Catfishing
Catfishing is the act of creating a false online identity to deceive another person into forming an emotional or romantic relationship. This behavior can stem from various motivations, including loneliness, boredom, or even revenge. The term gained popularity after the release of the 2010 documentary "Catfish," which showcased a filmmaker's experience of discovering that the woman he had been communicating with online was not who she claimed to be. With the rise of social media and online dating platforms, incidences of catfishing have increased, as individuals can easily fabricate profiles with misleading information and images.
Historically, the use of fake identities online has existed since the early days of the internet, but catfishing is distinguished by its focus on developing romantic connections. Researchers have noted that catfishing can also be a form of cyberstalking, and while it may allow individuals to explore different aspects of their identity, it can lead to unhealthy psychological patterns if it replaces real-life interactions. High-profile cases, such as those involving public figures, have further highlighted the issue, prompting discussions on the psychological dynamics affecting both the catfishers and their victims. The phenomenon reflects broader themes of identity exploration and the complexities of online relationships in contemporary society.
Catfishing
"Catfishing" refers to intentionally using a false online identity in order to trick someone into engaging in an emotional and/or romantic relationship. In documented cases of catfishing, the motivation for deception varies and can include boredom, loneliness, revenge, and simple curiosity. The term was first coined in the documentary Catfish (2010), in which the filmmaker learns that the woman with whom he believes he is having an online relationship is in reality someone completely different.
Brief History
The use of false or anonymous online identities has been commonplace since use of the Internet became widespread in the early 1990s. People have used fake identities when writing book or film reviews, commenting on blogs, and when intending to aggravate or escalate online arguments. What distinguishes catfishing is its end goal of cultivating an online romantic relationship.
With the rise in popularity of social media networks in the 2000s, catfishing became more advanced and elaborate. Through websites such as Myspace and Facebook, users could create deceptive accounts using fabricated biographical information and photographs that were downloaded from the Internet. Additional social media accounts were often created to give the illusion of a network of family members and friends.
The rise in popularity of online dating also led the way for an increase in catfishing. According to a study performed by the Pew Research Center in 2016, nearly six percent of Internet users in a committed relationship first met their partner online. This figure was twice that of those polled in 2005. A 2013 Pew study also found that 54 percent of those polled believed that they had also been given false biographical information by others online at some point.
Overview
The motivation for people to catfish others varies. Sometimes catfishers are lonely or feel ostracized by their peers or community, so they turn to online companionship. Other times there are malicious reasons, such as a drive for aggression or for revenge. Some catfishers create a false online profile in order to explore aspects of their sexuality they are afraid to reveal or confront in real life. Catfishing is also considered by experts as a form of cyberstalking.
A 2012 study in the Journal of Adolescence found that young people are increasingly using social networking websites as a means for identity exploration. By creating fake profiles, users can explore different facets of their personality. The study states that while this exploration helps adolescents measure and understand themselves and form an identity, it can grow harmful if the user isolates from reality in order to nurture intimate relationships online, which then leads to negative psychological patterns. There have been various studies done on the psychology of both the catfisher and the victim as well as numerous articles on the warning signs of being catfished.
In the wake of the popularity of the Catfish documentary and television series, there have also been several publicized catfishing incidents involving sports and entertainment personalities. The term’s position in the cultural lexicon was further cemented when its definition was amended in 2014 by Merriam-Webster to include a person who uses a deceptive social networking profile.
Catfish the Documentary and the Series
The term "catfish" was first coined in the documentary Catfish (2010), which followed photographer Yaniv "Nev" Schulman as he developed a romantic relationship online. He believed he was in a relationship with a young woman named Megan, but when Schulman and the filmmakers tracked her down, they unveiled a series of untruths culminating in the realization that Megan was actually Angela Wesselman, an older married woman with two handicapped sons. In the film, an anecdote is told about how fisherman place catfish in shipping tanks with live cod when sending the fish overseas. The catfish harass the cod, thereby keeping them active and their meat firmer and better tasting. People who act as catfish, the documentary explains, keep others alert and never bored.
The success of the documentary led to the cable television network MTV producing Catfish: The Series in 2012. In each episode, Schulman and Catfish filmmaker Max Joseph connect people who have an online relationship in order to determine whether someone in the relationship is catfishing the other.
Manti Te’o and Thomas Gibson
University of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o led his team in an exciting upset against Michigan State University in September 2013. Fans were especially inspired by his performance because three days before, Te’o had learned that his grandmother and girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, had both died. Te’o and Kekua had met online and had developed a romantic relationship without ever having met in person, and Te’o’s ability to overcome adversity garnered a tremendous amount of national attention. Following Kekua’s reported death, journalists discovered that, unbeknownst Te’o, Lennay Kekua did not exist, and that the religious musician Ronaiah Tuiasosopo had been pretending to be Kekua because, as he later admitted, he was secretly in love with Te’o.
Also in 2013, it was revealed that actor Thomas Gibson, who stars on the popular television series Criminal Minds, was the victim of an elaborate catfish scam. The news broke when an entertainment news agency released an embarrassing video that Gibson took of himself in a hot tub. Reports indicated that Gibson and his catfisher had been exchanging photos and videos of themselves for at least two years, with Gibson’s catfisher sending him images she downloaded from pornographic websites.
In 2015, a gang rape scandal at the University of Virginia, in which members of a prominent fraternity were accused of a rape and the university of covering up, gained national attention when the magazine Rolling Stone ran an exposé. The accusation turned out to be false, and the magazine was forced to rescind the story and offer an apology and an explanation for printing it. The story began as a case of catfishing, started by a female student jilted by a male student.
Bibliography
Caspi, Avner, and Paul Gorsky. "Online Deception: Prevalence, Motivation, and Emotion." CyberPsychology & Behavior 9.1 (2006): 54–59. Print.
D’Costa, Krystal. "Catfishing: The Truth about Deception Online." Scientific American. Nature America, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 May 2016.
Israelashvili, Moshe, et al. "Adolescents’ Over-Use of the Cyber World: Internet Addiction or Identity Exploration?" Journal of Adolescence 35.2 (2012): 417–24. Print.
Moss, Caroline. "Strangers Have Been Using This Woman’s Photos to Catfish People Online for Ten Years." Business Insider. Business Insider, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 23 May 2016.
McCarthy, Ellen. "What Is Catfishing? A Brief (and Sordid) History." Washington Post. Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2016. Web. 23 May 2016.
Scott, A. O. "The World Where You Aren’t What You Post." New York Times. New York Times, 16 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 May 2016.
Smith, Aaron, and Maeve Duggan. "Online Dating & Relationships." Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.