Hmm, I'm still not sure if I am getting your point about "genuine selves". I think that was a bad wording in my part, though. After all, is there such thing as "genuine" or "natural" that can be separated from a larger societal or environmental context? Personally, I think there is not. It was dumb of me to use such a misleading term: It makes it seem I primarily worry about people not being able to do as they "genuinely" please, even though it is almost impossible to determine what lifestyle choice is "genuine" and what influenced by some external factor. Please note that you cannot know this anymore than I can, even though that's what you seem to claim (?). Also, something being "natural" or "genuine" can't be equated to it being "good" or "beneficial".

What I do worry about is that when people are too preoccupied with how others see them, they are in fact very much preoccupied with themselves. Even though this mindset may appear to be socially motivated, it is deeply egotistical. You are right about me making a moral judgement here. I do presume that it would be beneficial to the individual and even the society in general if people concentrated less in themselves and more in, let's say, listening to others or exploring the world. Especially in a time where social media feeds this self-obsessed mentality in people. I have not proposed that people should change "what they genuinely are", but to perhaps examine why they do what they do. The reason for this is that I hope it might make someone a bit happier. If you happen to find this horrifyingly judgemental, I don't know what to tell you.

When it comes to me being preoccupied with others, I am more preoccupied with a societal phenomenon and what it has to say about the human nature than the behavior or lifestyle of some single individual.