The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks: How Brands Create Authentic Engagement by Understanding What Motivates Us

CHAPTER

THE UNREALIZED POWER OF TRUE SELF NETWORKS

The Id and the Unconscious Self

Anonymity has poisoned online life,” reads the subtitle of a 2016 Atlantic article titled, “How to Fix the Internet.”¹ The article begins:

We have to fix the internet. After 40 years, it has begun to corrode, both itself and us. It is still a marvelous and miraculous invention, but now there are bugs in the foundation, bats in the belfry, and trolls in the basement. . . .

I love the internet and all of its digital offshoots. What I bemoan is its decline.

This article captures the prevailing attitude of the media toward online anonymity. The logic seems to be that ...