The End of Authenticity: Why 'Relatable Content' Feels Fake Now

Remember when finding relatable content online felt like a breath of fresh air? Those early YouTube confessionals filmed in bedrooms, the unfiltered Instagram posts, the Twitter overshares that made you think, “Wow, I’m not alone.” That era feels increasingly distant now, replaced by something altogether more calculated.

Today, authenticity has become the most valuable commodity in digital spaces — and simultaneously, the most manufactured one. The very concept of “being real” has been so thoroughly productized and optimized that it triggers our collective skepticism rather than our trust.

Authenticity Industrial Complex

What began as a genuine pushback against overly polished celebrity culture and glossy brand messaging has evolved into its own sophisticated industry. Marketers didn’t miss the authenticity memo — they laminated it, distributed it company-wide, and built five-year strategies around it.

According to the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Climate, 86% of consumers expect CEOs to publicly speak out about societal issues like climate change — demonstrating how authenticity in corporate messaging has become an expectation rather than a differentiator. The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer also found that 58% of consumers will buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values.

The problem isn’t just corporate. Individual creators face intense market pressure to deliver reliably “authentic” content. Researcher Devon Powers from Temple University noted in a 2022 study on digital culture that “authenticity has become less a quality to aspire to than a performance to perfect.”

Some tell-tale signs of this performance include:

• The strategically placed imperfection (“Oops, didn’t mean to leave that mess in the background!”)

• The carefully curated vulnerability (“I wasn’t going to share this, but…”)

• The rehearsed spontaneity (“Just a random thought I had in the shower…”)

When Algorithms Reward “Realness”

Social platforms have accelerated this phenomenon by explicitly rewarding content that drives engagement through perceived authenticity. TikTok’s meteoric rise was largely attributed to its seemingly unfiltered, “real” content aesthetic — which quickly became as constructed as any other medium once creators understood the formula.

Algorithms don’t differentiate between what’s authentic and what seems authentic. They measure engagement, and users engage with content that hits emotional triggers — whether that emotion is genuine or manufactured,” explains Dr. Emily Hund, researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center on Digital Culture and Society and co-author of “The Authenticity Industry.” “What we’re seeing is the industrialization of authenticity, where appearing genuine becomes a professional skill.”

This creates a feedback loop: creators who perfect the performance of realness gain algorithmic favor, which provides a template for others to follow. Soon, authentic becomes formulaic.

The Relatability Paradox

The most insidious aspect of this phenomenon is the “relatability paradox” — the more deliberately relatable content becomes, the less genuine connection it creates.

Take the rise of “authentic” marketing campaigns. Burger King’s seemingly candid social media presence, Dove’s “real beauty” messaging, and countless startups with founders who share “honest” stories about their struggles — all carefully crafted to appear unvarnished while being meticulously planned.

The consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ found that 65% of younger consumers can easily identify when a brand is trying too hard to seem authentic. The very effort to appear effortless becomes transparent.

This extends to individual creators too. The “perfectly imperfect” aesthetic — showing just enough mess to seem relatable but not enough to be truly unflattering — has become its own aspirational category. The casual “get ready with me” videos feature $300 skincare routines. The “what I eat in a day” posts showcase immaculately plated, photogenic meals presented as casual everyday fare.

The Search for True Connection

So where does this leave us, the audience? Many of us find ourselves in a state of perpetual cynicism, unable to take anything at face value.

Some studies suggest this constant questioning of authenticity contributes to what researchers have called “the paradox of social media connection.” A 2021 study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that despite increased digital connectivity, many users experience what the researchers termed “social media-induced loneliness.”

“The more time people spend curating and consuming highly edited versions of others’ lives, the more they report feeling disconnected from authentic social experiences,” notes Dr. Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and author of “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.” “We’re seeing a generation that is technically more connected than ever, yet increasingly reports feelings of isolation.”

Beyond Curated Authenticity

As consumers and audiences, perhaps our path forward involves redefining what we mean by authenticity altogether. True authenticity might not be about revealing everything or being relatable to everyone — it might be about consistency between values and actions, regardless of how that appears.

For creators and brands, the most genuinely authentic approach might be to stop chasing authenticity as a marketing strategy altogether. Paradoxically, this could mean embracing certain levels of polish and curation rather than pretending they don’t exist.

What feels most refreshing now isn’t content that tries desperately to convince us of its realness, but content that respects our intelligence enough not to make claims about its authenticity at all.

And maybe there’s something liberating in acknowledging that all media is constructed to some degree. The question isn’t whether something is 100% authentic — nothing mediated through screens ever could be — but whether it offers something of genuine value, connection, or insight.

Because ultimately, what we’re seeking isn’t just authenticity for its own sake, but the human connection that authenticity once promised to deliver. And that might require something more nuanced than relatability, and more genuine than performance.