by L.A. Mood Comics and Games

By Dan Brown

Back in the day, young people wanted to usher in the age of Aquarius. 

Today, young people are ushering in an age of authenticity.

And there’s actually a connection between the two, which I’ll get to in a moment.

But how do I know that authenticity matters a lot to twentysomethings? 

Because I teach and mentor university students in both my day jobs. It’s a word they use ALL the time.

In their texts, authenticity is rendered as “auth.” There’s also “gen” for genuine and “real” and “legit.”

Whatever word they use, it stands for the same concept: These students are turned off by fakery and pretension, and want to get beyond surface appearances because they prize the truth.

The funny part is, today’s university students actually have a lot in common with the hippies of yesteryear, who rejected the square establishment in favour of a lifestyle that allowed them to live in a more grounded way.

It’s true kids in 2026 are different in important ways from the long-hair crowd of the 1960s. 

For example, some critics say Generation Z was raised by their cellphones.

What I do know for sure is they are tired of people trying to deceive them. 

In fact, it might stem from being on their phones a lot, using things like dating apps – which include photos of potential partners that have been touched up via digital trickery to give the impression of perfection. They’re sick of being catfished.

They are also tired of being lied to by governments, corporations, influencers and celebrities.

They were raised in a world of jargon-packed press releases that obscure, rather than communicate, vital information. They don’t want to be told there is “collateral damage” in the U.S. war on Iran when what that term really means is innocent schoolchildren are being killed.

They abhor the artificial, the synthetic, the counterfeit. The manufactured. The – to borrow another popular word – performative.

“People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake,” DC Comics head Jim Lee said in a speech last year committing the company to never use AI-generated art or writing in its products

You can see it everywhere.

For instance, since so many young adults value quality over quantity, they shop at thrift stores instead of buying so-called “fast fashion” that damages the environment. They would rather have honest, old-fashioned clothing instead of items that look great but can only be worn once or twice before disintegrating. The surface image isn’t enough for them anymore.

And sure, there are exceptions to what I’m telling you, Gen Zers who don’t embody the qualities I’ve listed here. No question. There always are. 

But what’s so interesting to me is how the hippies are actually role models for Zoomers in a lot of ways. Their reaction against the mainstream in the 1960s set the stage for Gen Z now. 

That reaction led to young Boomers leaving cities for rural communes. It led to Coke adopting the slogan, “It’s the real thing.” It led to Sly and the Family Stone singing, “Don’t let the plastic bring you down.”

And it eventually sparked the rise of a value system that sees things that are artificial as treacherous, and views leaders who are pretending to be something they’re not as unworthy of trust.

Authenticity is the ultimate asset and competitive advantage in 2026. 

And twentysomethings are craving it, maybe even more than their Baby Boomer predecessors once yearned for a sincere, simple way to live.

Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.