So, maybe I am behind the times, but today I came across what is known as Sadfishing. Apparently teens are sadfishing to garner sympathy for sometimes made-up problems that they are having. You may have noticed some of these posts on Facebook or videos on Instagram where a teenager tells some sad story and the likes and hearts go through the roof. I have always considered those who fish for sympathy on social media to be more concerned with those likes than they are with really trying to get help to overcome their problems.

In the case of teens and even some adult users, the problems they are facing may be real indeed, but they are mocked or bullied by their peers for sadfishing. I guess if these teens or adults don’t think they have someone in their lives to talk with about the problems they are facing, the next best avenue is to publicly air their issues on social media platforms in the hopes that someone out there will give them some advice. This rarely happens, however, and the teens or adults are left feeling worse about their problems than they did before they aired them. There are also people out there who will take advantage of someone’s grief and try to exploit them.

So, what is to be done? Well, I have a feeling that teens nowadays are much more in control of their presence on social media platforms and can tell when someone is just trying to take advantage of them. This is good. However, there are some pretty manipulative people out there that can easily wear down even the most vigilant among those teen users and get them to divulge information they normally would not under normal circumstances. It is important that the adults in these teens lives talk candidly with their teens about the possibilities that exist when problems are aired on social media. For the adults who sadfish, they need to think twice before posting such information.

My teenager does not have a Facebook account, but he does have YouTube, Instagram, and TikTock accounts, and I pop into those from time to time to see what’s up. So far, I haven’t seen anything that worries me, which is good. That doesn’t mean he can’t slip something by me from time to time. Teens are savvy like that. Regardless, I make sure to let him know constantly that he can come to me with any problems he may be having, and my hope is that he will when he needs. The only thing we can do is to make sure our children know that we are there for them so they won’t seek attention through social media and potentially put themselves in danger.