We all swear we want authenticity.
We want the messy bathroom counter, the half-finished thought, the person who talks like a human and not a billboard. We want real stories, real emotions, real people…preferably filmed in terrible lighting with a cracked iPhone.

And yet… the minute we open our apps?
We fall right into the algorithm’s arms like it’s the ex we pretend we’re over.

We click the video with the perfect hook.
We watch the clip with the trending audio.
We share the post that was clearly engineered in a content lab under fluorescent lights.

Why?
Because our brains are lazy little gremlins that love patterns, convenience, and instant dopamine hits. Authenticity makes us feel grounded, but the algorithm gives us what we didn’t know we wanted at terrifying speed. It’s like eating a salad but smelling a pizza. You intend to choose better, but your biology says, “Actually… no.”

Creators know this.
This is why your favorite “I just woke up like this” videos are perfectly paced, optimized, compressed, keyworded, and backed by a marketing spreadsheet somewhere. We’re living in the golden age of algorithm-approved authenticity.

And we reward it.
Every. Single. Day.

But if you’re feeling suffocated by the performance of the illusion of realness, there are ways to fight back without tossing your phone into a lake or moving to a commune.

How to Gently Rebel Against the Algorithm

1. Boost the stuff that feels genuinely human.
A simple like or comment on an unpolished post sends a tiny shockwave through the machine. The algorithm learns that you’re not only here for the viral bait.

2. Add some fiber to your media diet.
A long article. A slow vlog. A podcast with no sound effects. Let your attention span remember who it was before TikTok got its claws in you.

3. Post something imperfect, intentionally.
Not the “messy aesthetic” kind. The real kind. The thing that isn’t optimized or timed or hashtagged. Just… post it. Break the performance loop a little.

4. Embrace boredom.
Your best ideas, opinions, and tastes come from the moments between notifications. Give your brain space and it stops craving junk content like a cracked out raccoon.

Remember, authenticity isn’t dead, it’s just being filtered through an algorithm that wants everything to be prettier, faster, louder, stickier.

But the moment we start rewarding real people instead of perfect patterns, we get closer to what we actually crave: connection that doesn’t feel manufactured by a machine.

Not perfect. Not polished.

Just real enough to matter.