Across the country, high school students have noticed a rise in new Instagram accounts created by their peers for their peers. These Instagram pages consist of pictures taken of students’ shoes under bathroom stall doors and/or exposing pictures of students sleeping in class. This may not seem threatening but as these accounts start to linger into morally gray areas they threaten the safety of students. It is crucial that the school’s administration begins to address these Instagram pages before they get out of hand.

These accounts began as practical jokes but they quickly escalated when they started posting pictures of students without their informed consent, while also allowing their followers to submit pictures of other students. As of recently, an account was created for students to vote on whether they find another student attractive or not. This was not the only account to violate a students’ privacy, but another one was created to allow for the submission of pictures taken from under the restroom stall doors of students’ shoes.

Some people may say that these accounts are light-hearted jokes that should not be taken seriously, but students fail to realize that these accounts cause real harm. Not only are these accounts harmful to students because they shame their appearances but they violate the privacy of students using the restroom, and showcase students ignoring classroom rules causing a negative representation of the school. 

The little regulation surrounding these accounts is a big problem, the lack of administration involvement will hopefully end soon as staff members and parents become more aware of these accounts. In the past few months, teachers have been more strict on phone use, and this new Instagram page trend may cause even more rules to be enforced. Many teachers already don’t allow phone use during class and require students to leave their phones in the classroom when they use the restroom, if this problem continues students risk even stricter phone use regulations while on school grounds. 

The district needs to properly address these issues and how they will handle social media and its influence on the students and school culture. These accounts have caused students to feel unsafe using restrooms and lowered students’ self-esteem. Social media is a powerful tool and as of now, there are very few rules put in place to prevent it from harming students.

This isn’t the first time these accounts have been made. In 2018, an account, called dlhsconfessions was made, along with similar accounts for schools across the district, releasing sexually explicit photos and causing unnecessary drama among students. This account caused law enforcement and Instagram itself to get involved, causing the account to be quickly shut down. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and it had become obvious that the district needed to update its social media and internet policies. 

This new wave of accounts has already caused problems and could cause many more if these new accounts follow the same trend as dlhsconfessions. Administrators need to properly address the lack of rules that they have and protect their students online. These pages need to be shut down before history repeats itself.