Finally, it's here. After nine long months, we have successfully (?) completed another school year and summer is upon us. Everyone heads their separate ways and begins summer classes, internships and jobs. There is one thing that does not change when we leave school for the summer, and that is our social media presence. If anything, there are increasingly more Instagrams of people doing seemingly fabulous things. This is where the culprit comes in — that person who “catfishes" their entire summer. Don't get me wrong, we are all a little bit guilty of this — everyone loves to show off what they're doing and with whom they're doing it. It is our natural inclination to post the highlights of our summer on Instagram, but this person may tend to take it to the next level. Ladies and gentleman, I present a series of “summer catfishers."
1. 'Vacation' Catfishing. Most people reading this article likely live in Florida or spend a good part of their summers here. It is not too difficult to find a palm tree or a body of water to pose by and take a great #selfie in this great state. For the more basic crowd, perhaps the caption will be “I live where you vacation" followed by a geotag of “paradise." It's not too hard to tell that you are not in fact on vacation, but rather spending a day away from work on the Intercoastal.
2. 'Summer Body' Catfishing. Remember in January when you said you were going to get fit for that perfect bathing suit body? Yeah. Between meals at the sorority house and weekends at home, that ideal summer bod is still a little ways away. This catfisher remedies this by some clever product placement like a beach bag or an inflatable pool toy, and gets hella likes on that #bathingsuitpic.
3. 'Going Out With Friends' Catfishing. If you're like me, often your friends are spread out all summer, whether they're studying abroad, staying in your college town, going home or working out of town. Getting the whole squad together becomes very challenging and is usually only successful on the Fourth of July when everyone has the day off from work and school. Our catfisher probably takes photo after photo on this rare occasion when everyone is together and will post them sporadically throughout the summer so that their followers will see that they have been going out on the town and having fun with their friends all summer, even when they're probably watching The Bachelorette on repeat.
4. 'Always Wearing Trendy Clothes' Catifishing. This person is kind of the worst. It's no secret we all spend the summer in Norts and t-shirts or a bathing suit, so when people consistently post pictures in outfits from Tobi and Lulu's, it's easy to be a little skeptical. Unless you're hanging out with the likes of Serena van der Woodsen, your follower's guess is probably that this photo was taken weeks ago and you're posting it at the optimum time for likes. We see you, girl, we see you.
5. 'Acting Like You're At a Resort When You're Really at the Pool Where You Lifeguard' Catfishing. I know what you're thinking, that's specific. This is one thing that really happens; this person hops on a chaise lounge and has a coworker snap a pic of them soaking up the sun on their break. While you are probably rocking that red lifeguard bikini, no one thinks that that is actually what you do while on the clock, so really you just look silly.
Whether you spend your summer catfishing or having a mid-college crisis, this is a great time to relax at home or at school with friends and take a break from our busy August-April mentality.
*Disclaimer: If you're one prone to catfishing, don't stress — your Instas still get likes and your followers are likely still slightly envious. I also am guilty of this sometimes — here's a blurb of my Instas from summer, and I spent it working at a day camp, taking a math class and babysitting- fabulous, right?
