Kids Don't Want Online Pseudonyms (Comment of the Week)

In last week's excellent conversation over Twitter and the use of online pseudonyms, an academic who plays Second Life under the name Kitty Revolver made this interesting point:

"Most kids today have multiple social media (most media now has some social aspect so...) accounts attached to their real life identities whether formally or informally. It is interesting to note that I find most adults are the ones looking for pseudonyms whereas teens are more willing to put up real info (unless circumstances dictate otherwise). If teens are looking for anonymity it seems largely attached to trolling rather than adopting another hidden identity. While I understand [using one] for things like SL, why would you want to hide? To me that would question people's motives in 'hiding' like the professors and grad students that are venting [on social media]. Once they are found out they have to give up the account."

But hey wait, isn't Kitty Revolver a pseudonym -- so why are you using it? Kitty's reply:

"I know I will get asked this question, but I'm not hiding behind Kitty, rather I am using my SL identity to talk to other SL identities. The people that put their real names on Twitter expect to interact with other 'real' identities. They didn't sign up to interact with trolls that aren't interfacing as "real.'"

Kitty's point is backed up by social media researcher and expert danah boyd, who made a similar observation nearly 9 years ago which is still true today:

If you look at the rise of social tech amongst young people, it’s not about divorcing the physical to live digitally. MySpace has more to do with offline structures of sociality than it has to do with virtuality. People are modeling their offline social network; the digital is complementing (and complicating) the physical. In an environment where anyone _could_ socialize with anyone, they don’t. They socialize with the people who validate them in meatspace. The mobile is another example of this. People don’t call up anyone in the world (like is fantasized by some wrt Skype); they call up the people that they are closest with. The mobile supports pre-existing social networks, not purely virtual ones.

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Comments

[Adeon Writer]

It depends on the kids. Gamer kids [think Minecraft generation, 10-14] still use pseudonyms, mostly because those mediums like games and game services require they invent one - and once they have them, they tend to keep them.

[Ciaran Laval]

Danah Boyd used to be a great believer in pseudonyms, has she changed her views on this recently?

[Ezra]

@Ciaran

She hasn't as far as I know. The blog post of hers that Hamlet quotes has nothing to do with pseudonyms or real names.

A more relevant and recent one is: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/04/real-names.html

Where she speaks of teens and pseudonymity:

"Another site has popped up called “My Name Is Me” where people vocalize their support for pseudonyms. What’s most striking is the list of people who are affected by “real names” policies, including abuse survivors, activists, LGBT people, women, and young people.

Over and over again, people keep pointing to Facebook as an example where “real names” policies work. This makes me laugh hysterically. One of the things that became patently clear to me in my fieldwork is that countless teens who signed up to Facebook late into the game chose to use pseudonyms or nicknames. What’s even more noticeable in my data is that an extremely high percentage of people of color used pseudonyms as compared to the white teens that I interviewed. Of course, this would make sense…

The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalized by systems of power. “Real names” policies aren’t empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people. These ideas and issues aren’t new (and I’ve even talked about this before), but what is new is that marginalized people are banding together and speaking out loudly. And thank goodness."

So while Hamlet for whatever reason believes in forcing real names nowadays, no, people like Danah recognize the value of pseudonyms.

Personally, all I see in debacles like GamerGate is real name attackers (Adam Baldwin, Milo, Cernovich...) having the most success attacking real name journalists/devs/whomever (Anita, Leigh, etc.).

What high profile pseudonymous harasser does anyone know?

What high profile pseudonymous victim does anyone know?

Certainly there's a ton of pseudonymous people harassing people on Twitter all day, but I'm unaware of one that amounts to more than ambient noise and gets to write for sites like Breitbart or start Patreons to fund chan hate sites or etc.

And I'm unaware of any pseudonymous target of harassment having as much or more difficult a time keeping the harassment going further than Twitter. Pseudonymity offers protection even if there's always a way around it provided enough clues or slip ups.

If anything in regards to online harassment, pseudonymity has proven to be a mitigating factor of how effective a lone crazy can be, and a lone target can be effected.

I get that pseudonymous harassment has large ambient noise on a place like Twitter, but lets not overlook that it's real name harassers making the Times, appearing on Huffington Post debates, MSNBC, etc. This is nothing new, case in point a suit and tie and uncovered face with bad intentions and a seat in DC has always been many times more harmful than a thousand guys with white sheets over their head.

[Rose]

As the mother of pre-teens and teens, I absolutely refuse to let them put "real life" information online. It is simply not safe.

