Part of it is being scared. But in the world of 24/7 surveillance I think it's more that anything you say can haunt you for the rest of your life. It's not OK to make mistakes or slip up because it's captured and stored forever. People aren't allowed to debate, learn, and change.
Anecdotally, most of my interactions with friends has moved offline. I wonder whether that's a broader trend, and whether it will be sustainable?
Like, in the same way I learned not to post personal stuff on Livejournal (then MySpace and Facebook), will we just... log off half the time, and treat the rest as a resume? Or will we hole up in private discords/IRC/Matrix/etc groups?
(* and for anyone wondering, we're all fairly left-leaning, pro-social-justice people. we're not hiding from Cancel Culture, we just feel more free in smaller groups.)
Basically, yeah. There's no expectation of permanence like there is with social media. Recording/transcribing and publishing would be a gross violation of trust.
Someone could point a directional microphone at you in the park, too, but one doesn't typically worry about that.
