Are you living out of an Avatar self?

We are living in a day and age where many people are operating out of an “avatar self.” The avatar self is the version of me I want you to see—no wrinkles, no cracks, no flaws. It is a curated self, a protected self, a self that cannot be easily shamed and rarely faces real consequence.

In some ways, this avatar self becomes detached from empathy. It can criticize, dismiss, or even “crush” others without feeling the weight of human impact. It can operate as a free agent in the world—devoid of vulnerability, shame, or emotional cost—yet still speak, post, argue, and perform as if it were the real self. The danger is that this version of us is often not congruent with who we actually are.

God designed us to live as authentic selves—known, loved, and connected to Him and to others. But our relationships have been deeply disrupted by forces that seek to confuse, distort, and fracture connection. Today, technology and social media make it easy to construct false selves. Behind a screen, I can be anything I want to be.

This creates harshness between people because we are increasingly relating to avatars instead of real humans. Much of what we see online is not reality—it is a story being curated, edited, and presented. Even when photos are real, the narrative woven around them often isn’t.

When was the last time you scrolled social media and thought, “That person is being fully authentic right now”?

The concern is that we are beginning to build our lives, beliefs, and identities on versions of truth that are not real—on projected images, curated personas, and constructed narratives about people, movements, political parties, and even ourselves. The potential for coercion and manipulation in a society shaped by avatars should deeply concern us.

Interestingly, we are seeing spiritual revival on college campuses. I believe part of this is because young people are craving what is real. They are confessing, repenting, being baptized, worshiping, and becoming vulnerable with one another. Their souls are finding hope in something beyond a screen—something alive, embodied, and true.

So let me ask you:

Are you living out of an avatar?

I’ll admit that I do at times. And I don’t want to. I want to be known. I want to share my struggles and my true self. But that kind of authenticity requires another person who is also willing to step out from behind their avatar.

This is the complexity of the world we live in.

And this is part of why we are facing a mental health crisis everywhere—because the soul was never designed to live disconnected from real relationship, real presence, and real truth.