In Carl Elliott’s Better Than Well, he discusses “the notion of authenticity as a moral ideal: the idea that we each have a way of living that is uniquely our own, and that we are each called to live in our own way rather than that of someone else.” But “authenticity” is a social construct that is always defined against something else; it is a slippery concept that is impossible to pin down.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 651