Are our online friends who they say they are ?

After watching the short episode of Catfish, where Angela tricks Nev to hide who she really is and to hide who her whole family really is. Makes one think its crazy how one individual has the ability to pretend to be three people which is her, her daughter Megan, and her little girl. It almost seems as a mental illness where Angela is living inside her two daughters. This might seem outrageous onto we began questioning our selves how many of our Facebook friends are really who they say they are?


Have we held a solid conversation in person with each of our social media friends. In the sense that we can know they are who they portray themselves to be online. Not only that but what type of friend are they classified as are they just online friends or are they real friends. By that I mean are they just friends that not only did we only meet online and we are online friends with them but we never see them in person. If through possibility we do see them around but we have never talked to them or when we see them around we do not even talk to them. Having a social media account is now just part of the ordinary, but we never stop to realize who are the people that are part of our online lives. Who are the people that we do not talk to in a regular basis or even when we look at them but if they post something funny online we either like or share their post. Not only that but who are the people who have access to pictures we post and our online lives. Many could argue that even though you do not know the individual one feels as if they know them due to the things that individual posts online. Although the things an individual posts does give a brief description of who they are it can leave someone in complete wonder. Is this really her/him or is this just what he/she wants to be which is what is part of their decision on what to post online. One could also not rely on  social media biographies because they are really small that they do not give one the ability to get to know that individual. In addition to the fact, many social media users do not post things that will describe them but in other words they will post things that will allow them to fit in with society. In other words, they are also trying to fit into two identities their real identity and their online identity. The online identity being what they want other people to think of them or see them as. This could also be seen with many individuals who suffer from depression or self-esteem and they hide their real identity behind a computer screen while depicting to be a happy person with no issues online. Although sometimes extending your online sources does provide positive results , that is not always the case.