Gatekeeping: We Hold the Power

You do not need to be incredibly online to know what ‘gatekeeping’ is. I would define gatekeeping as withholding information. My incredibly hot take is we should bring it back. Before you light up your torches, I suggest you read this article and hear me out. Everyone is sharing way too much on the internet, and it is overwhelming. I open my phone, and I am at once drowned in “must-haves,” “it will change your life,” “the it girls are wearing,” “OMG, look at this band that was wildly famous, but I am going to act like I discovered it.”

Retrieved from Shuffles

At the risk of  sounding like a hater, I miss my individuality (yes, I’m an Aquarius moon). What I truly love is curation. There is something magical about finding things that speak to you and keeping them close, instead of putting them on display for the entire world. What makes us interesting, what makes certain things feel special, is an elevated level of selectivity. When we stop curating, we are just bombarded with the same recycled content, the same recommendations, and the same “life hacks” that everyone else has.Where’s the individuality in that?

Gatekeeping gets a bad reputation because, in a time where everyone wants to share everything, the idea of keeping something to yourself feels selfish. But I would argue that it is the opposite—sometimes, keeping things close is a way to assert our individuality. If we are all doing, wearing, and listening to the same things, where is the room for self-expression? Or are we just too lazy to actually go out and discover things for ourselves anymore? Have we reached the point of asking people where they buy their basic white t-shirts from?

The age of overconsumption is real, and it is suffocating. Every day, we are hit with waves of content, product recommendations, and trends. It is like drinking from a firehose. And there is this real fear—at least for me—that things I genuinely love will become so overexposed, so diluted, that they lose their charm. It is hard to enjoy something when it feels like the entire internet is in on it, too.

Retrieved from Pinterest

So, here is my ridiculously hot take: you are allowed to hold power. You are allowed to limit access to your resources, your discoveries, and your favorite things. Gatekeeping does not have to be seen as malicious—it can be a form of protection. Protection for the things that make you feel unique, for the parts of yourself that you do not want to see commercialized or watered down. It is okay to say no and to keep something for yourself.

In fact, we can say no. We can choose not to share every little detail of our lives, not to broadcast every hidden gem we find. There’s beauty in holding something back, in keeping a little mystery. It is time we take that power back, and if that means a little gatekeeping, then so be it.

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• HCUPR
• individuality
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