How College Instagram Accounts Reveal the Toxicity of College Culture

Ahh, yes. Boob luges, boys jumping onto tables, girls making out. Oh, and ass. So. Much. Ass. All of these things embody exactly what college is like, or at least that’s how college Instagram accounts see it.

Popular accounts like @imshmacked, @barstoolsports, and @totalfratmove have dramatically increased in popularity over the last couple years, and play a big part in college culture nowadays.

That kid jumping off a roof onto a beer pong table? Probably submitting the footage to one of those accounts on his way to Crouse. These accounts make kids do stupid shit. Like really stupid shit. Because apparently, the appeal to go viral and get social media clout far exceeds the appeal for safety and self-respect for a lot of students. Since these accounts depend on student submission, they encourage binge drinking and other dangerous stunts that are likely to go viral amongst students. For example, some of the recent popular posts include a girl throwing up over the toilet, people pouring liquor all over a girl’s butt, and people getting in a fight in a public bathroom. Seems like these would be things you wouldn’t want to be made super public, but it turns out that those five minutes of fame matters to people… a lot.

The accounts may also have affiliate accounts specific to certain schools, such as @barstoolcuse. These accounts specifically appeal to students, because they foster an online community involving inside jokes and things that are specific to a campus (ex. Mumps, DJs messiness, late night Bird nights, etc.).

However, despite their seemingly harmless exteriors, these accounts can be seriously dangerous to college students. Mostly because people forget there’s a difference between doing dumb shit when you’re drunk and doing dumb shit to go viral. College Instagram accounts perpetuate the “classic drunk idiot” behavior and “bro culture” that thrives off of students hurting themselves and getting shitfaced. Which, after providing a few awkward laughs for sober students, can lead to serious injury.

If you scroll through these accounts, you’ll also find an overwhelming amount of posts featuring girls (or at least their boobs and butts). If you ask us, these accounts likely make posts like this to up their views and give gross frat bros a chance to objectify women in the comments section. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a female-oriented video that doesn’t involve girl-on girl makeouts, twerking, or binge drinking. But no worries-- if you get bored of that, a super fun thing to do is go through all the sexist comments and remember that we’re still living in the 19th century! (Some of our favorites include “throw the whole girl away” and “why even wear underwear with that thing?”)

These types of pervy comments appear across the board on these accounts, with sexist comments made by both men AND women (#sad). But the comments aren’t only disrespectful, they also perpetuate serious rape culture that no one seems to want to address. Newsflash: it’s legitimately dangerous to exclusively portray women as dumb/slutty/objects. Really, truly dangerous, and no one seems to care. Guys are featured doing stupid shit all the time, but no one seems concerned about their upbringing/girlfriends/general worth as human beings? So why do users hold women to higher standards? The misogyny jumped out…

So while these accounts may seem fun at first, upon closer inspection, they merely foster a toxic college environment that’s seriously dangerous and misogynistic. Scrolling through the comments on these accounts reveal disturbing rhetoric among college students that reflects the increasingly disturbed culture of college students today. Our hot take? Don’t buy into it. And for the love of God, stop tagging us!