Thirst Traps:
It’s time to congratulate the internet: Instagram’s sneakiest phenomenon now has a name. Thirst Traps. Whether you set yours to engage in innocent banter with followers you would (hypothetically) like to “Netflix and Chill” with, or whether you carefully construct them genuinely hoping to act out your subconscious desires, it’s safe to say this Instagram trend is causing a lot of controversy.
But before we get all Freudian, what are “thirst traps”? Essentially, “thirst trapping” is the logical evolution of “gatsbying,” a trend which consists of posting a public Instagram story with the intent of arousing the interest of one person in particular. Or, as Urban Dictionary defines it: “a sexy photograph or flirty message posted on social media for the intent of causing others to profess their attraction.”
Thirst Traps can take many forms. Unless you are particularly brazen, if you are in a relationship, it is more likely that you are stuck in someone else’s thirst trap than you are setting your own. How does this work? Basically, you follow a bunch of people. For most of us, a handful (give or take) of these people you will either have slept with, flirted with, or want to sleep with.
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These are your thirst traps. Identifiable by their prominence in your direct messages, the fact that their insta-stories are always at the front of your queue, and the fact that they are the ones who you always check have watched your stories or liked your photos.
The thirst trap is set when these ‘crushes’ post a suggestive photo or video, and wait for you to engage with it. If you respond consistently over a given period of time, you are considered “caught” in their trap. While this is an excellent way for (single) socially awkward people to flirt, without embarrassing themselves (in real life), the problem arises when single people’s “thirst traps” start attracting those in relationships.