Katherine Fleming: ‘sad-fishing’ is the latest phenomenon that makes social media a strange place

Ever heard of ‘sad-fishing’? If not, lucky you. I hadn’t either until recently, when I went in search of an explanation for why there were so many videos of people sobbing, screaming and shuddering all over my Instagram. My ‘explore’ page — the one that shows me things the algorithm thinks I will like — is usually celebrity gossip, Star Wars memes and rescue dog videos. So when the first video popped up, a close-up of a woman breaking down, with the caption “the day my divorce papers were signed”, it was so out of place that I made the mistake of looking at it. As the algorithm then gave me more examples, I read up on the phenomenon, which is essentially where people video themselves in an exaggerated state of emotional distress and post it online. Social media is a strange place, but the idea of setting up your phone to video and then re-enacting or performing your reaction to a traumatic event takes it to a new level for me. If the videos were genuine, I might still find it odd, but I would understand. Grief and sorrow can be isolating, and sharing genuine experiences online can help people feel less alone. I’m sure the comments — of which there are sometimes tens of thousands — might make someone feel better. Perhaps it’s cathartic, and lets people without friends and family access some support. But the notion that some people are feigning distress for attention leaves me with an uneasy feeling — like it’s another step towards a world where life is just a series of performances for strangers on the internet. It makes me sound like a fuddy-duddy who can’t do a TikTok dance or take a nice selfie— guilty! — but the ‘sad-fishing’ folks can only make it harder for people genuinely needing a connection.