As a gamer, virtual world resident and historical re-enactor, I use "pseudonyms." People who know me in these settings don't want to have to remember two names for me, or for everyone they know. They look for me under the name they know. I don't necessarily want to share my RL/Mundane/Muggle political opinions and cute kitty videos with everyone I meet in those settings either. People who get to know me personally, whether on or offline, are generally welcome to my everyday persona. They just may not be interested in all MY interests and aspects.

For me, its a type of compartmentalization. The people who know me as Miss Mackie at work probably wouldn't recognize the wise-cracking Rosie Posie I am at home or the historically accurate 15-century Welsh woman I am at play. Nor should they. We all do it. Peter Parker the student is not the same person as "Hi. I'm Peter and I'll be your waiter this evening" who is not the same person as little Petey who mows your lawn.

That said, most people who have different personae, for whatever reason, find that their basic underlying traits remain constant. A kind person is kind across the board. A troll is a troll in every aspect of their life, even if they hide it well.

[shirc desantis]

The thing that leapt out to me from boyds posting was '..maybe i’ll look back twenty years ago and be embarrassed by my lack of foresight..'
And we are almost at the halfway point:)
The pseudonym I use here is indeed that but its one I have carried since late '06. Before SL? Honestly can't remember as 'social media' pre-bored me.
Now the people I regularly interact with in meatspace knew me first as that.
(and yes there is an old 'RLname' borg account floating somewhere but its been years since I fired it up)

[FlipperPA Peregrine]

Just a quick nit pick to start - it is danah boyd, all lowercase. I got corrected on that last summer. :)

Part of the problem is that kids don't understand or conceive of the concept of "forever." I'm sure as hell glad my college years weren't televised on YouTube; many kids of these days don't understand the risk. Things you say and do can follow you around for life.

[Ice Petal]

Kids don't yet have enough at stake economically to realize the possible ramifications of stolen identities, doxing or even having every comment or site you visit noted by your employers. I work in employment and young people are regularly disciplined or fired because of some nonsense they've put on social media. In the wider online world there's a lot more in play than "trolling".

On balance, a pseudonymous identity protects you in numerous ways and also spares employers and colleagues any potential embarrassment.

[Carl Metropolitan]

Until SL dropped last names for the annoying "resident", it wasn't even possible to create an account with your RL name unless you got amazingly lucky.

When I started SL, I didn't have the option of taking "Carl Henderson" as my name. So I picked "Carl Metropolitan" from the list of available last names. If I had first joined today, I could be "CarlHenderson Resident" (or more likely "CarlHenderson1234 Resident").

While I've linked my real life name to Carl Metropolitan for most of my SL career—even going so far as to include my RL email and blob in my "First Life" tab—I believe strongly that people should have the _choice_ of anonymity online. Not everyone is comfortable with having their entire online presence being public. And they should not have to be.

The insistence by some that online harassment can be ended by banning anonymity is both naive and shortsighted, or a smokescreen used by those who want to suppress the expression of Bad Thoughts by those they disagree with.

For me, I'm known by far more people as Carl Metropolitan than as Carl Henderson, but that's okay. When I had the chance, I got "Carl Henderson" in Second Life. He's a cute, but very inactive, tiny bunny.

[Carl Metropolitan]

Of course that should have been "real life blog" in the post above. If I had wanted to include my "real life blob" on my "First Life" tab, I'd have a photo of myself, instead of my dog!

[irihapeti]

young teens are more driven to validate their RL selves than pretty much any other age group

Hey! look is me

where they do gather online they do use nicks/handles where it is required by the game/platform maker but they invariably out themselves. bc Hey! look is me

as people get older the need/drive to validate ourselves lessens

[Cindy Bolero]

I'm with Rose. Minors should not use their real names. Their use of their identities online are parents and online educators responsibilities; To educate youth about online accountability. We do use real names for students for real online education classrooms. But that is private servers and not public access.

Youth needs to be taught about the consequences of using their real names and the archiving nature of the internet, such as what future prospective employers will see. They also need to be taught accountability and good manners. Something that has rarely been carried out due to those parents who let computers be babysitters.

That's where Linden Lab failed with Teen Grid. There was no accountability. It should have been a place where good online manners were encouraged. Instead, no teen could host an event (such as a piano recital or play, etc) without it being attacked and bombed.

Its not about whether or not kids should use their real names. Its about educating and guiding them to safe and long term results of what they say and do online.