Uhl and Knobe (Philosophy & Technology, 38, 36, 2025) investigate why online behaviors are often seen as less reflective of an agent’s true self than offline behaviors, arguing that this pattern is driven by perceptions of naturalness. This commentary supports that claim in part but presents new evidence of an asymmetry in true-self judgments and perceived naturalness. In a study comparing judgments about self-confident and hostile behaviors across online and offline settings, participants often judged offline behavior as more revealing of an agent’s true self, even though they rated the online environment as more natural for expressed the behaviors. A mediation analysis revealed a counterintuitive pattern: higher perceived naturalness predicted lower true-self ratings.
