“America is the prophetic image of the rest of the urban-industrial world as it will be a few years from now – recent public opinion polls have revealed that an actual majority of young people in their teens, the voters of tomorrow, have no faith in democratic institutions, see no objection to the censorship of unpopular ideas, do not believe that government of the people by the people is possible and would be perfectly content, if they can continue to live in the style to which the boom has accustomed them, to be fueled, from above, by an oligarchy of assorted experts. That so many of the well-fed young television-watchers in the world’s most powerful democracy should be so completely indifferent to the idea of self-government, so blankly uninterested in freedom of thought and the right to dissent, is distressing but not too surprising.”
– Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World Revisited” (1958)
So from a young people mindset, nothing has really changed. But what HAS changed is what and how the marketeers are selling to them.
For decades, consumers were marketed to on the basis of a homogeneous lifestyle: getting everyone on the same page in terms of what type of house, car, clothing, clubs, jewelry, trips, etc. constituted living in high style, class, and sophistication. These trends were all-encompassing, i.e., at any moment in time you were either part of the societal "in-club", or you weren't. Most people wanted to be in it, as there were benefits.
Now things have splintered all over the internet, and people can easily find their siloed, circle-jerking little havens for whatever stupid thing they are into...however banal, valueless, and classless it may be. So the elites have given up. Marketeers are no longer attempting to bring societies together under universal fads or notions of societal trends and ideas of classy norms. They are instead marketing directly to these splintered sub groups by collecting their individual data. "That silly thing, service, or over-indulgence you want that nobody else around you cares about except for your little circle of internet friends? Here it is, and we're here to help you get more of it."
Some people might see this as a good thing, like some sort of liberty from societal expectations and gatekeeping. But I believe that its why young people are so confused now. On the internet they have access to every stupid, fad-driven thing or indulgence they believe that they want in life, but no longer have any societal cues, guides or signposts to show them the way to live a happy, fulfilled, classy, sophisticated lifestyle. They are completely rudderless. And their parents and grandparents have completely given up trying to guide them and have checked out.
AKA - The future is a world of depressed, broke hoarders who will live in shoe boxes and endlessly shop the internet for trinkets. Change my mind.
I see it as the tower of babel worldwide instant communication and no one really efforts to communicate much.