By Wylliam Smith
Diversity at Iowa, held a screening of the documentary Catfish on Monday. In the documentary, Nev Schulman was catfished, meaning he was tricked into an online relationship with someone claiming to be someone else. The woman who catfished him, Angela Wesselman, said she did it as an escape from her life. The person she pretended to be was still her personality, she said, but that version of her had accomplished all the dreams that she hadn’t.
Wesselman felt as if she was trapped in her own life, and she couldn’t talk to anyone she knew about it. Through the internet, she found solace, a place in which to express herself and be free. And while the way she did it was wrong, there are plenty of more healthy online relationships.
Something that is constantly said by the generations before mine is how much people my age rely on the internet. I’m sure I am not the only one who hears the phrases “You’re always on your phone” or “Back in my day, kids played outside.”
The online community has always been painted in somewhat of a negative light, which is not unjustified, because there are some truly horrendous acts done on the web. However, blaming the entire online community for this is the equivalent of saying all dogs bite just because a dog bit you.
Claiming the internet is bad is a huge generalization, when in reality, a lot of online communities are very friendly. I for one have made plenty of friends online. For instance, I used to play the mobile game Clash of Clans and I met a lot of people whom I still talk to today.
There were times I spoke to these people about serious topics and we were always there for one another. I believe that the reason some people connect with people online is because it can be easier to talk to someone you don’t really know.
You can talk to this person without the fear of being judged, and in a sense, it’s like you get a chance to start over. I compare it to reading a good book in the sense that you can lose yourself in a new world different from your own.
Let’s say that your life at home isn’t necessarily great. Maybe you’re being bullied, perhaps you simply don’t have any friends, or maybe you just work a 9-to-5 paper-pushing job. Online relationships could really be an escape, giving you someone to talk with and relate to.
I am in no way condoning catfishing or any other negative activity that happens online. I am, however, suggesting that in many ways, the internet has provided alternate spaces for people to come together in groups and make friends.
