Authenticity

Authenticity is obviously important, and it is especially important to the younger generations. I previously wrote about this here.

But what really is authenticity? It is a bit difficult of a topic to completely define as a lot of authenticity is based on feelings, intuition, EQ and not something necessarily quantifiable.
The dictionary definition of authenticity as found here is:

1. The quality of being authentic, genuine.

The opposite of genuine is obviously fake.

The definition of authentic is where is starts making more sense in relation to the Millenial generation. This definition is found here and is:

1. not false or copied; genuine; real:
2. having the origin supported by unquestionable evidence;authenticated; verified:
3. entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy:

I can only surmise, but I wonder if why Millenials seek authenticity so much is due to the fact so much of their world is digital. When it comes to in-person experiences and in-person relations and interactions they want something real, in contrast to their digital world. Yes, they have access to verify almost everything. But I wonder if the real reason is an underlying desire for connection and community that cannot exist without authenticity. Status Quo's are often not genuine, and thus the reason you find Millenials will challenge Status Quo's.

Authenticity is tied to being organic. A facsimile of something is not good enough. An imitation of something is not good enough.

Fulfilling the answers to "why" questions is more important than supplying "how" answers. Why questions and answers address the origin and belief system.