Lifestyles are changing. Something new is around us. There is so much information on the web, social media, TV and chats, that it is becoming difficult to find a lifestyle trend line.
Nevertheless we are crossing a milestone period that it seems will mark something crucial in everyone's lives. New words, new interests, and new references have suddenly arisen and changed our daily attitudes and our lifestyles.
We are not talking about hi-tech toys or futuristic innovations; not strange exotic practices, nor multimillionaire dreaming accessories or travels.
We are talking about something more intimate that involves our behavior:
A new personal identity
During the last two years we have faced some particular changes:
- loss of interest in luxury toys and classic status symbols
- the progressive end of distinctions based on sex and age
- more interest for the “real” than for the “appearance”
- dramatic change of the centers of economic power from the west to the eastern side of the world
Some key-roles in human society are changing:
- senior people will influence general behaviors more than in the past
- children will have more importance in family decisions
- authenticity will be important to the value of the things
- customization will be a general request for products and services
Is it the end of the age of consumerism?
Definitively not. But there is a different expectation among people. As Erich Fromm depicted in the 1975 opera “Having or Being”, the “having is the expression of the consumeristic society while 'being' is where thinking to the future is more important than the nowadays".
Modern times have brought people to “desire to be” more than “have it”. The lifestyle values are more spiritual than materialistic. The tragedies we are hearing every day from many parts of the world have forced the majority of people to think about what they are before what they have. The division of the world between people that have more or less than others has brought fighting and troubles. The capacity to rethink a different future gives more of a chance to humanity to live better. It is a long process and here are some of the key points we will see under development over the next few years.
1.Wellness: the desire to look good and stay healthy is a main value. The respect for the self is the expression of being more balanced and respectful in front of yourself and society.
2.Authenticty: is the refusal of fakeness. Fake products, fake information, fake identity. People need to be, get, buy and know what is “real”. The fake has in the past confused society, letting it vacillate between right and wrong.
3.Digitalization that is useful and helpful: People have realized a different approach to digital devices, refusing to be addicted, but happy to adopt technology to live better, more freely and globally.
4.Customer care responsibility: People hate to be left alone after they pay for a good or service. The relationship between the brand and the customer is central and people need to feel they are at the center of the interest of the brand or the company.
5.Customization: Returns the concept that the customer must be at the center of any economic activity. And nothing is giving more satisfaction than customizing the service based on the request of the customer. Goods and services cannot offer general satisfaction because people are not the same.
6.Living together but not mixing well: There is a new concept of globalization: it means liveing together but not mixing together and losing identity. This is also a clear sense of denying any discrimination based on race, gender, age.
7.Privacy and safety: Privacy is intended as a defense of private life by any means. Safety is the right of the people to live without fear of suffering moral or physical violence and offence.
8.Aging 2.0: Older people are keeping a leading role as influencers and are a specific cluster at the center of some new marketing activity dedicated to them. Industries are focusing attention on these “senior people” with great activism, strong social attention and specific requirements.
9.East more than West: The economic growth of China and now also the renovated increasing of the young population (after second children were allowed) will move the global market to adapt part of the offer to the specific needs of the eastern people. Today China, and tomorrow Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, will invade the world, bringing a new lifestyle standard that must be satisfied. On the other side, the western world will need to develop specific professionalism to face these markets with different rules and interests.
10. Sustainability: A different consciousness is growing around the world. It is understood that we have only one Earth and we need to preserve it before it is too late.
The necessity to preserve the environment despite the growth of the richness is learnt by everybody from East to West, from North to South. This state of mind will force any part of the economy to move in this direction and people will push the economy to always be more respectful and environmentally friendly to accomplish this goal. No area will be missed in this process: food, energy, fashion, housing, and building will be subjected to the filter of sustainability.
Let's see what lifestyle will go on.
#2017 / #environment / #future / #lifestyle / #living / #new / consciousness / Sustainability / trends