Gen Z kids who came of age during the quarantine “experience virtual worlds as ‘real’, while physical reality becomes an anxiety-inducing obligation. Their digital avatars aren’t representations of their physical selves; rather, their physical selves have become imperfect avatars of their digital identities.”

We see horrible destruction in real time on the far side of the world (or country) while our lives hum along apparently untouched, creating a psychic disconnect between how our lived reality feels and our perception of the world from what we see online .

Who we want to be says more about us than who we are now. These “truer” online selves supersede who we are offline. When we can’t afford to live “authentically” to our desires, we simply signal our aspirations.

Everything we post is abstracted and interpreted as a representation of us.