Your full name
When I’m using a laptop in a public space, I’m generally self-conscious about what I actually show on my screen. It might be wrong for me to assume this, but I feel like people are generally curious (I am!). When I used to write more on my laptop on plane rides, back when there was no internet to distract me from my thoughts, I’d dim my screen and sometimes type with the lid partially closed. I was conscious of what the person sitting next to me might be able to see. Recently, however, one thing that really got me was the number of websites that showed my full name.
Usually when I glance over at someone else’s screen, I don’t focus on any of the pixels themselves. instead, I look look in a peripheral sense. Are they watching a TV show? Are they vibe coding? Trying to read an Atlantic article? or are they working with excel? In the excel case, I guess it’s pretty obvious by what computer they’re using. I’m merely confirming my assumption. My vision is too bad anyway to read the tiny text on the other people’s screen, but I definitely know other people whose hawk-like eyesight who could easily read what I’m reading on a screen.
Anyway, lots of websites have your full name visible on the webpage. I first noticed with claude and chatgpt. But the more I looked, the more places I found. My Mac has my full name when I log into my computer. Social media sites like x.com and facebook do too. And anytime I login or switch accounts in gmail or other sites, my name shows up promenently.
Why do these sites have full names everywhere? It’s a bit surprising to me, given that I already know who I am. Could it be to identify themselves with other people already logged in? If you had multiple accounts, you’d also have the same name so that doesn’t add up either. Furthermore, is it common to have multiple people use the same browser but with the same first name? It probably is more common that the people using the same chrome browser have the same last name. Why don’t these sites just default to a nickname / first name? And one level fancier, a profile picture!
Save some more space for whitespace!
