On Monday, my class watched a documentary on a catfish. Catfish means, "lure into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona." We all know what it means, and I think we've all been or have been catfished in our lives. While watching this documentary the question that came to mind was: To what extent is being a catfish not okay? My own personal experience with catfishing, if it counts, was when I was around 12, my friends and I were playing a prank on our other friend. We were pretending to be someone else, through email. Even now I think that is twisted, not okay, and cruel. I think that catfishing of any kind is harmful and wrong. While watching the film, I found myself increasingly disturbed by Angela. Her lies scared me, and made me think she had some inner problems. What confused me was how Nev reacted, he continued to befriend and question her, personally, I would've ran or called the police. I think lying of any type is not okay. I understand that he felt bad for her, because of her current situations, but she lied about multiple things to his face, and for me that would be enough to block her from my life. The documentary was scary, because hiding behind the internet with a secret identity is such an easy common thing that happens now. I believe that people can start long lasting relationships through the internet.. a modern love story if you will. It's scary how easy it could be for one person to lie to another about their looks, interests, backstory etc. My own personal experience with the internet has been lucky so far. I have made such great "internet friends" through online groupme's or instagram pages. I do believe the internet is a fantastic place, and it is most definitely a place for making relationships. As silly as it sounds, I have a very close relationship with a boy who lives on the other side of the world, and our relationship has to be through technology. Although I met him through a mutual friend, it's scary to think that if I didn't and he was just from the internet, he could be a person catfishing me. That would break my heart, and is truly a terrifying thought. What's sad is that there are catfish people out there, that are tarnishing social media. So how can we stop this? That's where I'm not sure, there is no possible way we can ensure it does not happen. It's becoming increasingly more common as technology and social media advance. My advice, to be careful who you trust on the internet and attempt to tell the truth about yourself, only if it's a safe trustworthy internet environment.
6 comments:
I agree with you! WHat Angela did was really creepy and I do not have sympathy for her. As far as protecting users from these online threats some websites are more cautious about Catfish and will have accounts removed, however, this is usually after someone has reported a problem. which would imply the damage has already been done.
Angela was so creepy like I fear for her sanity! And I agree with your points, there needs to be regulations on catfishing but then again, it's gonna be hard to make them.
I like how you bring into the positives of online friendships because i think today in society people get so wrapped up in looking at the negatives they forget about what social media gives access to and thats meeting new friends that one could probably never meet in real life and i guess theres always the possibility that you meet someone who isn't who they say they are but its nice to hear the positive side of internet friends
In the beginning you begun with the question on when catfishing is no longer okay. In my belief I don't think it is ever okay. I don't see any positive attributes to catfishing cause it all revolves around a lie.
I agree with you Angela should've never done what she did pretending to be 5 different people was out of line lying and saying that she had cancer was just sick
I agree that what Angela did was wrong. I also like how you shed light on internet relationships. The internet is a great tool to meet and keep in touch with people but can definitely be abused.
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