Identity Function
Something I've been thinking about, which was most recently brought up again in the context of Google Buzz wanting to do everything with your real name, ideally publicly connected to as many other real names as possible. Since I'm theoretically working right now, here's a quick copy/paste of what I wrote in a comment in donaithnen's lj:
I've noticed that there's often something of a generational divide on this subject. Folks significantly older than us were first introduced to the internet as a professional tool, and tended to use real names but put information online sparingly, keeping the most private stuff offline entirely. People significantly younger than us grew up just putting their whole lives online, and not really caring much about what all was connected to their real name.
Meanwhile, here in the middle, a lot of us who were introduced to the early net in high school and college began with an online/offline divide, doing lots of things online but often under pseudonyms, relishing the freedom they provided to be separate from our other contexts. People from either side of the divide seem to underestimate the stickiness of this mindset.
Thoughts/comments? Am I crazy, or on to something here?
I've noticed that there's often something of a generational divide on this subject. Folks significantly older than us were first introduced to the internet as a professional tool, and tended to use real names but put information online sparingly, keeping the most private stuff offline entirely. People significantly younger than us grew up just putting their whole lives online, and not really caring much about what all was connected to their real name.
Meanwhile, here in the middle, a lot of us who were introduced to the early net in high school and college began with an online/offline divide, doing lots of things online but often under pseudonyms, relishing the freedom they provided to be separate from our other contexts. People from either side of the divide seem to underestimate the stickiness of this mindset.
Thoughts/comments? Am I crazy, or on to something here?