Real ID:
In 2005, the US congress passed legislation for this, and it comes into force May 7 2025. It requires states to follow certain practices when identifying and giving somebody an ID. All the drivers licenses issued in all the US states and 5 territories qualify as real ID. If you have a recent valid drivers license, you arleady have a Real ID. The new requirements will be that to fly domestically, visit certain federal federal facilities, and to visit nuclear power plants, then you must show your Real ID.
I don't think this is much different than it already was, is it?. I don't ever recall flying domestically "anonymously". The significant difference IMHO is that ID is becoming federalized (states still issue, but federal government oversees).
For myself, I'll use my passport as always.
You can still travel without ID by driving in your car. I would be much more worried if your country went cashless. In that case you have to use trackable payment mechanisms to buy your groceries. Here in NZ most supermarkets still take cash, but most checkout lines do not... you have to find the checkout line that still takes cash. I think they still have to take cash, but they just aren't setup for that at every checkout line.
