This morning, while caught up in my ruinous morning Tiktok spiral, I came across the phenomenon of “vintage” adolescence. These are teenagers who are obsessed with antique stores and collector items, longing for a past they were never a part of.

I have always found this aspect of Gen Z particularly intriguing, and I can’t stop thinking about TikTok’s overwhelming influence on upcoming generations.TikTok popularized the trend of vintage cameras—snapshots that look like they were taken in a 1970s Upper East Side bar. This old-attic-like touch to our photos is a nice idea, but what will it mean for our era when we look back, considering it wasn’t even ours? 

This phenomena seems to happen with a majority of Gen Zs Culture aspects. There’s nothing wrong with borrowing from other periods, as fashion and culture have always been recycled from different eras. The problem here is it has ever been to this extent, getting dangerously close to no originality at all. It’s a shame that there won’t be anything distinctly Gen Z to reminisce about, because instead of creating our own culture, we are trying to uphold past Aesthetics.

Aesthetics; in noun form defined as, “a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.” I suppose aesthetics can be seen as a muse for ourselves, a foundation to build upon for who we want to be. Whether you aspire to be the coquettish, hyper-feminine Lana Del Ray devotee with meretricious handmade jewelry, or the mysterious coffee shop girl with a waffle-knit sweater, Doc Martens, and a book by Nabokov, you are creating yourself based on aesthetics.

It becomes a rather daunting game of who can be the most unique. However, they fail to realize that several thousand other girls have watched the same step-by-step guide. I just went through TikTok for help with this piece and immediately saw two step-by-step videos on how to be the “cool mysterious girl.” I understand how it would be easier to shape one’s identity through an aesthetic, but how much of ourselves is genuinely reflected in it when we had predefined templates to follow from the beginning?

We are not meant to be confined to pretty, neatly arranged boxes based on shallow interpretations. We are meant to be human, beautiful yet unarranged. The concept of reinventing ourselves has shifted from genuinely wanting to improve our character through authentic change to wanting to resemble a certain idealized version of someone. There is nothing inherently wrong with aesthetics as long as they are genuinely expressed, but that is nearly impossible, since humans are complex beings who cannot be encapsulated by a single set of manners.

When we get rid of this harmful longing to be an antecedent persona, our authentic charm in being human will surpass any step-by-steps or preconceived identities. It’s important that we stay conscious of what we’re consuming on social media, especially TikTok, and how it affects our genuine nature.