Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

To forget is an ethical act

emilygorcenski.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 61 posts

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#11

Post by ryandv »

One of the issues with removing traces of yourself online, when identity in the postmodern digital era is almost totally determined by those artifacts or representations of ourselves we publish, is that you are effectively performing an act of digital suicide. With no representations of yourself on the net, you may as well not exist, and people are free to project anything whatsoever unto the tabula rasa of your nonexistent persona.

While this is an excellent Rorshach for exposing the internal biases of others and demonstrating that even the staunchest progressives are also readily capable of misidentifying others or failing to recognize their "self-identification", the issue of not being seen for who one is and constantly "misidentified" also presents its own challenges.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#12

Post by catcatdog »

When I had Twitter many years ago, a friend would retweet lots of bloodsport tweets of the sort this post describes.

I had wondered about how much being involved in this bloodsport impacted the participants.

Interesting read.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#13

Post by matrix87 »

I don't understand how people who are into their late 20s and 30s have time for all of this online drama

If you have to work, manage relationships, and have to cook and clean up after yourself, where is the extra time for it?

Not only that, but with what little free time that's left, people would choose to spend it on engaging in online drama instead of doing something actually pleasant

It's one of those things that I thought was funny and entertaining when I was younger, but it just seems kind of dumb to me now. Similar to the digital nomad thing. Maybe I've just gotten boring, idk

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#14

Post by [deleted] »

matrix87 wrote: post #13

I don't understand how people who are into their late 20s and 30s have time for all of this online drama If you have to work, manage relationships, and have to cook and clean up after yourself, where is the extra time for it? Not only that, but with what little free time that's left, people would choose to spend it on engaging in online drama instead of doing something actually pleasant It's one of those things that…

[deleted]

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#15

Post by Yodel0914 »

ryandv wrote: post #11

One of the issues with removing traces of yourself online, when identity in the postmodern digital era is almost totally determined by those artifacts or representations of ourselves we publish, is that you are effectively performing an act of digital suicide. With no representations of yourself on the net, you may as well not exist, and people are free to project anything whatsoever unto the tabula rasa of your none…

> With no representations of yourself on the net, you may as well not exist, and people are free to project anything whatsoever unto the tabula rasa of your nonexistent persona

I think this is only as issue if you are a “known” person in some regard. For most of us plebs, receding into anonymous nonexistence is likely a very healthy thing.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#16

Post by ryandv »

Yodel0914 wrote: post #15
ryandv wrote: post #11

One of the issues with removing traces of yourself online, when identity in the postmodern digital era is almost totally determined by those artifacts or representations of ourselves we publish, is that you are effectively performing an act of digital suicide. With no representations of yourself on the net, you may as well not exist, and people are free to project anything whatsoever unto the tabula rasa of your none…

> With no representations of yourself on the net, you may as well not exist, and people are free to project anything whatsoever unto the tabula rasa of your nonexistent persona I think this is only as issue if you are a “known” person in some regard. For most of us plebs, receding into anonymous nonexistence is likely a very healthy thing.

Even while writing pseudonymously and innocuously you are at risk of being doxxed and subjected to mob "justice;" as an example of this see Scott Alexander's writings on Slate Star Codex.

In light of this the safest recourse is to simply not post anything online at all, for fear of being doxxed at some point in the future (an inevitability given modern standards for and cultural attitudes towards privacy) and subjected to invective for years' old posts and writings. This is the culmination and terminal state of "anonymous nonexistence" you refer to.

In this way the chilling effect achieves totality, and nobody feels comfortable sharing genuine thoughts online at all. It's arguable that this is a societally healthy state of affairs.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#17

Post by lapcat »

matrix87 wrote: post #13

I don't understand how people who are into their late 20s and 30s have time for all of this online drama If you have to work, manage relationships, and have to cook and clean up after yourself, where is the extra time for it? Not only that, but with what little free time that's left, people would choose to spend it on engaging in online drama instead of doing something actually pleasant It's one of those things that…

You've spent the time to go on Hacker News, read about the online drama, and then comment on the online drama.

The author considered their writing on social media to be social activism, so that may be why they spent so much time on it, for a higher purpose.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#18

Post by fnfjfk »

matrix87 wrote: post #13

I don't understand how people who are into their late 20s and 30s have time for all of this online drama If you have to work, manage relationships, and have to cook and clean up after yourself, where is the extra time for it? Not only that, but with what little free time that's left, people would choose to spend it on engaging in online drama instead of doing something actually pleasant It's one of those things that…

Well, the author does kinda come around to that at the end:

> I’ve read more books in the last 16 months than I have in the 16 years before them. I’ve ran 5k, 8k for the first time in my life. I’m able to do more situps now than at any point since I was probably 15 years old.

At the start, I was definitely thinking "why keep going to a website you say is like hell?"

> We so belovedly called it the “hellsite” for good reason: the daily trek through the timeline was like tapdancing in a minefield. Twitter was awful because it rewarded awfulness.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#19

Post by bongodongobob »

matrix87 wrote: post #13

I don't understand how people who are into their late 20s and 30s have time for all of this online drama If you have to work, manage relationships, and have to cook and clean up after yourself, where is the extra time for it? Not only that, but with what little free time that's left, people would choose to spend it on engaging in online drama instead of doing something actually pleasant It's one of those things that…

Anyone who describes themselves as an openly queer activist and microblogger is not really representative of the avg person. Their entire thing is being online all the time. It's not a hobby for them, it's their whole personality. I'll guess you're probably a straight white male due to the odds on this site, like me. We don't have the same struggles perceived or otherwise. It does seem alien to me. But, live and let live.

Re: To forget is an ethical act

#20

Post by CatWChainsaw »

matrix87 wrote: post #13

I don't understand how people who are into their late 20s and 30s have time for all of this online drama If you have to work, manage relationships, and have to cook and clean up after yourself, where is the extra time for it? Not only that, but with what little free time that's left, people would choose to spend it on engaging in online drama instead of doing something actually pleasant It's one of those things that…

Even in that age range I recognized that trying to keep up with fleeting drama was a red queen's race. That said I think whichever generations are "always online" at the current time are going to find it a lot harder to leave that headspace in the future, both because of the addiction-promoting behaviors baked into platforms and because of various motivations for trying to keep up. Social topics/"politics", influencer aspirations, toxic positivity, and lack of any other meaningful interactions all come to mind.
Post reply on HN