Your voice

Vox pop
Mariselle Stofberg
This week we asked Unam hostel students to share their opinions on online dating and how can they protect themselves from catfishing.

Patience Mbunga

Online dating can be complicated, yet amazing. Finding someone online that you’ve never met is difficult and overwhelming but as time goes by you get comfortable. With regard to catfishing, you can prevent it by facetiming the person to see where they are and what they are doing.

Emilie Mandume

You cannot completely protect yourself from being catfished, but you can video chat with the person. Well, the internet is glorious place with tons of resources where you can look to validate what people say, verify where you can and trust your intuition.

Bartholomeus Kativa

I support online dating sites because it is more comfortable to start a conversation online with a stranger that in real life. It can also increase the probability of finding your match. You can prevent catfishing by confirming the person’s facts before you give out your personal information.

Chacirah Ndeulyatele

I have mixed views on online dating because some tend to find their soulmates on the online dating sites. The downside is that it gives room to paedophiles and they catfish their victims by tricking them into believing what they portray on those dating sites.

Tarsha Guriras

A red flag with online dating is when the person you are talking does not post a picture of themselves or refuses to link up. It is really hard to notice catfishers; be safe and take the necessary precautions such as taking your time getting to know the person.

Bosco Mukuve

Online dating is fun and interesting, but many people misrepresent themselves. Many people use the online dating sites for wrong purposes such as catfishing. There are ways you can avoid these catfishers, such as not revealing your full identity to them.