Social cooling is a really frightening concept: https://www.socialcooling.com/
I've definitely found myself affected by social cooling. On Twitter, I wouldn't tell jokes or make controversial statements because I knew all my colleagues and present/potential employers were on there. In my field (webdev), your reputation on Twitter can determine which jobs you land and which conferences you get invited to. Best just to be bland and cheerful if you want to fit in with the crowd.
@nolan yeah i don't participate in tech at large like this bc of this kind of stuff
i'd rather be myself than fit in
@nolan Oh, good, someone came up with a term for it.
@nolan that, in a sense, is cowardice. Nobody needs to be a hero, but if we all not cower in fear, things will be different.
I recently went back to the twitter account I opened in high school and removed anything that might remotely imply I have opinions.
I have a video editor friend that purges his public portfolio of anything too close to controversial when he looks for work. If it's appropriate for the employer, they get a private copy, otherwise it's all "brand safe."
@nolan No doubt you’re aware of it but isn’t social cooling a bit stronger than self-censorship to appease the town gossips (or in your case, Twitter people twisting your dank tweets)? People have always sought to avoid reputation-destroying scandals by being good (aka hiding their misdeeds).
Social cooling is more powerful as an idea if it’s about the largely *automatic* quantification of people, by business or government, for mere lucre or social control.
@nolan this ... it's really nice when you read something like this and realise you're not just seing things :D
@nolan Everyone has multiple personalities based on who's in the room with them in each compartment of their lives. We are who we are in that moment as part of a synergy ... a trouble with social media is tailoring yourself to hundreds of people is burdensome; now add the FBI and other interested neoliberal or Fascist elements to that mix and who are we???
@nolan I have always wrestled with this (occasionally sweeping out political tweets from my twitter) but I've gotten rather exhausted with doing so... I don't like this ultimate self-censorship... I do consider everything I post, and I don't post anything outrageous, but I wonder if even just having political opinions is "too much" for employers. I sure hope not.
@nolan And now we're learning that you really should assume that anything you do online is going to go into your permanent record: https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081
@nolan same. it really sucked