The internet promised people new ways to express themselves.

And it did.

But it also introduced a new challenge:

How do you represent a complex human being through profiles, usernames, feeds, bios, and algorithms?

Today, a single person might simultaneously be a professional, creator, gamer, entrepreneur, artist, student, community leader, collector, fan, and friend.

Yet many digital platforms encourage people to become simplified versions of themselves.

A niche.

A category.

A brand.

A persona.

As digital life becomes increasingly important, questions about identity are becoming harder to ignore.

Who are we online?

Who decides how we’re represented?

And what happens when our digital identities become just as important as our physical ones?

This week, we explore why digital identity is becoming more complex, and why the future internet may require entirely new ways of thinking about who we are online.