Made out of people

Life on the Screen meets the Internet Archive

One of the reasons I'm in this field is because Sherry Turkle wrote a book called Life on the Screen. In it, she discusses people switching identities and personas while maintaining multiple chat and conversation sessions. The life that people set up on the screen has a certain amount of identity wrapped in it--and the people who were then adopting BBSs and the earliy internet were often doing so as a place to communicate, to play at being someone else.

Turkle suggests that "You are who you pretend to be" online. "On the internet, no one knows you are a dog," says the famous New Yorker cartoon, and that means that you get a chance to explore identities. Turkle suggests that this experimentation allows people to play with identity

Of course, a lot of what the conference was about is that this story doesn't work anymore. The internet knows that you're a dog, and knows who your friends are, and knows everything that you posted since you were 17. Look at the vast quantities of information that we put up about ourselves. I am personally highly aware of how much of an information trail I leave (both intentionally and un-), due to the whole nearly unique name thing. But everyone is leaving these footprints behind. Posting under a fake name won't help you: look, for instance, at the relentless search for more information on John Lott, who may or may not have posted under several other names ("mary rosh") and may or may not have faked study results. It's too easy to track writing styles, to track similar obsessions, to chase down IP addresses.

Of course, it won't happen to you. Unless you run for congress, or something, and then all bets are off. How sure are you that you'll never, ever be famous? That you'll never need a background check?

The internet strikes me as a pretty lousy place to play identity games. Indeed, if you really want to be like something else, go do it in reality. Drive to the next city over, drop off the car someplace inconspicuous, walk a few miles, and pay cash. At least those moments will pass quickly.

--

I asked Prof. Turkle about this, and she suggested a different plan. She now counsels that people consider using identities in online games. Within the context of an online, multiplayer game, it is a codified norm that you may be someone else. If you aren't a 12th level bounty hunter in reality with an anti-kobold sword (and you aren't, and you don't), then who is to say how you act? Online games, then, are where she sends those who need to experiment with persons. Be dishonorable! Close down the account, or pay another $9.95, and be honorable!

(to be continued)