The Importance Of Catfishing

Throughout the last century, humanity has been fascinated by the possibilities of technology shaping a better future. The fact that technology has always represented the future and the unknown gives our society the ability to continue to project our own ideas of what can be created. Through technological advances, we cannot predict the future, but we can allow people to make themselves feel part of something bigger, no matter where they are. Catfishing is when the online world enables users to be bodiless, and electronic. A Catfish is a person who represents themselves with a fake or stolen identity to usually pursue a romantic relationship or to befriend strangers online. This paper explores the importance and will describe the concept of …show more content…
Most people today use social media to get personal information on friends, acquaintances, and strangers, looking at pictures, likes, relationship status, political views, friends, locations, personal preferences and more (Gershon 146). People should have the free will to choose what information they want to share online; so nowadays it is hard to maintain privacy online, and to prevent others from misusing or misunderstanding online information. The use of social media is creating a society unable to maintain personal confidentiality, and the value of confidentiality is questioned by how much private information is …show more content…
Within the online world, users can create characters with real names that are fictitious and very different than their real identities. They can also create fictitious profiles, pictures and personal details. Creating these types of identities have limitations because most times the people who are being “catfished” are creating artificial relationships with an online stranger. People create a false online profile to gain information about others without the ability of others to know it. The reason why catfishes’ engage in this activity anonymously is unknown. Individuals can custom tailor the information they expose online, such as relatives on their Facebook page, or expose their relationship status. This question proposes why some information is exposed and why some information is not exposed. Therefore the information provided in new media does not necessarily reflect all the facts, for instance, what is the meaning behind if a couple hides their relationship status? Or how would people who have personal knowledge of the relationship perceive the legitimacy of the relationship if it is not