I have been asked many times why I have a public account,” Toni said in an Instagram video call, as she said. “My friends usually have both: public information and private information.” She once had it, but now she doesn’t. But when someone kept his picture secret, she understood. “Maybe my daughter doesn’t necessarily want her mother to see her pictures.” Does she spend a lot of time on her smartphone? “I don’t have any! I have a touch phone and a tablet! Then my friends sent me photos, and I uploaded them.” She found that many chat groups were difficult.
“Finstagrams” of celebrities
And followers? How much does she think is normal? “One thousand, some have several thousand.” What about privately? “Within 500.” What did she upload privately before? “A private account is like a spam account. For very close friends, they may find the content I upload interesting. I don’t want to annoy others.” At the same time, she doesn’t care. “To be honest, I just don’t care where it is uploaded.” So now she only has one account. Everything is available.
Obviously, other people also found the content she uploaded to be interesting. Maintaining two configuration files is a long-standing trend. Celebrities often use such “finstagrams” (“F” misleadingly stands for “fake”). Stars, influencers, and models who have been followed millions of times need secret accounts that only a few people can subscribe to. You can upload anything you want there. There, they don’t have to be more beautiful and richer than they are now. But why do young people have such an image? What is the difference between “real” life and unpredictable life?
An angular personality appears
Maria Schreiber is studying University of SalzburgHow digital imaging practices change at different stages of life. She said that private and public can no longer be understood as duality. “It has become more differentiated. You communicate with different groups through certain channels at different times: with your family through Whatsapp, with close friends through Instagram stories, and with classmates through TikTok. In principle, you have a tape in your hand. Frame the photo, and then ask yourself: do I hang it in the hallway, living room or bedroom?” This will create what science calls a “prismatic personality”: it appears between parallel lines. App digital self.
According to Schreiber, how we design our image in the digital space mainly depends on two factors: age and platform. What does it mean to use such a large platform since childhood? “Due to the continuous emergence of smart phone cameras, this is a matter of course, especially for young people. Photography is no longer just a medium for special social activities, but is closely related to our daily lives and has long become a part of our communication flow. Overrated.
