Catfishing, by definition, is someone who creates a falsified profile on a social network site using someone else’s photos. Profiles can be created on all kinds of social platforms such as, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, Kik, and any other applications that allow us to upload a photo of our choosing. Then, these people proceed to form romantic relationships with other profiles they initiate contact with. Many of you are probably familiar with the show, Catfish on MTV, which is a reality-based television series that documents online relationships. After many seasons of tuning into the show, I’ve gained a deeper understanding and interest of online safety and the investigative actions taken to determine the authenticity of a profile. Catfishing is a delusive activity that unproductive people engage in, as they vicariously live through the life of someone they are not. Well, I have a message for the people hiding behind unsolicited photos and computer screens:
- You’re not living your life. You’re living that of a fantasy. You’re too busy pretending, when you could be being; being yourself, unafraid to show the world the real you.
- You’re wasting your time. Actually, I take that back. Not only are you wasting your time, but you’re also taking time away from all the people you choose to screw with on the profile you accidentally misrepresented yourself.
- You are being dishonest and deceitful to the people you seek out and pursue online relationships with. To you, it may seem like harmless fun or a game, but to the other person, it may be so much more than that.
- You’re toying with a person’s emotions as you have the reigns in this situation. You’re clouding their judgment, and simply brainwashing them of reality. You’re consuming someone’s time, thoughts, and effort that could have been exerted into another area of their life that is actually worthy of their attention. But, above all, what you’re doing can be psychologically damaging to the other person, contingent on how far you take your scheme, and the amount of information you made up about yourself, which in most catfish cases, tends to be substantial.
- You’re not being true to who you are.
…which perfectly leads me into my remaining points.
While some catfishers do it for fun, most catfishers create fake profiles as a result of a particular insecurity or ulterior motive. There are many types of motivations behind catfishing. There’s the vindictive, revenge-seeking catfish, the stalker, obsessive catfish, and the lonely catfish. Then there is the manipulative catfish who plays victim in hopes their online partner will send them money. However, majority of the time, it’s the insecure catfish that is dissatisfied with an aspect of their life. Perhaps, it is appearance, weight, sexual orientation, or ethnic background; so they choose to hide behind a person that possesses something they don’t.
At the end of the day, regardless of what you’re going through in life or what you look like, should not give you incentive to rob someone else of their identity with the intent to fill a void. Pretending to be someone else only digs that void into a deeper hole, pushing you farther and farther away from filling it. So if you’re a catfish and reading this, deactivate your profile and stop running away from your life. Be true to who you are, and pursue relationships without having to carry around the weight of your darkest secret in not being yourself.
