Is catfishing wrong?

In Catfish: The Movie, a guy named Nev is corresponding via email and packages with who he thinks is an 8-year artist named Abby. He talks with her for a long time, becoming good friends with her. Eventually, he is introduced to who he thinks is her older sister, Megan. After talking to Megan for a while, he gets into a romantic relationship with her over the internet. Nev becomes suspicious of her, however, when she sends him song covers that she claims are hers, when in actuality, she stole them from someone else online. As he becomes increasingly suspicious, he tries to arrange a meeting with her in real life, but she always avoids him. Because of this, he travels to her house unannounced. When he gets there, he meets Abby and Megan's mom, Angela, who recognize him immediately. Abby, however, does not recognize him, nor is she a painter. After visiting with their family, he realizes that Angela was posing as both Abby and Megan online. They are both hurt by this encounter, but Nev remains friends with Angela. The act of pretending to be a different person online was named "catfishing" by Angela's husband.

Catfishing is a lie of sorts, but is it wrong? Angela formed a friendship with Nev by posing as Abby, because her paintings were not good, so Nev wouldn't have began talking to her if he didn't think she was a young, aspiring artist. They both enjoyed this friendship until Angela began to pose as Megan as well, causing them both to get their feelings hurt.

Angela's catfishing was an extreme case. We, however, do something similar when we interact with people online. Because we can regulate the amount of personal info that people see online, we tend to show people mostly our good sides. This naturally occurs when we communicate with people online, and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. We stand out when we show our good sides online, and potentially form friendships with people we would never otherwise meet as a result.

Although catfishing is wrong if manipulating feelings is involved, it's harmless at worst as long as it's contained at a reasonable level. Although we can embellish our stories and traits, we should at least resemble our real life selves when we interact with others online. Like Angela's husband said, "catfish" can bring excitement into otherwise boring interactions.