A study has found that 27% of Americans have a “double life,” projecting a different identity online than they have in real life. Among Generation Z (those between 11 and 26), nearly half, 46%, have a secret online identity. Among millennials, 38% do; among Generation Xers, 18% do; and among us baby boomers 8% do.
Is this just innocent play acting, a sinister masquerade, a kind of virtual schizophrenia, or what? Is it a symptom of a larger identify problem that manifests itself in “identity politics” and the transgender ideology that would let us “identify” as anyone we please? Or is it just taking advantage of the anonymity that the online realm makes possible, for better or for worse?