Our virtual profiles influence how others perceive us and it is human nature to want to paint a good image of ourselves. It is thus no surprise that teenagers are starting to have two Instagram accounts – one “main account” and another “private account” that is exclusively for close friends.

Here are some problems with handling two Instagram accounts.

We love it when our “followers” and “likes” count are high. We upload the photos that we think will get the most likes from people and only post them at “peak periods” when there is heavy traffic on Instagram. We want that validation and reaffirmation of being worthy. With the more honest and personal posts kept for the private account, the “main account” now becomes a mere platform to flaunt glamorous photos.

We begin to become exclusive with our friends. Of course, the parties denied access will feel hurt, especially if she feels that she is a good friend. We also expect our friends to like or comment on our private posts. But as time passes, some friends become inactive on our accounts and we begin feeling that is necessary to “clear followers” to keep our follower count low. This could create misunderstandings that may spark petty friendship problems.

On our “private” account, we express the intimate details about our lives, such as bad days and angry moments which we otherwise would not want to share publicly. We get to freely spam “unglams”, “non-mainworthy photos” and random posts without being judged or having to think of creative captions. However, trust issues and paranoia will start to haunt us as we worry about hackers and betrayal from our close friends.

As many “private accounts” have been made, maybe we can ponder over why we have “main accounts” in the first place since we do not truthfully reveal our real image here. We do not need many “likes” to prove our worth.

Do you have a “private Instagram account” as well? Tell us how you choose your followers!