Do We Sympathize with Catfish?

          After watching the documentary "Catfish," I had several reactions to the people in it. This documentary captures the lives of two people specifically who are different in so many ways (such as different backgrounds and different environments), but they are both alike in one fashion- their want for social interaction with another person. Nev, the person the documentary is about, takes a special interest in this girl and her family whom he has never actually seen but only converses with over the phone and online. This tells us that Nev is looking for companionship of the opposite gender. The woman, Angela, creates these different personalities online in order to make her life more exciting  than it actually is.
          During almost the entirety of the documentary, I was amused. I thought it was hilarious as he found out more and more that this family he is so "close" with was just a made up story. It did not end the way I thought it would though. I thought it would end on this amusing happy note and leave me laughing. However the exact opposite happened. Toward the end the tone changed when we actually met Angela and learned about who she really is. We found out the type of life that she leads and what goes on in a normal day. After I find this out I actually sympathize with her. All she was attempting to do was escape from her normal life and pretend that she was some young hot blonde who led an exciting life. She did live a sort of difficult life dedicating most of her time taking care of two handicapped sons and a young daughter. She is tired of her everyday life and wanted out in a sense, and Facebook combined with Nev allowed it. Although I thought what she did was a little creepy, I actually felt bad for her. I think what Nev did though was heartwarming, though, because he continued his interactions with her (the real Angela). She continued to paint him pictures of photos he took and she got paid for them. Plus they remained Facebook friends after. And I personally believe she found contentment with her life.
          But the biggest thing this documentary did for me is to think critically what function social media actually performs for us as a society. A lot of people use it as a medium to connect with their friends and see what goes on in their daily life (majority of people do this). Others use it as a way of marketing. And finally the minority of people use it to create different personas so they can pretend to be what they are not. But the biggest thing I believe it does is provide an escape for people from their daily lives. I myself do this. For example when I have a lot to study, I instead get on Twitter to procrastinate from doing anything. It is as if when we are on social media, nothing else in the real world exists.