a critique on the logic behind post-modernity

“Has anyone ever advised you to ‘be yourself’?”
I said I’d heard that a lot.
“What does it mean to be yourself?” he asked. “If it
means to do what you think you ought to do, then you’re
doing that already. If it means to act like you’re exempt
from society’s influence, that’s the worst advice in the
world;

from the book God Debris, by Scott Adams

i disagree with this sentiment, though not entirely. society's influence can be both a good and a bad thing. if society's influence stops someone from publicly beating a child, then it would be bad not to follow it. but if society's influence tells you to follow the crowd, and not think for yourself, or do diet so severly it efffects your health, or be fixated only with material goods, and you choose not to follow that influence, that would be a good thing.

I think, like everything, there is good and bad in society's influence, much like religions', i think its important to discern what the 'good' aspects of those are (im talking universal goods, for everyone (or as most people as possible) and to follow those accordingly.