There was an article in the Atlantic a bit ago arguing that a primary problem for the modern church - the reason why people were leaving - wasn’t because the church asked too much of them, but because it asked too little - that there was no cost to being a member, and therefore no sacrifice, and sacrifice is how we bind ourselves to a group or an idea. Caveats for organized religion and its merit all around, but the idea struck me as basically true and accords with what you’re saying: if you can assume or drop an identity as whims dictate, is it really an identity? Can you really belong to a group without making some kind of genuinely meaningful commitment? And, to your point, what are the ramifications for the modern internet world if not?