Social Media Alert: Can You Actually Follow Any Duggars on Snapchat?
Why the conservative reality family is picky about their platforms.
April 20 2019, Updated 10:55 p.m. ET
The Duggar family is arguably America's most conservative reality TV family—but do any of the Duggars have Snapchat accounts? Finding any Duggar family Snapchat accounts would be a herculean task, because the family has some pretty strict rules for social media.
MORE: Anna Duggar Returns To Instagram — But Disgraced Hubby Josh Is MIA!
Most celebrities in America have some sort of social media presence, allowing their fans to take a sneak peak at their behind-the-scenes lives. But the Duggars do things differently (let's not forget, this is the family of more than 30 people who, among other things, save first kisses for marriage), so patriarch Jim Bob Duggar and matriarch Michelle Duggar implement certain controversial social media and dating rules for their 19 children, who have all been raised with strong, conservative Christian values.
Needless to say, those rules would be viewed as "too extreme" for any millennial who can't imagine their lives without browsing their Instagram feed first thing in the morning, experimenting with Snapchat filters, and tweeting out their complaints about Uber or McDonalds' at 4am after a drunken night.
MORE: Coming Clean! Joy-Anna Duggar Begs Fans For Forgiveness Amid Shotgun Wedding Scandal
For many, it wouldn't make sense why Josh Duggar, Jill Duggar, Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar and the rest of the Duggar family don't have celebrity Snapchat accounts. But in order to understand why most of the Duggar siblings aren't even online, it's essential to remember that the Duggars have quite a few infamous and super-old-fashioned rules, which mostly have to do with dating and modesty. In particular, the Duggar children are not allowed to have a social media account—Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, or others—before they are engaged or married. And even when they do tie the knot or or put a ring on it, that doesn't mean that they all rush to sign up on social media (some do, others don't).
And then there are the rebels within the Duggar family who break their family's rules. RadarOnline.com investigates which Duggars are on the social media RadarOnline.com, which are breaking the family's anti-social media rule, all while delving into reasons why the Duggars aren't permitted to be on Snapchat.
Why are the Duggars not allowed to be on Snapchat?
The Duggar family has a strict set of rules for pretty much every aspect of their lives, including the use of social media. Considering the family's faith-based beliefs regarding dating and modesty, it wouldn't come as a surprise that the Duggars are only allowed to be on Snapchat and other social media platforms under certain conditions.
While these rules might seem too extreme to many, take into account that the Duggar family doesn't allow the female siblings to wear pants (however, some Duggar sisters have challenged that rule on several occasions, some were emboldened by their marriage and engagement). Other than that, patriarch Jim Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle Duggar encouraged their children to stay away from "dating," and instead enter into courtships. The practice of courting someone refers to two individuals getting to know each other in a group setting, usually involving their families, to form an emotional bond and romantic connection. Dating, meanwhile, is more about the physical relationship between the two individuals, and involves sex.
Speaking of sex, the Duggars are not allowed to have sex until they get married (though there's no way of telling if each and every member of the Duggar family has followed the no-sex-before-marriage rule). Moreover, the Duggars can hug their significant others only from the side, and they are not permitted to hold hands until engagement. The Duggars are expected to even save their first kisses for marriage. As if having a kiss-less, sexless, and hug-less life wasn't enough, the Duggars aren't allowed to have social media accounts before they are engaged or married.
Note: Not every Duggar has abided perfectly by the family's rules. For example, Joy-Anna Duggar couldn't keep her hands off her new husband Austin Forsyth in 2017. The Duggar sibling was blasted by the family's most conservative fans for giving her then-fiancé Forsyth a full hug instead of a side huge when accepting his marriage proposal. Her older brother, Josh Duggar, went far beyond the no-full-hugs thing, and allegedly molested five girls when he was a teenager, and in 2015, admitted to having a porn addiction and cheating on his wife, Anna.
What do the Duggars think about social media?
Now that we have established that not having a Snapchat account is totally par for the course in the land of Duggars, are all of the Duggars actually OK with their family's strict no social media rule?
It turns out, the Duggars have mixed opinions about the controversial rule that prevents them from having an Instagram and Snapchat account. There are some who break the rule, while others agree that steering clear of social media is the right thing to do.
According to a 2014 report by E! News, Jessa and Jill Duggar were totally "comfortable" with their parents' chaperoning their dates, explaining that "being alone with men puts them in grave 'moral danger,'" whatever that means.
In their 2014 book about relationships called Growing Up Duggar, the oldest Duggar girls—Jill, Jana, Jessa, and Jinger—explained why it's a good idea to stay away from Snapchat, Instagram and other social media platforms. "Personally, we are very careful not to text, email, or communicate over the Internet with guys on a personal, intimate level," the girls wrote. "Instead it is wise to keep these interactions businesslike."
