In my 18 years of life, I have had several "run-ins" with the situation of "Catfishing". A "Catfish" is much like an Internet Troll and is most commonly known as a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes. It wasn't much shortly after Catfish: The TV Show aired on MTV Network that I came in contact with Catfishing. I remember watching the show and thinking about the poor victims of this deceptive "game" that people play. As I got older, social networking sites such as FaceBook, Instagram, EHarmony, FarmersOnly.com, and Tinder began drastically famous throughout my generation. I mainly mention dating websites because this is the most common place for Catfishing to occur. Social Media has given us the ability to talk to people all around the world, build relationships with these people, and become way too emotionally involved.
I use the expression "Sim's Game" because social media gives us this ability to act as if we are running a Sim's Game. Just like Angela in the documentary Catfish, she created several "facebook friends" by using pictures and names of other people. She uses these people to make her main profile seem more realistic. She also mentions how it seemed somewhat difficult to keep up with each profile. By doing this, Angela was able to create her own "world" with this profiles she created, mainly due to the fact that she was not satisfied with how her life actually was.
After watching this documentary, it reminded me how Catfishing took a toll in my life. When I was 14 years old and my cousin was 12 years old, our parents let us both get several social media accounts. During the "sit-down-lets-talk-first" lecture, my aunt revealed some pretty scary news to me. My Aunt's friend, who frequently uses dating websites to this day, met a man on EHarmony and began to have a romantic relationship with him. She would send him money when he lost his job and would often send him gifts on the holidays. After about a year of online-dating, she persisted that they meet. The man was hesitant at first and kept coming up with excuses. My aunt's friend was actually starting to have feelings for this man so she was so excited when he finally agreed to meet her at Huey's in Midtown. When they met, the man was completely different than his picture. When I say different, mean different-gender-different. The man who she supposedly had been talking to was actually woman. A woman who was seeking another woman that would help her build up the courage to leave her husband and 5 kids. My Aunt's friend was furious and called everything off, leaving Midtown Huey's balling her eyes out because of this deceptive person. Although she could have sympathized with her, I can understand as to why she would be upset. Throughout the next few years, my aunt has watched her friend go through several drug-related episodes and soon saw how much traumatic feelings this woman created.
Social Media has given many people the easy-deceptive tendencies to play with other people's emotions. While I have heard those "Tinder-love-stories" where people do fall in love for the right intentions, I will be staying away from dating-websites. I miss the old fashion days when a boy would ask a girl out in person and people wouldn't have to hide behind their computer screens.
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