This challenge topic is related to my Daily Prompt entry Urgency is all Relative. I breezed through Erica’s entry but I did not pay much attention to the noted articles and books. I read the post for the ‘gist’ of this challenge but I already had a couple of ideas to write about.
Nothing about “social media” is authentic. It’s all an artificial atmosphere created (by those who create such things as Facebook) to make money. It morphs into other things beyond – and I might be generous here – the simple and ‘innocent’ design of creating an immediate and artistic way to communicate to groups of people, as all things unleashed to the general public tend to do. If you want to be authentic, ask a friend to meet for lunch and have a conversation – face-to-face – without once looking at your smart phone. Try it.
The other thought I had about authenticity is that people sometimes confuse being “authentic” with the license to be rude. For example, when someone dresses in a way that is, lets call it “attention grabbing” and then they notice people looking twice, staring or otherwise doing exactly what was intended by the outfit, these same people become angry and act out. If you don’t want people ‘gawking’, don’t dress or act in a way that demands attention. If you dress the way you do because you like it, it’s “you”, then it won’t really matter who looks and what they think. That’s being authentic. I wear jeans, T-shirts and my hair really (really) short because it’s my preference – I’m being authentic – and I get looks but I don’t care. People can like or not like how I look, it’s not about them, it’s about me being me. By the same tolken I am not offended by being (accidentally) called “Sir” or when asked why I have my hair short shaved.
That’s my brief post. If I decide that, after puzzling over the topic more, I want to elaborate – I’ll ‘edit’.
BTW: I have no idea what is meant by “radical authenticity” so I didn’t address it.
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