‘Counting On’ Star Josiah Duggar Breaking A Major Duggar Family Rule Before His Engagement To Lauren Swanson

On the heels of his big engagement news, Counting On fans are wondering why Josiah Duggar has been allowed to break one of the biggest Duggar family rules for years.

There are a lot of strict rules to follow when you are a child in the Duggar family, and one of the restrictions is all about social media usage. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar forbid their children to be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other platform until they are engaged, and every one of the 19 Duggar kids has appeared to follow this rule except for one: the newly-engaged Josiah. So why did he have an Instagram account before he popped the question to Lauren Swanson?

The 21-year-old has been on social media – with accounts on Instagram and Twitter – for years, while his older siblings Jana and John David are still single and offline.

Along with private phone calls and hand-holding, social media accounts are off limits, but Josiah started his back in 2015 when he began courting Marjorie Jackson. But even though that relationship didn’t last, Josiah’s social media activity continued. So, it seems there might be some wiggle room when it comes to the family’s online rules.

For everyone else in the family, the first courtship led to an engagement and marriage, but Josiah has been the exception. He is the only Duggar to have courted twice before finding the right partner.

He and Swanson announced their engagement earlier this month, but before that was official, he posted a pic of a FaceTime session that looked to be unchaperoned. So maybe he is choosing to bend the rules a bit.

Josiah only courted Swanson for a few weeks before he decided to put a ring on it. And if he follows in his siblings’ footsteps, there will be a wedding and a baby very soon.

The couple recently posted a video on the family’s YouTube channel, featuring them with Jim Bob and Michelle talking to them about love and marriage, but Swanson appears incredibly uncomfortable about the whole thing.

She may think she knows what she has gotten herself into by marrying into this family, but is she fully aware of what lies ahead for her?

As far as what kind of life she can expect, in addition to appearing on a popular reality TV show, Josiah will be taking care of Swanson financially with income from his career in real estate. The Duggars don’t do the traditional college-to-career route, and Josiah has instead joined the successful family business.

Josiah has talked in the past about getting his pilot’s license, and last year he completed Alert Academy Training, which helped him become part of an air-land emergency response team.

The couple has yet to announce a wedding date, but it’s safe to say that it will be soon, especially considering the last two Duggar weddings were moved up months ahead of schedule.

Watch Josiah Duggar and Lauren Swanson fall in love on new episodes of Counting On, Monday nights on TLC.