[_9y71]

Also, looking at abandoned blogs and old photos of people lying next to their computers from the early 2000s is so interesting. It captures a time when people truly connected with their machines and made them part of their identity.

[Fluorescence]

Hmm - rather than identity, I suspect it was more of a marketing trope.

I associate this genre of photo with the photo-shoots with Gates, Jobs and others. All the interviews and full page ads in the 80s 90s had variations of sitting/lying on desks, hugging CRT monitors or the classic folded-arms lean on a CRT from behind.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/97/ed/dd97ed2a239c725ebe57...

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/b1/3a/13b13a8c0bc7ee256b37...

https://wolfsheadonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/Nolan...

https://alchetron.com/cdn/dan-bricklin-6a3581d7-0d8c-4413-91...

I don't recall old-school blogs doing this or really having author photos at all (photos on that bandwidth/hosting?!) but I imagine whenever a blogger was interviewed for print media they would lean on the "computer person" standards.