Give a man a mask, and he will show you who he is—Anonymous

Modern internet culture allows you to easily become anyone you want to. In recent years, this has led to the rise of what is termed ‘catfishing.’

The term was first introduced in 2010 in a documentary of the same name, referring to someone who creates an online persona based on false information. This persona is usually stolen from an uninvolved third party—also known as identity theft.

Conventional wisdom holds that the intent behind catfishing is usually extortion (monetary or otherwise), revenge, or causing trouble—but the problem runs deeper than that. Let’s take a more detailed look at the phenomenon.

A Complicated Problem

In a study that was investigating the intent and goal behind online catfish behaviors, 27 people from around the world who self-identified as catfishers were interviewed. Here are some of the key findings from the study:

• A whopping 41% of participants said that loneliness was their main motivation behind catfishing. The desire to be popular, accepted, loved, and the joy of having friends were some factors that further contributed to the act.
• Another common theme was being dissatisfied with their physical appearance—this made up about one-third of responses, indicating serious self-esteem problems.
• More than two-thirds said that they saw it as a desire to escape their lives and their insecurities. A modern-world retelling of the phrase “walking in someone else’s shoes.”

The study highlights the fact that the majority of catfish behaviors may have very little to do with another person—for example, extorting someone for money or intending to cause harm, even though there have been many cases of this. The main motivation for online catfishing seems to be deeply rooted in the psyche, and stems from feelings of low self-esteem, insecurities, and unmet needs.

Unmet Needs And Adopting A Fake Persona

According to Maslow, a famous psychologist, all human beings are born with a set of needs that are required to be met in order to encourage mental and emotional development.

When these needs are not met, people subconsciously seek the fulfillment of these gaps, which manifests in their personalities.

These gaps may come across as attention-seeking behaviors (to fulfill the gap left by the need to feel loved and cherished), approval-seeking and people-pleasing attributes (to satisfy the need to feel validated) and excessive luxury spending behaviors even if they can’t afford it (to satisfy the need to feel good about themselves).

Catfishing is the same. It involves literally escaping your circumstances, ridding yourself of all the negativities involved, and becoming a new, more acceptable person who’s worthy of love and attention.

However, the act is detrimental to the person’s mental health and can often increase the feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and low self-image.

Healing From Catfish Behaviors

Fortunately, catfish behaviors can be overcome. Since most of them go back toour unmet human needs, the best course of action is to find a more wholesome way to satisfy and fulfill them.

One such tool that can help you do that, is NIKU. Working on the ‘reframing of needs’ principle, NIKU makes it easier to meet your unfulfilled needs by giving them a whole new context.

To try out reframing, you can easily download NIKU, an app available on both the Apple App Store and the Google PlayStore. This app functions as an online psychological counselor or a life coach, helping you look at life with a fresh, new perspective.