Sadfishing: what it is and how it is embodied in social networks

Sadfishing is a social phenomenon based on pity and the use of the Internet. Let's see how it is.

Our emotions give a lot of information to others about how we feel. But they can also have other uses.

One of them is sadfishing. We will try to learn more about this novel concept and how it came about. Likewise, we will review the characteristics that it usually has and we will see some of the most famous examples of this curious phenomenon.

What is sadfishing?

Sadfishing 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 is a creation of Rebecca Reid, a writer, in 2019. It comes from a play on words with the English expression "catfishing", which refers to the action of creating a false profile on a social network with the aim of making a profit 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 post content on a social network explaining how bad this person is having a bad time. Then, he/she would wait to receive the reactions and comments through which other individuals would be focusing their attention on the author of the publication.

It is important to note the detail that the person who is sadfishing does not necessarily have to feel sad, or at least not to the degree of intensity reflected in the message he or she spread through social networks. through social networks. In that sense, what would be observed would be an empowerment of their state, and even a pretense, aimed at attracting the attention of others.

Causes

There are many reasons that can lead a person to perform behaviors compatible with sadfishing. Let us remember that the primary objective of this action is to gain the attention of others. Therefore, a narcissistic personality can encourage this type of behavior..

But content can also be posted about the sadness that the person is feeling, precisely because of low self-esteem. Sadfishing can even be done simply out of jealousy, in case there is another person in the 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/she receives in a habitual way, he/she will feel a need to recover it somehow, and a good method can 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 he/she notices an improvement in his/her state, even if it is subtle. Individuals with antisocial behavior, paradoxically, can also practice sadfishing, because they will seek in a digital way the attention they do not get in person.

We must not forget that there is another reason for this type of action, as simple as mere boredom. We are referring here to what is known on the Internet as a "troll". These individuals would practice sadfishing not because they really feel sad, but because they have fun manipulating the emotions and reactions of others. by 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 developed on social networks, it entails some risks. One of the first problems it presents is precisely, making too obvious a use of sadfishing.

What does this mean? That not all people are equally skilled when it comes to trying to use a story about their negative emotions to attract attention.. Someone who is not skilled in this sense, could make a publication in which they expose their sadness in such an exaggerated way that it generates rejection due to its obvious falsehood. Therefore, you would be achieving the opposite effect to the one you were looking for.

This problem can also be generated, not by a tremendously exaggerated publication, but by a reiteration of the same, even if they are somewhat more subtle. If the person tries to sadfishing in a constant way, he may attract attention with his first publications, but most likely the effect will be diluted more and more until it practically disappears.

Another risk of this behavior is that there are people who take advantage of this type of publications 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 advantage of it to attack him or her, given his or her apparent state of vulnerability.given their apparent state of emotional vulnerability.

This is one of the most frequent dangers of sadfishing, as it can turn the author of the posts, with which he was only seeking positive attention, into a target for cyberbullies, who will see in him a perfect prey to give free rein to 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 for attention to pedophile sexual predators, who comb the networks in search of potential victims, being those who show emotional vulnerability good candidates on which to try to exercise their despicable acts.

Examples of sadfishing in celebrities

After a broad overview of the concept of sadfishing, we can now take a look at 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.as we have already mentioned above. It happened as a result of a publication of the model Kendall Jenner on her profile on the social network Instagram.

In that publication, Kendall Jenner recounted the unknown fact of her adolescence of having suffered from acne, a reason that generated a lot of discomfort in that stage, partly due to the looks she perceived from people. However, while it generated empathetic feelings in some of her followers, others were furious.

The reason? That this publication was accompanied by an advertising campaign in which Kendall Jenner herself was promoting some cosmetic products for skin care. Many people perceived a sadfishing action aimed at capturing attention for commercial purposes.

2. Justin Bieber and his illness

The popular singer Justin Bieber decided, in early 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.

Such a revelation provoked pity in some of the fans. But, as it usually happens on social networks, other people did not take this publication well. Many accused Bieber of making a crude attempt to get attention, i.e., sadfishing, and downplayed the importance of the diseaseThe treatment to cure it is actually simple.

In any case, the point is that a person exposed a problem that generated discomfort and concern, in search of approval and attention from other individuals, and in many cases what he found was a visceral reaction against his person.

Obviously, social networks are home to all kinds of users, some better and some worse intentioned, so it is easy to find this kind of reactions, especially in high-impact publications such as those made by people with millions of followers, as in the examples mentioned above.

Sam Smith and his tears

Singer Sam Smith made a publication (once again, on Instagram) in 2020, during the coronavirus crisis, where he showed himself crying on the stairs of a staircase. he showed himself 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 le pidió que se controlara y evitara este tipo de publicaciones, al tiempo que dijo no poder soportar este tipo de acciones por parte de las celebridades.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• DeWall, C.N., Buffardi, L.E., Bonser, I., Campbell, W.K. (2011). Narcissism and implicit attention seeking: Evidence from linguistic analyses of social networking and online presentation. Personality and Individual Differences. Elsevier.
• Hawk, S.T., van den Eijnden, R.J.J.M., van Lissa, C.J., ter Bogt, T.F.M. (2019). Narcissistic adolescents' attention-seeking following social rejection: Links with social media disclosure, problematic social media use, and smartphone stress. Computers in Human Behavior. Elsevier.
• Maltby, J., Day, L., Hatcher, R.M. (2016). Implicit theories of online trolling: Evidence that attention‐seeking conceptions are associated with increased psychological resilience. British Journal of Psychology. Wiley Online Library.