Have you ever wanted to voice your thoughts and secrets without the burden of judgment? The instagram account @ur_confessions_secrets (nicknamed UR Confessions by students) makes that possible.
UR Confessions acts as a sanctuary for all the secrets UR students have kept to themselves. The page is meant to provide a platform for those who are afraid of fear of being judged or misunderstood. The page deals with any and all hidden information, including but not limited to: serious opinions, requests for advice, revealing crushes, and humorously saucy submissions.
The page is run by three anonymous students of different class years, all of whom agreed to interview anonymously with the Campus Times through Instagram’s Direct Messaging.
The creation of UR Confessions was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is unrelated to the older Facebook group, “UR Secrets and Confessions.” As the world swerved into a fit of panic, isolation, and social distancing, the three creators decided to use the extra time on their hands to lift the moods of their fellow UR students.
“We wanted to bring all students together as a community and provide some entertainment during these tough times,” they said. “Since there are so many [COVID-19] restrictions, people can talk to each other here.”
The account is flooded with confessions on a near-daily basis, and the comment sections are brimming with students sharing their perspectives. In addition to accepting submissions, UR Confessions indulges in poll ideas sent by students.
Many confession pages share the unspoken rule of anonymity. Following this convention, UR Confessions promotes mutual anonymity for both admins and submitters. Their goal is to allow students to unapologetically speak up with the promise of impartiality. “We want people to be able to express themselves without having to worry about what the admins would think,” the admins said.
Their business model seems to be working: Since its first post on Dec. 11, 2020, the page has gotten around 1,300 submissions. The admins are faced with the conundrum of keeping up with all of them and figuring out the optimum number of postings per day. Since they don’t want to spam their followers, the page creators have resolved to post 2-3 times a day.
Tensions are also bound to arise when people exercise their newfound nameless freedom to voice opposing points of view. The admins revealed to CT that they receive a lot of submissions of people arguing with others on certain topics, which makes it hard to maintain peace.
“We try to post as much as possible, but we also do not want to make this page political,” they said. “[UR Confessions] try to not post any negativity and submissions that are aimed to bully each other.”
Despite the hardships, UR Confessions always tries to lighten the atmosphere and connect the student body. The admins, therefore, left a note to UR students: “Feel free to message us with suggestions on how to upgrade the page!”
