Internonymity

I have been on the internet long enough that it's becoming harder and harder for me to truly stay anonymous. There aren't a lot of details about myself that I am reticent to share, but let's be honest...some times there are things that are better left unsaid in certain circles. Your family doesn't want to know about your sex life. Your boss probably shouldn't be privy to your wild vacation escapades. Even your closest friends probably don't want to know that you pick your nose while IMing them.

Today a bigot-troll attempted to bait me on Twitter...it almost worked. I made reference to some 4chan attempt at making "bikini bridge" a thing. I won't link to it, but basically it's the new 'thigh gap'...in other words, some absurd anorexic-inducing beauty ideal. It may even be some sort of prank or inside joke. I don't really know or care to investigate or attempt to understand 4chan. All I know is I can't keep up with them.

Anyway, a friend of mine cautioned me not to interact with the troll, as the profile seemed to indicate a truly creepy personality. No 'selfie' pictures, 'fat is ugly' comments, and white supremacist/extremist talk.  It occurred to me that it must be easy to act that way under the guise of anonymity, but I believe that as 'drunk words are sober thoughts', so too that words spoken from behind a curtain are probably more honest than not. What I'm saying is that people are more true to themselves when they wear a mask, and there's currently no greater mask than a fake social media account.

On my drive home I realized that, although I prefer to keep my accounts separated from my work life, at least I'm not hiding anything truly despicable. And for that, I'm thankful.