For some, Instagram is all about gaining likes and followers. Some use it to just post about themselves or to get their business off the ground. Some even use it just to post about their food or video games. 

For others however, Instagram is about creating memories of their lives in and out of school. 

“I’m making high school memories,” Sophomore Nomi Green said. “So, if I can put it in my phone memory, it just makes life easier.”

She said she posts on her Instagram main or spam page about 10 times a day, give or take, sharing her life, especially pictures that feature MHS in the background. 

“[I post] anytime any tiny inconvenience happens or when I get really happy,” Green said. “Any strong emotions are in that spam. Happiness, sadness, anxiety.”

Another student, sophomore Adelyn Gutierrez, also enjoys posting about her daily life at home and at school with simple captions spelling out a short-phrased opinion on something, whether it be an everyday object or a specific class.

“I feel like we have to have some sort of connection to the school and I think photos would be a memory of this highschool,” Gutierrez said. 

Sophomore Carlton Clay uses his spam pages to stay connected with friends.

“Knowing the people who are on there, I’m comfortable with them seeing it,”

Sophomore Jaiden Osario’s comfort stems from the hope that a new friendship will be formed.

“People just see how I am as a person and maybe that’ll draw people towards wanting to build a friendship with me and that has actually happened a couple of times,” Osario said.

Junior Erick Mitchell said it’s a rule for him to be the same way he is in real life online.

“If you know me in person then you’ll see that’s just me,” he said.

Mitchell shared that not only does he gain interaction with others online, but also smiles and laughter from posting funny content. 

Green is the same way in that she doesn’t care about the personal things she posts on Instagram especially if people are going to see it anyways in person.

“People talk. So it’s just choosing what you put out versus people taking things and putting it out themselves,” Green said. 

Besides gaining likes and followers from posting so erratically on Instagram and safekeeping their highschool memories, these students have admitted that they gain much more than that.

“Validation. I like validation,” Nomi Green said quite simply. She expressed that it comes from the likes and the views even if they aren’t that high. However, she acknowledges the fact that they are high enough to keep her going.

Gutierrez feels encouraged by the responses she gets.

“I just gain confidence to do more on there, instead of backlash,” she said. “I don’t get any type of hate, so I’m OK with posting more and more.”

Gutierrez definitely plans on continuing to post after high school.

“You’re posting about your life,” she said. “It’s like another chapter in your journey where ‘I got done with high school and now I’m going on to college.’ You’re just documenting your whole progress on Instagram.”