On the Internet and Identity and Such
Good work moot! That really captures a huge part of why identity is so wonky on the internet in these modern times. Judging from the web today, it really seems we have forgotten that there used to be a time where you could just live your life in its glorious cognitive dissonance. Now, we selectively broadcast things about yourself to cultivate a unified, ideal personality that you would rather people know instead.
Not that I am above such personal branding activity, to a certain extent. But I do find a lot of social media mentally exhausting, and I don’t feel a huge need to keep my personal life up on it all day every day. For better or worse, social media requires you to be continually self-conscious, more-than-a-little extroverted, and perpetually keeping one eye on the narrative that you are creating about yourself. And, hey, if you can do it, that is totally fine and no judgment here—-it’s just that not everyone can, and you know, that is really OK too. Not everybody is built to transfer their whole self comfortably into this social media world, and maybe it’s because social media isn’t crafted well enough to channel everybody in all their complexity. (Thus far, at least!)
One more thing: I think it’s interesting how Chris Poole and everyone always point out that kids need to make mistakes, and that’s a good argument for preserving anonymity and multiple identities online, so you can be an idiot and learn from those dumb things that you do in a (reasonably) pressure-free environment. But I’d like to add this: adults need to make mistakes too! Who says you stop evolving once you hit 18 or 21 or somesuch? Failure and mistakes are how we learn throughout our lives, though it’s something we try to do less of as we grow older. The capacity to experiment and do unusual things isn’t just a domain of the young. Have we learned nothing from Cocoon?