The number of student-run Instagram accounts directly related to DGN was limited to just the DGN Barstool account, dgnstool, until November 2021. However, DGN and other high schools throughout the country are currently seeing an increase in random school-run Instagram accounts. 

The Beginning  

Before large masses of DGN-related Instagram accounts began popping up on people’s recommended lists, DGN’s Barstool account was the school’s primary source for school jokes and pride run by students. 

“We hope that the students get a sense of school pride and entertainment from the account and view it as a place where they can support our school’s extracurriculars while also trash-talking our rival schools,” the runners of the dgnstool said. 

Throughout the school year (although primarily during football season), the dgnstool account works to spread information about upcoming school sports events and ways that students can support their classmates from the sidelines. 

“I think [the account] is a great way to bring school spirit outside of Downers Grove North and into the community,” Senior Blake Lietz said.

Trending 

The account that arguably started off the trend, dgn.affirmations, first began the account because they saw similar accounts at other schools and thought it would be a fun idea to create one for DGN. Their posts consist of funny “affirmations” specific to the DGN student experience, most of which are sent in by members of the student community. For example, one student submitted a picture of a bathroom wall with an empty space where a soap dispenser was ripped from the wall. This image included a caption of “the soap dispensers will be in the bathroom”

“I hope that students feel like they can laugh at some weird or dumb things that happen around the school, and sort of feel a sense of community in our student body outside of school,” the anonymous account creators said. 

Since the rapid rise to schoolwide fame of dgn.affirmations, many other DGN-based Instagram accounts have been popping up, including accounts like dgnslumpos, dgn.bestfriends, dgn_0fficial, and many more. The creators of dgn.bestfriends got the idea to create their account after the school-related account style had become popular. 

“I thought the other accounts were funny and [the account] would just be something people can laugh about with their friends. It isn’t something to be taken seriously; I just thought it would be fun for people to post pictures of them and their best friends,” the runners of dgn.bestfriends said.  

National Spread

Seemingly out of nowhere, an explosion of student-run, school-related accounts began to emerge all over the country. Students from DGN’s neighboring schools have also joined in on the trend, creating accounts such as dgs_grafitti, yorkhighschoolparking, and hchsbadhair. 

Not only has this trend spread throughout Illinois, but accounts like these are also prominent in schools as far as Kansas and Maryland. However, in a feature story run by Gardner Edgerton High School’s student publication, The Blazer, editors Olivia Steele and Madeline Clark noticed the negative effects these accounts have on the students of their Kansas high school. 

“Some of these pages have taken it too far to the point where student privacy has been invaded. A page that posts images of people’s feet under bathroom stalls has recently been made private after being reported by several users on Instagram,” Steele and Clark said in their story. 

Negative Student Reactions  

While the overarching intent of these school-based accounts is satirical, though, some accounts aren’t being perceived that way by students. 

“I think the DGN related accounts started with Calzonestagram and DGN Affirmations, but they’ve started to spiral into copies of one another. Some of them are funny,  I think DGN Slumpos and DGN Mysteries are very funny, but it’s gotten to the point where everyone wants to make the new funniest one, but none of them compare to the original few,” DGN senior Marin Koch said. 

Along with just unoriginality, some accounts are being accused of intruding. Some accounts such as Dgn Couples have been reported and taken down for posting pictures of students without their permission. 

“I think some DGN accounts are not only invasive to privacy but also off-putting. Having your picture taken and posted on a public social media platform is an invasion of privacy. As someone who has been featured on one of these accounts, I can safely say it’s intrusive and disturbing.” Jessica Gruzka 

While some accounts are causing controversy, the motivation behind most of these accounts is clear. With America’s tense political climate and threats of a prominent new COVID variant, students are coming together to create silly things to bond over. 

“It can be important for morale, kids message me saying this is the best DGN account and how it makes them laugh a lot. Also if someone gets posted and that person tells me they don’t want to be on it, I’ll remove their picture instantly so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. This account is just for laughs and giggles, nothing here is serious.” Instagram account dgn.slumpos said.