Leukemia, Twitter, and “catfish” lures: The saga of Manti Te’o’s imaginary gf is getting ultimately more confusing by the moment.

The Notre Dame linebacker initially told reporters that the “love of their life,” a female named Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia. But after some digging by way of a Deadspin reporter, it absolutely was unearthed that Kekua never existed, and therefore the guide to “catfish,” which relates to this kind of Web dating hoax and is the title of a real possibility TV show. Te’o now claims he had been duped into an online that is elaborate conducted through social networking by an impostor.

But whether https://www.datingmentor.org/texas-dallas-dating/ or perhaps not Te’o’s story is legitimate, people do fall deeply in love with individuals they will have only ever met online, in addition to emotions are particularly genuine, based on specialists who learn online interaction.

“It most likely does not occur to a big percentage of men and women, nonetheless it occurs sometimes, and it is extremely intense,” stated Joseph Walther, a communications scientist at Michigan State University, who may have examined online relationships.

Ideal love

The online environment is a hothouse for cultivating idealized love. For starters, individuals do not have much information on their partners online, Walther stated. [How Can I Love Thee? Professionals Count 8 Ways]

That leads visitors to “fill into the blanks” with either extremely positive or details that are negative idealizing a love interest, he told LiveScience. Continue reading →