Internet Friends Or Catfish?

So I know that many people are against meeting people online because of the MTV show "Catfish," or because you don’t know whom you’re talking to online. That’s definitely true if the other person won’t talk on the phone or video chat, and all that you see of them are pictures and texts. Then I can definitely see how it can get sketchy and suspicious. However, what if you meet someone online, video chat/talk on the phone with them constantly and confide in them? Everyone deals with meeting people online in a different way, but thankfully, all of my experiences have turned out positive.

While reading this, you may be thinking, “This girl is crazy. Why would she be advocating meeting a stranger online?” I’m most certainly not trying to persuade people into thinking that everyone you meet online is all smiles and sincerity. Of course, there are pedophiles and weird stalkerish people on the Internet, but there are also people whom you never knew you had so much in common with on the Internet as well. Before I begin, let me also mention that though I’ve conversed with some people from my past fan pages that I’ve had or mutual friends, I’ve never shared any information such as my address, school, etc.

Now that I’ve got that cleared up, I’ll share a few Internet friends of my own. On Facebook, I met this girl through a few mutual friends, and it led to us messaging each other. I didn’t think much of it at first, but this girl ended up being one of my best friends. She lives in Canada, which is about seven hours away from where I currently live. It sounds crazy, I know, but she was someone whom I could confide in with anything, and she never judged me. Of course we Skype and Facetime, so I knew that she wasn’t a catfish or a pedophile posing as a 15-year-old girl at the time. We even met up when I went to visit Niagara Falls, and our parents got to talking, and it was an overall great day. I’ve known this girl for six years, and she’s still one of my best friends to this day.

Another wonderful soul that I ended up meeting on Twitter, through a mutual interest in music, was a Rachel Platten fan. Since she’s one of my favorite artists, I tweet a lot about her music, vote for her when she’s nominated for awards, etc. This one girl ended up retweeting/favoriting a majority of my Rachel tweets, so at one point, we ended up direct messaging.

Let me tell you guys right now that when I say she’s the sweetest person on Earth, I truly mean that. Her dedication toward Rachel is unbelievable, and she doesn’t even live in the U.S. When you first meet her, she immediately seems like the type of girl who wouldn’t even touch a fly, let alone kill it, and that’s exactly how her personality is. Not a lot of my friends share the same musical interest as I do, so it’s nice to finally be able to talk about Rachel’s music with someone, without having to bring up “Fight Song” every time they ask who she is.

The moral of the article is that not everyone you meet online is out to get you or catfish you. Of course, you should be careful when talking to someone, and unless you’ve met them several times in person and you get a sense of who they are, I advise against sharing your address or any personal information. However, if you do end up meeting a person who shares mutual interests with you, or you feel like that person understands you and isn’t judgmental, then that can be an amazing feeling and you could’ve just made a best friend for the long run. Just make sure you know who they are if you continue talking to them, and please try not to wait a year before video chatting or talking on the phone with them. Much like the victims on the "Catfish" show, you don’t want to be disappointed and heartbroken if the person you’ve been confiding in this whole time wasn’t being truthful about who they were that entire time.