4 ms·

I don't think it would dry up completely, but the flood of original content would turn into a slow trickle. Once your real life identity is attached to anythin

by aes256 14y ago

I don't think it would dry up completely, but the flood of original content would turn into a slow trickle. Once your real life identity is attached to anything you post, so many topics go off limits. You can no longer talk about your job, your education, your friends, your health, religion, politics, etc. You can no longer talk about people behind their backs, or embellish stories for entertainment value. You can no longer post a funny cat picture, or share a cool video, for fear of how it might change people's perception of you as a person. The list of topics that end up off limits goes on and on.

MartinCron 14y ago
You can no longer talk about your job, your education, your friends, your health, religion, politics, etc You can still talk about all of those things (I do, all the time) but what you can't do is talk about those things without consequences. I'm starting to think that the "never use your real name online" wisdom from 20 years ago has done our culture a huge disservice. The message I'm teaching my kids is "only post things online that you would be comfortable seeing on the front page of the newspaper" Then I had to explain what a newspaper was.
- aes256 14y ago
  What I mean by not being able to talk about them is that you can't express your honest opinions. Most people probably think their boss is a jerk, that their colleagues are incompetent, that their company rips off their clients, so on and so forth. You can't say any of that with your name, and by extension that of your employer, attached to it. The same applies to education. Teachers can no longer discuss teaching methods or lesson plans online, lest their pupils find out their teacher doesn't have a clue what they're teaching. Pupils can no longer criticise their schools online, or seek help with bullying. The list of topics that people are willing to talk about pseudo-anonymously but not with their real name attached to their comments is endless. > The message I'm teaching my kids is "only post things online that you would be comfortable seeing on the front page of the newspaper" That's precisely the attitude I subscribe to, and it's why I don't have much sympathy for the teenagers who take photos of themselves scantily clad, put them on Facebook, only to have them end up on places like /r/jailbait.

by aes256 14y ago

MartinCron 14y ago

You can no longer talk about your job, your education, your friends, your health, religion, politics, etc You can still talk about all of those things (I do, all the time) but what you can't do is talk about those things without consequences. I'm starting to think that the "never use your real name online" wisdom from 20 years ago has done our culture a huge disservice. The message I'm teaching my kids is "only post things online that you would be comfortable seeing on the front page of the newspaper" Then I had to explain what a newspaper was.

aes256 14y ago
What I mean by not being able to talk about them is that you can't express your honest opinions. Most people probably think their boss is a jerk, that their colleagues are incompetent, that their company rips off their clients, so on and so forth. You can't say any of that with your name, and by extension that of your employer, attached to it. The same applies to education. Teachers can no longer discuss teaching methods or lesson plans online, lest their pupils find out their teacher doesn't have a clue what they're teaching. Pupils can no longer criticise their schools online, or seek help with bullying. The list of topics that people are willing to talk about pseudo-anonymously but not with their real name attached to their comments is endless. > The message I'm teaching my kids is "only post things online that you would be comfortable seeing on the front page of the newspaper" That's precisely the attitude I subscribe to, and it's why I don't have much sympathy for the teenagers who take photos of themselves scantily clad, put them on Facebook, only to have them end up on places like /r/jailbait.