Growing up using the internet, I used to have a million and one screennames. I remember being extra cautious and making up fake names in the off chance that someone wanted to stalk me and hack me up with a chainsaw (or at least that’s what every adult figure said would happen). It’s only been over the last five or six years that I’ve completely dropped any screenname that didn’t involve my name and I still don’t know how I feel about it.

There’s something about being one-hundred percent accountable for the content you put on the internet that is a bit unsettling to me. I’ve always loved the freedom and seemingly endless possibilities of using the internet, and yet I still rarely come across people who use screennames that aren’t their actual names. I have to admit, I do miss that extra layer of anonymity, but I also miss the feeling of getting to know who someone is outside of their online persona, if you will.

I wonder if society will make a 180 and head back towards the screenname era at some point? There are certain twitter accounts that definitely do make great use of their screennames, although I sometimes feel that it’s a huge divide between the Brands using social media and the real, genuine people. Quick tangent: I’m so over ‘social media’ for marketing and I wish it would just die out already. The #relatable movement is tired, overplayed, and completely unimaginative.

Going back to screennames, I really do hope they make a comeback. There’s something to be said about creating an online persona and putting a little bit of distance between your true self and the version that lives on the internet. Granted, in this day and age being as #authentic and #genuine as possible is a highly marketable thing so perhaps that’s why screennames are being used less? After all, people go apeshit for brands — I mean, Real, Genuine People™.