The Personal Brand Is Dead
When I was 21, the cool thing to be was famous on Instagram. Now the cooler thing to be is a mystery. Anonymity is in.
The youngest adult generation and the most online generation is with being surveilled and by attention-seeking behaviors. This has instigated a retreat into smaller internet spaces and , as well as a mini-renaissance for , where users rarely use their full names. (The majority of new users are Gen Z, according to Chenda Ngak, a spokesperson for Tumblr’s parent company.) The voice- and text-chat app Discord, known for a culture of anonymous and pseudonymous discussion, now has 150 million users; anonymously run are suddenly the coolest, most exciting follows on Instagram. The offers a “world of future friends and better days” but does not permit the sharing of any personally identifying information. (I downloaded the app but can’t make a real account—I’m over the age limit, which is 24.)
