Profile Icon Attachment Has Entered Formal Review
The icon was chosen under specific conditions in 2019 and those conditions no longer apply. The icon remains.
COUNTERFACTUAL RECORD: Profile Icon Attachment (PIA) Reference: Digital Identity Maintenance, Q3 2021
Scenario Under Review
A profile photo selected in 2019 remains in active deployment across three to seven platforms, depending on how one counts the platform that was last opened in 2020 but has not been deleted. The photo was taken at an event. The lighting at the event was favorable. The subject is aware that the lighting was favorable, which is part of why the photo has remained.
Counterfactual One: The Icon Is Updated
In the counterfactual where the profile photo is updated with a current image, the following occurs: a current image must be selected. Selecting a current image requires browsing recent photos, which produces an awareness of how many recent photos do not meet the standard established by the 2019 image. One photo is a candidate. The candidate is assessed. The candidate is set aside for a second look. The second look does not occur within the same session. The 2019 image remains.
Counterfactual Two: No Icon Attachment Exists
In the counterfactual where the user has no particular attachment to the current icon: treating it as a placeholder to be updated whenever a better option becomes available: the icon would have been updated twice in 2020 and once in 2021. The updates would have taken four minutes combined. None of this occurred.
The icon has outlasted two haircuts, one job, and the lighting conditions under which it was taken.
Counterfactual Three: The 2019 Image Was Never Selected
In the counterfactual where a different 2019 image was selected: one with adequate but not notably favorable lighting: the attachment would be weaker and the update would have occurred. The favorable lighting created a standard that ordinary photos cannot meet. The favorable lighting is therefore the cause of the current profile photo's persistence.
Professional Indifference Finding
The icon that represents this person on most platforms was last updated before the period when most people last saw this person. For many contacts, the icon is the most recent image they have seen. This creates a small gap between representation and current state that is not consequential enough to address and not negligible enough to ignore.
The system records this without recommendation. The icon performs its function, which is to be recognizable. Whether it is accurate is a different question that falls outside the scope of this review.