By Erika Greco and Madeline Master

With today’s technology and social media, dating has become more and more impersonal. Millions of people every day are meeting one another through social media websites and apps like eHarmony, Hot or Not and Tinder.

In addition to becoming more common, social media makes it incredibly easy to lie about personal identities, which in turn toys with others’ emotions. This is often referred to as catfishing. Usually, dating websites do not require individuals to provide any background information. Users only know one another based on what they reveal through the “chat” option and what their profile reveals. Whether you choose to believe what they tell you or not is entirely up to you.

Recently, a senior student in the Walled Lake school district, who will remain anonymous, fell into the trap of a 20 year old named Anthony who not only lied about his last name, but about his interests and current relationship status.

“I went on Tinder one day just because I was bored and it ended up turning into something much bigger, and I regret that decision every day.”

She explained that the conversations started off so genuine and her vulnerability increased to an all-time high. She opened herself up to a guy who she didn’t even know.

“I fell under the spell of a guy who seemed like he had it all together. The next day he asked to hang out with me again and I couldn’t have been more excited. I know it sounds crazy, but I really was falling for this guy.”

Once her parents confronted her, they couldn’t help but be worried that this guy was not in it for the right reasons. They made her do a complete background check through Google. And to her family’s dismay, nothing relevant came up for the name that he had given her. Later, deeper research was pursued.

“I subtly asked him questions that would lead to finding out his Twitter handle. Once I got it, it was like the frosting on the cake because now I could find out anything. I found that a particular girl was showing up in all of his pictures. I found out her name, Facebook stalked her, and soon realized that they were currently in a relationship,” she explained, “I thought to myself, this only happens in the movies and on TV, this can’t possibly be happening to me.”

Unfortunately, it did. Her “perfect guy” had lied about his last name, his relationship status, and personal details of his life.

“I regret the decision that I made and do not recommend the use of this app to anyone, especially those of a young age. It is so easy for people to lie through the internet today and you can’t trust anyone you haven’t met in person,” she commented.

Regrettably, more often than not, online relationships at a young age end in misfortune. Teenagers and young adults need to be more careful of who and how they talk to people over the internet.