Authenticity Is The Only Thing That Never Goes Out Of Style.
"Pay The Cost To Be The Boss?"
When did authenticity become too much to ask for? As we adjust to the ever-evolving social media landscape - across interactions, how we present ourselves, the conversations we have, the content we consume, the recipes, the recommendations, everything around it; it’s becoming harder and harder to spot true authenticity. And we enabled all of it.
Relative to everything around it, social media is a new phenomenon for humanity, representing a very short time frame in our history; one that is almost incomprehensible. How incomprehensible? Facebook launched in 2004, just 22 years ago, and yet no one has fully understood its long-term effects on us.
By consuming inauthentic content through social media, we slowly condition ourselves to believe everything we see; and even worse, we don’t know the full story behind that 45-second polished reel we just watched, where the person behind it probably spent too much time carefully dropping only the key moments, cutting out everything that might’ve shown us the truth.
This matters because what we consume is what we are. So do we really want to fill ourselves with content that isn’t real? Think about where that bleeds into our creative work, and then beyond that - into the parts of life that exist outside the feed, which you already opened, before you even got out of bed.
In real life, inauthenticity costs us more than we realize. Showing up inauthentically to our creative work is essentially selling ourselves to the highest bidder - leaving our true intention at the door, and losing the class and allure that comes with being a genuine creative. And sooner or later, people catch on. They always do. Which inevitably shortens the lifespan of the work itself, and the career behind it. We end up losing ourselves. Betraying exactly what we swore we would be when we first started.
what we consume is what we are
But then it hits you- a snap, an aha moment. “Wait, am I actually being authentic to myself with what I’m presenting right now?” Assuming you have respect for your craft and how you show up, call it gut feeling, call it being conscious of your actions and your work; there is something out there that pulls us toward authenticity in everything we do. And that same thing is probably what keeps us relevant, what naturally earns us the respect and appreciation we’re looking for. Because as human beings, we need those things to keep moving forward, no matter how we frame it.
Social media. the same thing that made authenticity harder to find, also advanced the conversation around it. Through deep explorations and cultural theses published across platforms, people who spent years feeling like outsiders finally found their tribe. They show up authentically, talking about things that genuinely don’t add up to them (like whether Guy Fieri actually swallowed the food all these years?) or simply telling their own stories in a relatable way that generates real conversation across the board.
Social media allowed every participant to voice their opinion about everything, without any prerequisite beyond a working internet connection and a device. Which is exactly why authenticity can no longer be easily assessed - and since it can’t be assessed or measured, it is timeless. The only thing that will never go out of style, because it is rare by nature and cannot be manufactured.
Condensing our lives into 30-second reels naturally meant deciding which details stay and which ones don’t serve the story. As a byproduct, authenticity rates dropped, and we had no real option but to participate! Because most of our interactions with people now happen online. One plus one equals two, not three.
Creatively, it’s a two-way street. Designers, for example, can no longer hide behind gatekeeping facades. If something happens, they can speak directly to customers and fans - taking full accountability in the case of a scandal, or for better reasons, breaking down the full motifs behind a collection. And for those of us who live on social media, whether we want to or not, something unique happens through our unofficial votes; likes, comments, shares, and saves.
Authenticity is the new king. But truthfully, it never left. We were just looking at the wrong corner of the internet.
We woke up and understood that the facade built over the past few years was a distraction. Because through it all, on the other corner, the creators and creatives who showed up authentically every single time were always there. Those will be the ones who carry internet culture forward - not the polished ones who work hard to portray things as something other than what they are. They will either adapt, or stay behind.
The door was always open. Some of us just forgot to look for it.
The Mercer Edition Is An Independent Publication.