Obsessive documentation of one's life online has made it hard for young people to shed their past identities and might have bad effects for society at large
As past identities become stickier for those entering adulthood, it's not just individuals who will suffer. Society will too. Tweets: @ministryprivacy , @derekeb , @robotnr7312 , @thechrislarsen , @abigaillynnbru2 , @jencyjac , @calamur , and @techreview Tweets: @ministryprivacy : “As past identities become stickier for those entering adulthood, it's not just individuals who will suffer. Society will too.” https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Derek E. Baird / @derekeb : “Gen Z is the most intensively tracked generation at school. Millions now attend schools where online learning tools monitor their progress on basic math and reading skills alongside their daily social interactions.” #edtech #kidculture #privacy https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Rds / @robotnr7312 : “Until the end of the 20th century, most young people could take one thing for granted: their embarrassing behavior would eventually be forgotten.” https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... #svpol #pldebatt Chris Larsen / @thechrislarsen : “Something much larger—the potential for social change and transformation—may also be at risk.” That's a point that's not brought up enough. What effect does the permanence of the internet have on the impermanence of the human mind, and society? https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Abigail Lynn Bruner / @abigaillynnbru2 : Should one need to shed one's past? Are we so unforgiving a culture? So lacking in understanding? And after all, isn't the story of how we've come to where we are of significance? Sounds like we have issues with judgment & shame. Let the children lead by example. https://twitter.com/... Jency Jacob / @jencyjac : Dedicated to all parents who are in a dilemma about the digital exposure of their teens. How much to give and how much to hold back. Maybe ask them to read this as well https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Harini Calamur / @calamur : i cannot recommend this article enough. Especially for those of you who interact with young people, either at teens, or just older. (or those of you who are the young who share a lot) Why an internet that never forgets is especially bad for young people https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... @techreview : @natwexler @_KarenHao @Kathryn_Miles @BigMeanInternet @ameliargh @YouTube @CeciliaRAragon @maxsoeunkim @anya1anya However, Kate Eichhorn warns that obsessively documenting and posting one's life online means people will forever be haunted by their youthful indiscretions. That, she argues, is bad for society as a whole. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
Context & Ripple Effects
Kate Eichhorn's argument lands on top of a decade of accumulating evidence rather than standing alone. Back in early 2019, The Atlantic documented the moment kids first google themselves and discover a parental archive they never consented to — the supply side of the sticky-identity problem this piece describes.
The demand side has since arrived: by 2023, US students reported that [[a:836170|hiring managers and college admissions officers were holding their social media content against them]], turning adolescent expression into a screening input. Derek E. Baird's point that Gen Z is the most intensively tracked generation at school adds a third layer — the archive is no longer just what families post, but what learning tools monitor.
First-order effects
- Young people entering adulthood now carry searchable records from childhood that gatekeepers — admissions officers, hiring managers — can and do consult, so experimentation that previous generations shed quietly stays attached.
- Parents who documented their children from birth have created an archive those children confront with shock or frustration when they find it, making family posting itself a source of friction.
Second-order effects
- Schools deploying online learning tools that monitor academic progress and social interactions expand the institutional share of the record, so even students whose parents post nothing accumulate tracked histories.
- As documented youth starts costing people jobs and admissions, pressure builds on both parents to stop sharing and on platforms and schools to justify retention of minors' data.
Third-order effects
- If adolescence becomes a permanently archived performance, the norm of growing up by trying on identities erodes — a structural loss of second chances that affects who feels free to enter public life at all.
- The pattern points toward regulation of minors' digital records as a distinct policy category, joining the broader reckoning over a smartphone-based childhood already visible in debates over teen mental health.
The trend: Childhood is becoming a permanent, searchable record — assembled by parents, schools, and platforms alike — forcing a societal renegotiation of whether anyone gets to outgrow their past.