Catfish... more than a fish
Social media challenge #2 opened the door for conversation about online anonymity and online deception. According to the oxford dictionary, online anonymity is defined as a person who cannot be identified according to any of the basic dimensions of identity such as their legal name, location, true gender etc. Similarly, online deception is defined as knowingly transmitting messages to a receiver with the intent to foster a false belief orconclusion. (dictionary.reference.com)
In today’s society, the line between creating a digital persona from scratch to curate an online presence and have completely online deceptive relationships is getting increasingly thinner and thinner. This has raised many ethical issues regarding online anonymity and online deception with a new concept called “Catfishing”.
Cat fishing is an example of the cons of both online deception and online anonymity. It is a scheme that is on the uprise and has risen to the mainstream with three seasons to date on the popular MTV show “Catfish”. Catfish is defined as a person who exploits online anonymity and deception by creating a fake online personality and engaging in an entirely online relationship with another person, who usually does not know they are being deceived. Here’s a youtube link to showcase cat fishing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMA4x7aXJT0
This ethical issue has been recently under fire, with many shows such as numerous Dr.Phil episodes and MTVs seasons, bringing this issue to the public eye. These episodes showcase how detrimental and damaging cat fishing schemes can be- they take up the majority of your time, get innocent people to fall in love with a completely made up persona and sometimes the catfish requests money or other valuable things from their partner leading to possible financial burdens. All of these situations can be mentally, financially and physically damaging to the innocent person.
Some telltale signs that you’re being catfished includes:
It is impossible to physically contact this person in real-life, as they refuse to meet up in person, engage on Skype dates, send factual information about their true address etc.
Plans to visit each other may be initially be made but are NEVER carried through.
it usually involves taking the person’s time, or in many cases, receiving money from their “lover”.
After watching many seasons of Catfish on MTV and viewing episodes on Catfishing on Dr.Phil, often times the person who is being catfished is completely unaware and in denial that their “lover” is a fake person, even after it is proved. This again showcases how detrimental these schemes are and the flurry of ethical issues it causes.
Included is an article that highlights everything a person needs to know about the recent cat fishing epidemic. http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/its-catfishing-season-how-to-tell-lovers-from-liars-online-and-more/?dt_newsletter_register_email=
Online deception and anonymity do have their pros, however, in contrast, the ethical cons to each concept heavily outweigh their benefits and can ultimately lead to damaging innocent individual lives.
Since I have personally watched numerous episodes on Dr.Phil (guilty pleasure show) and the majority of the seasons of MTV: Catfish, I have quite the opinion on cat fishing schemes and deceptive online relationships. First, I think the evolution of online anonymity can be a pro, especially since it can allow people to have a voice. That being said, I think this is only good when people are being truly genuine about interested topics and are NOT trying to dupe people in any way. In conclusion, if someone wants to be anonymous and does not cause harm to any individual/theirself/companies etc., online anonymity is great. In contrast however, many people do not have the same perceptions as me. After watching countless episodes on this topic, people can have the evil side of wanting to deceive people and cause harm to others, whether its emotional, physical, mental, financial etc.
In regards to cat fishing, I see both perspectives. First, I can see how some of these people that are lured into falling in love with a “fictitious” person and are in complete denial when they are presented with the facts that they are being deceived (For example, an episode of Dr. Phil, an older women sent her online lover over $250,000 and when private investigators looked into the man and presented her with the facts of who the person truly was, she simply denied it). i feel like these people just invest so much time emotionally with that person, they refuse to see the bad side. In contrast, some people use cat fishing schemes as a form of online anonymity that do not want to intentionally cause harm, they are just embarrassed of who they truly are. NO, this is still not ideal, but they are genuinely just trying to protect their flaws and make themselves seem better. Lastly, there are the cat fish who intentionally use online anonymity and deception to be purposefully harmful. These are the people who I completely frown upon and where the evil side of online relationships evolve.
In conclusion, I do try to see the best in people, but knowing that people out there are using online anonymity and deception to intentionally cause harm is scary. At the end of the day, being aware of your surroundings are crucial, especially in today’s society.
