The slow death of authenticity in an attention economy

I think it may have a lot to do with the Twitter subcultures and communities you are following. I made a new Twitter account last month and feel extremely welcomed with conversation and followers. I'm not using it as a generalized social media account where I post random things, only interesting topics within a tighter community.

>It shows a graph with a person on the left who has "nothing to say" being a mongrel

I think you may have misread. Both the person on the left and right in the graph are labeled "have something to say."

I think this is largely correct. The problem for me is that doing that is a lot of work, and the benefit I get from it doesn't even come close to justifying that work.

Maybe this is my own neurospice speaking but...What even is authenticity? Do we even see authenticity in public? Any awareness that we are being observed introduces some amount of Hawthorne effect. Probably the most genuine folks are the introverts and socially averse.

Regional burns are espoused to celebrate "radical self-expression" , and unlike the Big Burn, their smaller size seems to promote authenticity to a greater degree. But even there, people are doing bits or acting out a persona or even just socially experimenting.

Authenticity itself is nebulous. But even taking that into account, there are definitely more harmful and less harmful facades. We pay actors and performers to be inauthentic. But we consider influencer "fake".

Point is, I don't think "authenticity" is the main metric we actually care about. Inauthenticity can be lots of fun for all parties. It's the motivations of the act. It's the second-order authenticity. An actor is authentic in their inauthenticity: there's no hiding that they are putting on an act. But we dislike influencers and the like because while they are (often obviously) inauthentic, they try to hide that fact under a facade trying to make it seem like it's their "real expression".

As a counterpoint, take a youtuber I really enjoy, Ryan McBeth. He does OSINT mostly military-themed current events vids and blogs. I'm sure the Ryan in front of the camera is different than the Ryan I'd meet at the bar: more polished, calculated in choice of words, presenting self in the best light, because that's what we all do in the limelight. But he totally lampshades his sponsored bits: "let me take a few moments to pay the bills". That's the second-order authenticity. Doing a paid sponsor bit is ipso facto inauthentic - it's not something you'd do without the influence of money. But lampshading it tips his hand and humanizes him. Or does it? Maybe he's saying that because his shtick is "down to earth authentic guy" and that's what that character would say? (I doubt it, but it's a fun hypothetical).

Famously, "All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players" - Shakespeare

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect

https://ryanmcbeth.substack.com/

> Do we even see authenticity in public?

If you have the ability to sense another human's emotions you can often tell when someone is being authentic or not. Set and setting are also important. Authenticity is closer to honesty about yourself rather than some kind of self-expression. I am still authentic if I don't mention my hobby of collecting records while I am at the gym. I am not authentic if I start making up whatever will impress you.

> But we dislike influencers and the like because while they are (often obviously) inauthentic, they try to hide that fact under a facade trying to make it seem like it's their "real expression".

IMO, most people dislike influencers because they fall into the category of people who are outwardly pathetic. In any sort of human interaction desperation is seen as unattractive and wrong. Influencers are desperation boiled down into the highest concentration. They are fake, inauthentic, not because they aren't who they are but they try so hard to dial up everything about them to it's maximum.

> Doing a paid sponsor bit is ipso facto inauthentic

If I am doing a paid sponsorship for beard care equipment I am authentic. This generalization doesn't fit.

> I'm sure the Ryan in front of the camera is different than the Ryan I'd meet at the bar: more polished, calculated in choice of words, presenting self in the best light, because that's what we all do in the limelight.

Someone who takes the time to create an entire blog dedicated to a topic will likely be 90% similar to what you're reading. Of course there is nuance in human interaction but someone that dedicated to a particular craft will most likely obsess over it even in person.

I understand your post is some sort of philosophical discussion on authenticity. Maybe in some textbook sense you are right. However, I have had more authentic interactions with people than inauthentic interactions. If you're close with anyone at all in your life you have also experienced that. The systemization of everything (through what you call "radical self-expression") is creating a bunch of pseudo-intellectual naval gazing on what is fundamentally a simple topic. Authentic people are honest people. You can often tell right away who is lying and who is not. The computer in your head has hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to help you with that.