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Why Being Yourself Is So Much Damn Work
The labor of authenticity — and the problem of personal branding
As a proud member of the Oregon Trail Generation, I am not a digital native.
But I did grow up on a computer. My memories of childhood are pretty fuzzy, but some of the clearest are the ones that revolve around firing up the modem and getting on Prodigy or America Online (whichever had sent us a free trial CD most recently).
I also remember the very first time I was ever on the World Wide Web — which, it should be said, was while I was attending a blissfully air-conditioned computer camp.
In many ways, my understanding of self is an understanding of my self online.
The internet has been my mirror, my friend, and my mentor.
The cursor blinked where her mind was.
— Patricia Lockwood, No One Is Talking About This
Lately, it seems that (mostly straight & white) women-of-a-certain-age (ahem, my age) have taken to interrogating our experience of the internet and how it shapes our understanding of self. And I am here for it. This conversation…
