MTV’s Catfish is returning to MTV tonight (January 3) for Season 7. So, you’d figure that hosts Max Joseph and Nev Schulman would be experts in everything catfish-related. That said, according to Nev, he believes that there's a disturbing trend on the rise.
In a new interview with Fox News, Nev says things have changed online since the early days of the show. In fact, he claims that “more people are getting catfished than ever before.”
“More people are using the Internet…and the more people spend time meeting friends and making relationships on the Internet, the more likely they are to be deceived,” he said. And the result? Apparently, more catfishing.
Max also added that today, meeting strangers from the Internet is less taboo than in the past, which means users are less likely to probe a stranger about their life in the real world. “The act of meeting someone online or trying to meet a significant other on the Internet is just normalized, and so people are kind of less cautious about meeting other people and trusting them,” he said.
Trust is a major factor in relationships, and Nev also thinks our trust in the world around us may effect catfishing — even politically. “I think that, due to the political climate that we're living in and the attack on reality and truth, that is very clearly coming from people in power. No one knows what to believe anymore,” he said. “I think a lot of people are just happy to have something nice in their lives, whether it's real or not just to believe that someone cares about them enough that they can get through their day.”
Nev and his cohost Max also discuss the popularity of the celebrity catfish, saying that social media makes it easier to impersonate a celebrity online, and makes celebs themselves seem more accessible to fans. “I think a lot of people now feel like they actually do have a chance of some communication,” Nev said. Needless to say, catfishing is never OK and that this is some pretty scary stuff. Let's hope this trend goes on the backslide very soon.
Related: 6 Signs You're Being CATFISHED
