I was really moved by the FrontLine news story – Growing Up Online , and found it incredibly insightful about todays internet and social interactions. It highlights MANY positive, as well as negative, ways people interact online. Some for the better and, in some cases, for the worse. One comment by Rachel Dretzin was most interesting – “… it became clear that the supposed anonymity and immediacy of the Internet had led him to say things he never would say in “real” life — and didn’t even mean. It was a game, an exercise, a way of trying on identities. …”

It is clear, not just from the above piece, but news stories to numerous to mention, that traditional forms of social interaction are being replaced by virtual socializing. We thought we were busy when we were kids, yet it seems to be so much faster these days, and given traditional human traits we tend to do the easy things first – and socializing online is one of those. It’s faster and it allows you to multitask while you’re doing it. It doesn’t replace traditional hanging out, but it does present our society with a new set of social norms and challenges
Trufina, and other companies like Naymz, TrustPlus, and initiatives like OpenID and CardSpace, can certainly help fill the void that exists today regarding virtual identity, but we’re only part of the solution. Some of the burden, or atleast responsibility, lies with the websites that give unlimited tools to people online, the media, as well as each individual, parent or child, to continually educate ourselves on our hyper evolving society.

As a follow on to the piece, the Washington Post published a discussion with the the producers which well worth reading, too.