Whether designing avatars for virtual worlds, selecting profile pictures, or carefully crafting texts to friends, young people have countless opportunities to express themselves through digital media. On the one hand, playing around with creative identities can be a safe and imaginative way for kids to explore who they are. Having a different persona online can also be a real gift for a kid who's particularly shy. On the other hand, a digital identity can be a way for kids to dodge personal consequences. When kids are disguised or anonymous, they can push limits and act in ways they wouldn't in the real world. Some may explore antisocial or harmful identities. Others simply overshare and create reputations that might come back to haunt them. Either way, if there's a large gap between an online and an offline identity, it can fragment a kid's sense of self (especially when the online identity gets a lot of feedback and the kid becomes dependent on it). CommonSenseMedia