Unlike many celebrities and even some politicians, the Duggars take their social media presence very seriously. That's why the Duggar family is so strict about their siblings not having social media accounts before engagement or marriage. Interestingly, most of the family’s relationship and modesty rules are directed toward the girls, which isn't surprising that it's their male sibling who is violating the family's no social media rule (find out who that rebel is below).
Duggar family's social media scandals and controversies
Despite the family's very limited social media presence (even those Duggars who do have accounts don't really post all that often), the Duggar family has been embroiled in quite a few scandals over the years.
In 2017, Jill Duggar's husband Derick Dillard made some harsh comments on social media against fellow TLC star, Jazz Jennings, who is transgender. The intolerant transgender attacks got Dillard fired from the family's hit TLC reality show Counting On.
Josh Duggar, who was at the center of multiple sex scandals, including a alleged child molestation involving his siblings Jessa and Jill Duggar, quit Instagram after the controversies made headlines. The disgraced member of the Duggar clan did keep his Twitter page, though it has been inactive since the scandals. Ever since the child molestation and cheating scandal erupted in 2015, Josh's wife, Anna Duggar, has been criticized by fans on social media for not divorcing the oldest Duggar sibling over his deplorable acts.
In 2014, the Duggar family sparked controversy when its official Facebook account shared a snap of then 16-year-old Jedidiah Duggar holding a shotgun. Social media fans and critics blasted the family for the photo, reminding the conservative family that "guns are meant to kill."
Which Duggars are breaking their family's anti-social media rule?
As of the time of publication, only Josh, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, and Joy-Anna were eligible to have a Snapchat account or any other social media account because they are either engaged or married. Needless to say, many of them forego online presence anyway. Some, however, do have social media accounts, which they either manage on their own or share with their significant others.
Josiah is currently in the list of the social media-eligible Duggar siblings, he earned the status in March 2018 when he proposed to his girlfriend of one month, Lauren Swanson. But here's the thing: it was the first time Josiah Duggar had proposed to anyone, yet he started his Instagram account back in April 2015. Meaning: Josiah broke his family's strict no-social-media-before-engagement rule.
But RadarOnline.com may have a legitimate explanation why Josiah had an Instagram account for nearly two years when he was clearly not eligible to have one. Josiah signed up on Instagram in April 2015, the same month he officially started courting his then-girlfriend Marjorie Jackson. Things didn't work out between the two, and they called it quits four month later amid the sex scandals surrounding Josiah's older brother, Josh.
Perhaps Josiah was ahead of himself and thought getting engaged to Jackson would be his next step, so he started his Instagram page when his romance with Jackson got the status of "courtship," something that the Duggars recognize as being engaged to get engaged. But wait, there's more. It gets even more confusing, as Josiah’s sibling, Jinger Duggar, waited until she got married to Jeremy Vuolo to sign up on Instagram.
Jessa Duggar started her Instagram page and shared her first post on the social media platform in May 2014, nearly three months before her engagement to Ben Seewald was announced (though things had gotten pretty serious between the two at that point, and their engagement was just a matter of time).
How can you follow any Duggars on social media?
It was rumored in 2016 that Jinger might have her own Snapchat account, which would make her the only Duggar to have an account on the multimedia messaging app. The account has never been verified, and the Duggar family has never confirmed that it was actually Jinger's account. If you search the Duggars on Snapchat, you will notice that quite a few of the Duggar siblings pop up, but not a single one of them has been either verified or confirmed (meaning: those are fake accounts ran by someone who is probably not even remotely close to the family).
One wouldn't expect a family so modest and conservative as the Duggars to have presence on Snapchat, so the family stays away from the social media platform. However, some members of the ever-growing clan do have social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar
Instagram: duggarfam
Twitter: @duggarfam
Facebook: Duggar Family Official
YouTube: Duggar Family
Josh Duggar
Twitter: @joshduggar
Facebook: Josh & Anna Duggar
Jessa Duggar (Seewald)
Instagram: jessaseewald
Twitter: @JessaSeewald
Facebook: JessaSeewald
YouTube: Jessa Seewald
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Jinger Duggar (Vuolo)
Instagram: jingervuolo
Joy-Anna Duggar (Forsyth)
Instagram: austinandjoyforsyth
Twitter: @JoyAForsyth
Facebook: Austin and Joy Forsyth
Among their strict dating and social media rules, the Duggar family naturally has a strict anti-alcohol policy. But did you know that some members of the family were caught red-handed seemingly sipping on an alcoholic beverage and allegedly breaking the family's no-booze rule? So, in light of these occasional rebellions it's not entirely impossible that some Duggar family members do actually have incognito Snapchat accounts that they only share with their closest friends. Just waiting to be uncovered by their biggest fans.
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