SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
People have been catfishing ever since social media was created and it only made social news when MTV premiered the show "Catfish" that shows how people are pretending to be others just to get attention, to hurt people, or because they're insecure of their own looks. Catfishing is probably one of the most dangerous things that are around on the Internet; it's almost up there with cyberbullying because of the risks that people are running while pretending to be someone else.
Netflix recently released a film called "Sierra Burgess Is A Loser" and basically, it's about a teenager (Sierra Burgess) who doesn't have an easy high school life; she's teased because of how she looks and she's not very popular. She has one best friend, she's in the band, and she's super smart (her dad is a famous author, so she's very knowledgeable about literature and can quote many literary geniuses, so I envy her because of that).
Sierra puts a flyer up with her number on it for people who needs tutoring, so when the mean girl, Veronica, takes her number down as a joke, she passes it off as her number to Jamey who has a crush on Veronica. Jamey texts Sierra thinking that she's Veronica, so when Sierra realizes that he thinks she is Veronica, Sierra makes a deal with Veronica that she would help her in her classes if she pretended to be her in person when Jamey wanted to go out. Jamey fell in love with Veronica's face, but he really fell for Sierra's words (cough, cough, the con of catfishing). Sierra fell for Jamey, too, but she became too invested in the deal that when Veronica had to stick to the plan without Sierra around, Sierra got really upset and ruined Veronica's night (and Jamey's). Bottom line is, Sierra got too caught up in being Veronica, she actually pulled a Veronica and it hurt her in the end - don't worry, everything works out at the end of the movie.
Sierra Burgess's actions go to show just how dangerous catfishing really is.
She became emotionally invested in pretending to be Veronica that she forgot she made a deal with her; she lost herself (and her one friend) by being a catfish. People become so emotionally invested in being someone else because they think that it's easier to be someone that is liked by many than someone who is liked by few. Catfishing can be a segway into kidnappings and sex trafficking for multiple reasons: meeting with a person you've only texted and never had any physical contact with, giving out information that you shouldn't give out, or getting snatched up because they followed your location.
Sierra Burgess went about things the wrong way. If she just told Jamey the truth, then the entire catfishing issue could've been avoided, but then we wouldn't have a movie.
I don't agree with how the movie ended (I think it could've ended differently) but it was still an amazing coming of age movie for today's youth. Social media is a dangerous place regardless of catfishes, cyberbullies, stalkers, and pedophiles; however, sometimes it really is just a teenager behind the screen trying to see how it feels to be liked by someone.
