The Social Chameleon: Why Personas Can Shift in an Instant

The rise of the digital world has added another layer of complexity to the issue. The internet offers a space for a kind of "identity tourism," where individuals can experiment with different personas with a degree of anonymity and without the immediate social consequences of the physical world. A person's online persona on a social media site, where they curate a highlight reel of their life, may be almost unrecognizable from their offline self. The speed of persona change in this context is as quick as creating a new profile or adopting a new avatar, allowing for a rapid succession of different identities.