Abstract

The rapid expansion of smartphones social media and short-video platforms has transformed how rural youth present themselves and negotiate cultural identity in contemporary India. Traditional identities that were once expressed primarily through everyday practices language dress occupations festivals and community participation are increasingly performed before digital audiences. This paper examines how rural youth construct and communicate ideas of being “real” “traditional” and culturally authentic through online self-presentation. Using a qualitative secondary-data and interpretive approach the study draws upon scholarship on identity authenticity rural transformation digital culture self-presentation and platformization. The analysis suggests that online authenticity is neither completely inherited nor entirely artificial rather it is selectively performed negotiated and repeatedly reconstructed according to audience expectations and platform conventions. Rural youth may highlight