The ‘self’ is a complex mix of many different identities which ebb and flow as required - a digital identity is one of those. I would say good mental health happens when the distance (and therefore dissonance) between these many flowing facets is minimal.

That may seem somewhat ironic coming from a giant penguin. My digital identity isn’t even human - but if you sat down with me in real life, you’d find me to have high levels of congruence between how I write on here and how I am in real life. Same humour, same view, same general personality.

Anxious people using the facade of pixels as bravado are basically flushing their self esteem down the toilet. The same with people who have strong political views but who play at virtue signalling. It’s very easy to let the digital personally do it’s own thing but it’s a double edged sword.

That’s the hilarious contradiction in finding your ‘authentic self’ - most people are authentically conflicted and have foibles. Embrace them and erase those facets of your personality at your peril. Am a big fan of the Jungian shadow self and I think that’s missing from most digital selves. The obsession has become with presenting purity and policing purity in identity - something that doesn’t bode well for anyone’s psychological health. Young wokesters work it out when they step away from their online digital identity, either via breakdown or fatigue.