Saw a blog about making social media more enjoyable

I can't remember who or where I read it but they apparently got it from another person so I guess I'm making a chain.

Anyways what stuck out to me is that I felt like it was super obvious. "Don't use your real name, use an online identity. Make up a persona. Don't reveal your location beyond your country or state. Do not show any pictures of yourself."

I will say this: I have never been a social media person so maybe this proves how out of touch I am but the fact that the things listed above had to be stated is mind blowing to me. When I first started using the internet actively as a teen everyone knew this. And if me or my friends saw someone being a little too open about who they are behind the screen, we either ignored or blocked as we always assumed it was a creep. Cause that's just how it was, everyone we knew and saw was an online identity, anyone who showed who they really are were either: A creep, naïve user who doesn't understand how the internet works, or a very narcissistic person (usually if they used a selfie as a pfp or always posted selfies)

Maybe it's different now cause the times have changed. For me Twitter, Facebook, and all that were just starting to grow. I didn't know about Myspace until after it died out but regardless when I was online, there were maybe sites that actually allowed you to make friends. I feel like social media is designed in a way to not let people make friends. You have to add people you already know to interact with them. Even on Discord this is true. Maybe you could argue "But what about servers" Servers don't work but that's a whole other story I will skip since this isn't about servers suck.

But anyways I guess it makes sense that current social media is influencing kids that they HAVE to show their face to the world, when they shouldn't be. Heck I'm in my mid 20s and I don't like to show my face, if 4channers can track down a flag then what's stopping some creep finding me?

I was going to end it here with one last thing but it turned into me talking about internet safety whoops

I'm gonna end this saying while it seems current internet culture tries to force you to reveal who you are, things I've seen back in the day appears to be true. Many people still considered people with selfie pfps to be naïve people, and I add on to say I've noticed they can be narcissistic, maybe even more now days as on several websites I notice these people will shame and harass others because "Oooh you won't show your face? You're probably some 400 pound nerd go outside and touch grass"

Also while this happened awhile back, I don't know if it's still a thing, or maybe it happened cause I was around 18, but I also noticed people with selfie pfp will try to force you to reveal who you are with the argument "I need to know you're a real person" I get catfishing is a problem but, you're a retard if you're trying to trust ONLINE STRANGERS in the first place. Also don't let anyone force or shame you to reveal who you are, if they think you're a 400 pound nerd that's their problem. Would you rather not know who anyone is or have everyone know who you are?

Oh yeah and also it's still true people who reveal their real life are still very likely to be creeps trying to make you lower your guard and trust them. I really have no idea at all what's going on with all the pedo call out post but I will share my advice: Be VERY suspicious of people who suddenly share their personal info or seem they want to become friends or even date shortly after meeting them. Yes you will seem stuck up or have trust issues but like I said, something's wrong with you if you think you can trust people online. (This is aimed at the adults don't scream at me for calling kids dumb plz) But yeah speaking of kids be safe, I know it's hard and you want to make friends and be friendly with everyone but you just can't trust anyone so be careful.