Sadfishing: What It Is And How It Is Reflected On Social Networks
Our emotions give a lot of information to others about how we feel. But in addition, they can have other uses.
One of them is the so-called sadfishing Let’s try to get to know this new concept better and find out how it came about. Likewise, we will review the characteristics it usually has and see some of the most famous examples of this curious phenomenon.
Sadfishing, or sad fishing for its Spanish translation, is a behavior that consists of exposing negative emotions, such as sadness, in a disproportionate way and generally through media, such as social networks, to get other people’s attention and arouse their sympathy
The term sadfishing was created by Rebecca Reid, writer, in 2019. It comes from a play on the English expression “catfishing”, which refers to the action of creating a false profile on a social network with the aim of of benefiting or harming another person, and the term “sad”, which means sad and refers to the negative emotions we were talking about.
A basic outline of the sadfishing process would be to publish content on a social network explaining how bad this person is having it. Next, I would wait to receive reactions and comments through which other individuals would be focusing their attention on the author of the publication.
It is important to take into account the detail that The person who is practicing sadfishing does not necessarily have to feel sad, or at least not to the degree of intensity that reflects the message he spread throught social media. In that sense, what would be observed would be an enhancement of one’s state, and even a pretense, intended to attract the attention of others.
Causes
There are many reasons that can lead a person to engage in behavior compatible with sadfishing. Let us remember that the primary objective of this action is to achieve the attention of others. Therefore, a narcissistic personality can encourage this type of behavior
But content can also be published about the sadness that the person is feeling, precisely due to low self-esteem. You can even do sadfishing simply out of jealousy, in case there is another person in your environment who is hogging all the attention of others.
Living in a period of loneliness can also encourage this behavior It is logical to think that, if a person is deprived of the amount of attention he normally receives, he will feel a need to recover it in some way, and a good method may be sadfishing.
Psychopathologies such as depression or anxiety can also enhance the use of this technique if the person who suffers from them detects that through it they notice an improvement in their condition, even if it is subtle. Individuals with antisocial behavior, paradoxically, can also practice sadfishing, as they will seek digital attention that they do not get in person.
We must not forget that there is another reason for carrying out this type of action, as simple as mere boredom. We are referring here to what is called a “troll” on the Internet. These individuals would practice sadfishing not because they really felt sad, but because they had fun. manipulating the emotions and reactions of others
The dangers of this practice
But sadfishing is not always a harmless practice. On the contrary, we must understand that, like many other acts carried out on social networks, it entails some risks. One of the first problems it presents is precisely making too obvious use of sadfishing.
What does this mean? That Not all people have the same ability when it comes to trying to use a story about their negative emotions to get attention Someone who is not skilled in this sense could make a publication in which he exposes his sadness in such an exaggerated way that it generates rejection due to his obvious falsehood. Therefore, it would be achieving the opposite effect to that intended.
This problem can also be generated, not by a tremendously exaggerated publication, but by a repetition of them, even if they are somewhat more subtle. If the person tries to do sadfishing constantly, they may be able to attract attention with their first posts, but the most likely thing is that the effect will become more and more diluted until it practically disappears.
Another risk of this behavior is that there are people who take advantage of this type of publication not to show their sympathy, but quite the opposite. Therefore, A person who makes an attempt at sadfishing may find support from certain individuals while others will take the opportunity to attack him or her given his apparent state of emotional vulnerability.
This is one of the most frequent dangers of sadfishing, since it can turn the author of the publications, with which he was only seeking positive attention, into the target of cyberbullies, who will see him as perfect prey to unleash their aggressiveness. , in this case through humiliating comments.
The last of the risks associated with sadfishing is also the most dangerous, and is the danger of drawing attention with this type of calls to attention about pedophile sexual predators, who comb the networks in search of possible victims, being those who show emotional vulnerability. some good candidates on whom to try to carry out their despicable acts.
Examples of sadfishing in celebrities
After an extensive tour of the concept of sadfishing, we can now move on to see some examples of this type of behavior that have been popular at the time on social networks.
1. Kendall Jenner and acne
The first example of sadfishing that we can review is precisely the one that gave rise to the creation of the term itself, by the writer Rebecca Reid , as we have already mentioned above. It happened following a publication by model Kendall Jenner on her Instagram social network profile.
In this publication, Kendall Jenner recounted the unknown fact of having suffered from acne during her adolescence, a reason that caused her a lot of discomfort at that stage, in part due to the looks she received from people. However, while she generated feelings of empathy in some of her followers, others were enraged.
The reason? That publication was accompanied by an advertising campaign in which Kendall Jenner herself promoted cosmetic skin care products. Many people perceived a sadfishing action aimed at attracting attention for commercial purposes.
The popular singer Justin Bieber decided, at the beginning of 2020, to share on his social networks (on Instagram, as in the previous case), that he suffered from a pathology known as Lyme disease, transmitted by bacteria found in ticks.
This revelation caused pity in some of the fans. But, as is often the case on social media, other people did not take this post well. Many accused Bieber of making a crude attempt to attract attention, that is, sadfishing, and downplayed the illness claiming that in reality the treatment to cure it is simple.
In any case, the point is that a person exposed a problem that caused them discomfort and concern, seeking the approval and attention of other individuals, and in many cases what they found was a visceral reaction against them.
Obviously, social networks are home to all types of users, some better and others less well-intentioned, so it is easy to find this type of reaction, especially in high-impact publications such as those made by people with millions of followers, such as those of the examples discussed.
3. Sam Smith and his tears
The singer Sam Smith made a publication (once again, on Instagram) in 2020, during the coronavirus crisis, where He was shown crying on the stairs of his home, because of what he called “a quarantine crisis.” This action, like the previous ones, attracted the sympathy of some and the anger of others.
In the second group would be the journalist Piers Morgan, who reprimanded Smith for this action, which for him would fit into the phenomenon of sadfishing or attention seeking. Morgan asked him to control himself and avoid this type of publication, while he said he could not tolerate this type of action from celebrities.
