Future Shock
Two years after the book was published a documentary was produced, featuring Orson Wells as its narrator. In the beginning of the documentary he states: “Future Shock is a sickness that comes from too much change in too short a time. It’s the feeling that nothing is permanent anymore. It’s the reaction to changes that happen so fast that we cannot absorb them. It’s the premature arrival of the future.“
Toffler draws an interesting parallel with ‘culture shock‘: “the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within an entirely different culture or social environment”. But he states that ‘future shock’ is even worse than that: “[Future Shock] arises from the superimposition of a new culture on an old one. It is culture shock in one’s own society.” In contrast with ‘culture shock’ where the individual can always return to his own country and his own culture, ‘future shock’ is inescapable. Moreover, it happens not just to an individual it happens to an entire society.
Interestingly, Toffler wrote his book, just after the ‘cultural’ revolution of the sixties. And although his definition is based on the rapid rate of technological change, the implications he mentions are all cultural. Which begs the question: were these changes caused by technology at all?
Increased rate of change: opt-in or opt-out?
I do think, that since that time, the rate of change has increased even more. The impact of the world wide web on changes in society couldn’t even have been foreseen then. The interdependent world that has emerged since, further increases the effect of technological innovations. But the question is whether we are or aren’t able to deal with these changes as a society.
An interesting dynamic then occurs, where there’s a tension between those people who ‘opt out’ and those who ‘opt in’. True, some people can not deal with the speed of change in society. They feel overwhelmed by the information that is bombarded at them. And yes, as Toffler describes, it leads to increased levels of stress for them. Stephen Carver, has illustrated these effects of what he calls ‘analysis paralysis’ extensively.
But there are a lot of people that are opting-in. Because they are forced by their peers, because the want to, or simply because they don’t know better. In the documentary, lies the answer, when the question is posed, whether a generation that is being born in such a time of change can adapt to it. The answer is yes. If you don’t know any better, your brain will simply adapt to the situation and find ways to deal with the clutter of information. Once again we see this today, with a new generation (often referred to as Digital Natives), that doesn’t seem to have any trouble with multiple identities, information overload or endless choice.
Future Shocked
So is it always the generation that precedes that has difficulty with change? At least that seems to be a very natural thing, and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with technological advancement. It is indeed a cultural phenomenon.
Do I feel I suffer from the symptoms of ‘future shock’? Not really, I was raised in that time of change and learned to deal with it. But that doesn’t mean I will never suffer from it. I see a generation of my parents, that were or are future shocked. And probably, as technology can’t be stopped and progresses faster and faster, there might come a time, when I feel future shocked as well. In my opinion that makes ‘future shock’ an individual experience, or maybe a generational experience. But not a societal one.
How about you? Are you future shocked?
The documentary on YouTube: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.
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I, personally feel futureshocked by the MSN culture. For sure I can use the application, but I feel already feel out of place in just a single msn conversation. Thank god there is Skype to make ‘real’ contact.
But I have another question: is it also possible that you suffer the fact that the pace of change is not fast enough? (I was just thinking of that because I’ve been looking for a new mobile phone and still can not find the perfect device, while all the technology that has been around for years in seperate devices).
Be interesting to ask some digital natives about this.
Maybe such a thing is possible. However, that has much more to do with technological advances, not as much with changes in culture or lifestyle. Toffler talks more about this phenomenon in that sense, So the question would then be: can it be that society thinks technological progress happens too slow? Maybe for a specific generation that could hold true. Maybe the digital natives suffer from that…