To join in go to Fandango’s site: https://fivedotoh.com/2022/06/08/fandangos-provocative-question-168/

How do you feel about online anonymity? Do you believe that when people are hiding their real world identity, it encourages them to misbehave or to be offensive? Or does it allow people to reveal who they really are or possibly how they would choose to be and act all the time if they could?

Quite ironic that you asked this today. I just posted a couch for sale on FB Marketplace. I have had quite a few “scam” offers. Most of them ask me to text them and they leave a phone number. For the most part I only get back to the people who have an active FB page/account. I know this is not 100% reliable, as so many people lie on social media, but it narrows it down. For instance, this one “woman” asked me to call her, that she wanted to pick up the couch today. When I clicked on “view profile” it was an empty page. On top of that, when I clicked on the their picture it says “He has set the site to private”.

Anyhow, I think a lot of people use social media and other online arenas to feel a sense of belonging. I, for example, don’t really have any friends who live in this state with me. I do try to find ways of meeting others but as you get older those options dwindle.
I think if people are going to be offensive they will do so whether or not it is shown in public. Many people who socialize via the internet aren’t there to think of what other people might think.
Similarly, if you have to use social media to show who you really are then you are either lonely like me or just in need of some sort of validation. When I am blogging I show people who I really am. I also show people how much I love to write and respect people wanting to read my work.