An electronic identity, whether it be a Facebook profile, chat screen name, etc, is unique in its development and traits. Unlike other identities, with an electronic identity, “everything must be communicated; all elements of selfhood must be presented to others; one must literally write one’s self into existence” (Waskul, 204). The development and traits of an electronic identity were perfectly portrayed through Ariel Schulman’s documentary Catfish. In this documentary, Ariel documents his growing Facebook friendship with a girl, who he does not know outside of Facebook, named Megan. Throughout this documentary, he comes to find out that Megan, her pictures, her family, and her friends were all false identities. None of these people existed; rather, they were electronic identities created and managed by a woman named Angela Wesselman. Wesselman’s ability to create hundreds of believable electronic identities can be explained through the unique traits of electronic identities.
An importance difference between an electronic identity and other identities is that “self-claims in online chat are much more difficult to verify” (Waskul, 204). This lack of verification allows one to create false information about themselves, or on a much grander scale, in Wesselman’s case, create several false identities in which none of the information is true. Due to the fact that Ariel only knew Megan and these other identities through Facebook, he could not disprove any of their information. With an electronic identity, there is no face-to-face interaction, thus one must take others’ statements as true because they have no means of challenging their validity.
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| Angela Wesselman (right) and one of her many false electronic identities (left) |
Wesselman’s ability to produce several false identities can be explained through the concept of hyperfluidity. As pointed out by Waskul, “online chat dislocates selfhood from the constraints of the body; self is not contained or affixed to any physical form” (205). In other words, those using electronic identities can become hyperfluid; this allows them to switch between several identities because these identities are not associated with their bodily self. Wesselman’s actions heavily portray the prevalence of hyperfluidity in electronic identities; she was able to maintain several identities and rapidly switch between them. This is not a novel concept, but rather, one that is used by several people with electronic identities, because “on the internet the art of the con is reduced to relatively simple techniques that most people can reasonably manage to use them” (Waskul, 206). This concept of hyperfluidity, along with the diminished ability to challenge the validity of electronic identities, allows for the creation of a unique identity in which one can create several false selves.
