In real world, people usually forget what you said 10 years ago. And even if they don’t, saying “Matthew said this 10 years ago” doesn’t have the same power as you saying the thing now.
But the internet remembers forever, and your words from 10 years ago can be retweeted and become alive as if you said them now.
A possible solution would be to use a nickname… and whenever you notice you grew up so much that you no longer identify with the words of your nickname, pick up a new one. Also new accounts on social networks, and re-friend only those people you still consider worthy. Well, in this case the abrupt change would be the unnatural thing, but perhaps you could still keep using your previous account for some time, but mostly passively. As your real-life new self would have different opinions, different hobbies, and different friends than your self from 10 years ago, so would your online self.
Unfortunately, this solution goes against “terms of service” of almost all major website. On the advertisement-driven web, advertisers want to know your history, and they are the real customers… you are only a product.
In real world, people usually forget what you said 10 years ago. And even if they don’t, saying “Matthew said this 10 years ago” doesn’t have the same power as you saying the thing now.
But the internet remembers forever, and your words from 10 years ago can be retweeted and become alive as if you said them now.
A possible solution would be to use a nickname… and whenever you notice you grew up so much that you no longer identify with the words of your nickname, pick up a new one. Also new accounts on social networks, and re-friend only those people you still consider worthy. Well, in this case the abrupt change would be the unnatural thing, but perhaps you could still keep using your previous account for some time, but mostly passively. As your real-life new self would have different opinions, different hobbies, and different friends than your self from 10 years ago, so would your online self.
Unfortunately, this solution goes against “terms of service” of almost all major website. On the advertisement-driven web, advertisers want to know your history, and they are the real customers… you are only a product.