My primary point is that I think it's fine to use an obviously generated "cartoon image" as an avatar, but what I think is dangerous is when reality and fantasy blur so much that people (including, especially, the subjects themselves!) get lost with respect to which is which.

It's a similar concern to the updated TikTok "makeup filter" that made the rounds recently, which basically is extremely difficult to detect as a filter. I thought especially poignant was a photographer who was saying she gets these beautiful women in to do portraits, and then when they look behind the camera to view their untouched portraits, they're aghast at how "ugly" they are, because the "filtered" version of themselves has started competing with the real version in their own head.

This shit just fucks with everyone's brain long term, in an unhelpful way, in my opinion.