Is Privacy The New Luxury?

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It has become the norm to share your entire life online. I’ll open Tik Tok to someone vlogging their entire honeymoon. Or someone sharing every purchase, or every detail of their home, their decorations, family traditions, etc. It still shocks me. Nothing is sacred anymore.

I grew up in the 90’s with no social media, only film photos. Digital cameras became popular when I was a teenager. Sure, we documented our parties and fun nights, but our entire life wasn’t online. I didn’t even have Facebook until I was 17.

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We normally think of luxury as an expensive watch, an expensive handbag, or piece of jewelry. I obviously love luxury goods, and I’m not denying that these things are indeed luxurious. However, I feel like the meaning of luxury is shifting. I think that privacy is becoming a new luxury. I’ve never been one to share every detail of my life online, and I’m certainly not going to start now.

I find it difficult enough to have a public profile, and have so many people viewing what I’m doing, even professionally. I’m very grateful, but it’s not something that comes naturally to me, sharing that is. I try to keep my Instagram related to fashion and sourcing, but I know that people like to see more and know more. I have a hard time even posting my outfits, let alone anything else.

It never has been and never will be my first instinct to grab my phone and record what I’m doing. I love photography and taking photos, but not necessarily sharing them online. Even if I DO document parts of my life in photos and post them on the internet, it seems like now that’s not good enough. These days everything has to be a video or a vlog. I can’t keep up. No matter how much I try to do this, I always fail.

I’ve always been an extremely private person. In high school, my friends would always tell me I was mysterious, which made me laugh. I definitely don’t think of myself as such; I just don’t like to share personal things…even with people I know! I don’t even share my personal life on my private Instagram account. It’s mostly photos from my travels (not of me), or random pictures I find cool with little to no context.

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In the coming years, I think there will be a shift towards people sharing less online. I think that privacy will become a luxury. Not having to share your entire life will really mean that you’ve made it, or that you have success. I’ve always loved the saying “move in silence”. It’s really no one’s business but yours, what you do with your life or how you live it.

I admire people who have found a way to share what feels authentic to them online, while still maintaining a private life. This is something that feels very rare, especially now. There are some influencers who seem to do this flawlessly and effortlessly, and I envy them. They make it look so easy.

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I think it’s okay to gatekeep and not share everything. People have become way too comfortable asking as many questions as they can. “Where is this from?” or “Where are you staying?” “Where do you live?” or even “how much did you pay for that?”. Sure, some of these are questions you may ask someone in person, but that’s the thing about the internet: it makes everyone feel like they know you, and like they’re entitled to ask whatever they want. We all feel this way to an extent. We have a favorite content creator, and we feel like we know them, but in reality, we don’t.

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I don’t have a perfect closing argument for this, I just wanted to share my thoughts. I’m curious to know if any of you feel the same way. Xo!