We’re in Our Cultural Homogenization Era

Welcome to Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter that explores what it means to be a modern-day creative. It inspires, encourages, and empowers readers to take back their creative power.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

I have a bone to pick with the color beige. 

It’s not so much about the color itself (although I’m still not particularly fond of it) but rather what it represents.

We as a society have become homogenized. And I think it stems from irrelevancy. 

Our biggest fear as a society is irrelevancy. That’s why we’re always chasing trends, what’s shiny and new. We don’t want to suffer from FOMO and want to fit in. We want to feel accepted by cultural standards and norms. And if you’re anything different from the “conventional” or “mainstream,” you’re immediately written off and viewed as “quirky” or “weird.” 

But guess what? Those are the most interesting people. I’ll get to that later.  

Millennials are the first generation to bridge the gap between analog and digital. I was in high school when Instagram first came on the scene. “Influencers” were on YouTube only, and they were not even called influencers. Social media changed everything. 

Suddenly, we had to worry about likes, edited photos, and aesthetic feeds. Moreover, we started looking at social media for approval. If we didn’t get a certain number of likes on our posts, we deleted the post and posted something we thought would get more likes. 

We look at social media as the trendsetter. Instead of looking at what people wear in IRL or traditional media like magazines, social media gives us another lens through which to assess trends. Anything we do or buy is for clout and social acceptance. We don’t do things because we want to do them but because we seek approval. 

The result is homogeny. We’ve gotten to the point where we all want to look the same, wear the same clothes, decorate our homes the same, and live in the same types of buildings. We also want to have the same “social media-approved” experiences. Did you even do anything cool if you didn’t go where social media told you to go?

The best example is travel. We are so worried about having the “perfect” vacation that we forget to do what we enjoy. If you’re not a museum-goer, you shouldn’t feel pressured to visit a museum because everyone on social media says you must go there.  

It’s taken globalization to a new extreme. I noticed this on my recent trip to Greece. My friend and I wanted to find a place with live Greek music and dancing. We went to four different places and could only find ONE place that offered what we were looking for. The rest were Euro bars playing Top 100 hits, no different than what you could find in any other major global city. 

It prompted a discussion with my friend about why places lose their authentic culture just to appeal to tourists. All these cities are beginning to look like each other, where everyone is dressed the same and offers the same experience. Cities that used to have a distinct vibe, style, and culture don’t anymore. You can’t tell if you’re in Barcelona, Boston, or Buenos Aires. 

And it’s not just travel. This homogeny has impacted every area of our lives. Our homes lack color and personality because we all strive for the same aesthetic (who thought beige and grey is a cute look?!). All new studio apartments have the same layout (I kid you not; it feels like all my friends live in the same apartment). There is no such thing as “personal style” anymore because we want to dress like Hailey Bieber or Bella Hadid. 

We all feel like we have to have the same interests, hobbies, and beliefs because they’ve been “approved” by the majority. This creates a sense of conformity and a fear of standing out from the status quo. It’s a direct reflection of the society we’re living in right now. It’s easier to stick with the status quo than go against it. 

We do so much to fit in that we forget to stand out, and after a while, it affects our entire personality. We get so caught up in the noise of internet culture and social media that we forget who we are and what we actually like, not what we think we should like. We’re so afraid of everyone’s perception of us that we forget about our perception of ourselves. It begs the question: Are we living our most authentic lives or merely living out our obligations to others? 

I truly think authenticity is the hardest thing we can be in 2024 because we are too consumed by living an “aesthetic” life and forget what it means to live an authentic one. 

Homogenization doesn’t make us interesting; it makes us boring. When we all like the same things, it hinders us from developing our unique personality. If your house is 50 shades of beige with the same stock art from Society 6, how does that tell anyone anything about who you are or what interests you?

It also doesn’t allow us to develop taste.

Taste means understanding yourself and what you like and living that out. It’s a culmination of our interests and experiences. To develop taste, we need to relearn how to enjoy our existence—doing what we like versus what we think will look the best on social media. It means stopping taking advice from social media (it’s so much easier said than done) and looking to other elements of culture like books, movies, media, history, and more. 

This is what makes you interesting. 

We must chase our curiosity and interests, create art, pick up hobbies, build community, and learn from others. It means putting insecurity, fear, and pride aside and adopting a beginner’s mindset. 

When you develop taste, you build something inherently unique to you. No one else will have the same taste as you. You’re not in competition with anyone other than yourself to be the most interesting person you can be. And it’s refreshing to meet someone who’s genuinely interesting compared to someone with the same interests as the next person. I’m not saying you can’t hop on the next trend, but do it because you want to, not because social media told you to.

I don’t know about you, but I’m striving to be the most interesting person I can be. Screw being boring! 

CREATIVE CORNER

• 🎞️ What I’m Consuming: Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez. I can already tell she will be one of my new favorite rom-com authors!

• 💡 What I’m Loving: Planning my brand photoshoot for my business

• 🎨 What I’m Working On: Hanging a new gallery wall in my bedroom

• 💭 Weekly Musing:

Thank you 💕

If you liked this newsletter, I’d love it if you could forward it to someone who you think would like it, too!

I’m so grateful for all of your support!

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder and Chief Brand Architect at Bright Eyes Creative, a creative studio that helps creatives monetize their zone of genius and creativity.

Where to find me:

• Join Musing to Monetized, my 4-week offer development sprint, where I help you turn your 1:1 signature service into a DWY offer.

• Listen to my recent podcast episodes here.

• Subscribe to my other business newsletter, Money Moves, where I talk about strategies and tactics for monetizing your zone of genius and creativity.

• Grab my Brand Realignment Workbook to help realign your brand to build your dream business.

• Register for my free live training in a few weeks, “Scale Smarter: Build Your First Done-With-You Offer,” to learn the 7 components of a DWY offer.