Catfishing: A Moral Dilemma
My brother has been watching the MTV show Catfish since its start in 2012. He was so invested in the show and was actively trying to get me to watch it. At the age of 12, I never gave it any attention because I assumed it was just like any other MTV show where they pull pranks on people or do different fake bits for views. It wasn’t until I got older and started watching Catfish for myself that I realized that the show follows real people who have been deceived by others on the internet. To catfish someone is to deceive another person by creating a false personal profile online (Purcell & Stroud, 2018). In this social media age, it is tough to decipher who is being authentic and faking it. The internet allows many people to take on different personas or fabricate the truth to form connections with other people.
I think it is wrong for someone to catfish another person to form a romantic and meaningful relationship. Catfishing and relationship building go hand in hand as the default reason why many individuals decide to hide their identity; to build and form a relationship, romantic or not, with another person online. According to Purcell and Stroud, someone may choose to “catfish” another person to create and sustain a relationship with someone they believe would reject them if they were to show who they are (Purcell & Stroud, 2018). Although people may not have the malicious intent to deceive another person, it is hard to escape what has been done once a more profound connection forms.
Catfishing, another person can also take a toll on a person’s emotions and mental health. In many instances, once the catfished discovers the truth about who they are talking to, they experience emotions such as anger, betrayal, or feeling worthless for being lied to (Purcell & Stroud, 2018). Relationships should be based on trust and honesty, not lies and deception. Actively tricking an individual into making them think you are someone else is morally wrong.
I believe that we have all dabbled in catfishing online, whether it be the information we choose to share on our social media pages or the information that we decide to tell other people. It is one thing to fabricate a story, but to form a meaningful relationship while not being true to yourself is wrong. There are always two sides to a relationship, and if one side is not being honest, there is no longer trust between both parties. If the catfisher cared about the other person and their feelings, it would be ethical and morally right to be open and honest about who they are rather than hiding behind an imaginative version of themselves.
References
Purcell, A. & Stroud, S. (2018). To catfish or not to catfish? Media Ethics Initiative. Retrieved from https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2018/11/15/to-catfish-or-not-to-catfish/
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