People feel obliged to manufacture themselves as unique individuals, free from all the inhibitions and encumbrances of the past. Authenticity is the highest good. Not only is this impossible to achieve, but it leads to a tension that is difficult for people to resolve. Our supposed obligation to be self-created individuals is at complete variance with the lives most of us actual lead.
This means we often individuate ourselves in superficial ways, eg by what we wear or the things we buy.
Tattooing caters simultaneously for the need to rebel, to belong and to be unique. Gambling – exhausted by the constant exercise of choice we indulge in mindless activities eg playing the slots in Vegas. Cf mastering a craft (non- academic, dexterity) and appreciating the practical wisdom of the past, which relieves us of the pretence that we are wholly original and self-created.
(Matthew Crawford)