By Maysam Najjar
The last decade has brought with it unprecedented change and technological development, the effects of which are still not yet fully understood. The commitment to constant improvement, convenience and hedonistic pursuits has seen the world around us changing rapidly, but this is not without consequence.
Below are the top five current cultural phenomenons that will become increasingly important to pay attention to in 2025.
No.1: Individualism
In a world that is uncertain and where people’s beliefs and opinions are widely polarising, it becomes easier for individuals to keep to themselves. The era of COVID greatly changed the way that people exist within their space and led people to learn how to live independently and comfortably, with a rise in WFH and remote jobs and lifestyles built around isolation.
The ease and accessibility of goods and services means that you don’t even have to leave your house, with limitless forms of online shopping and delivery services available for almost everything. Those with the means can make their individual livelihood comfortable and stimulating, removing the need or even desire to participate in society.
For those without assets or suitable income, this will be considerably more difficult. As a result, those with privilege can opt to be uninvolved in the world around them, whereas those who are adversely affected will be unable to opt out.
No.2: Consumerism and consumption
The consumption economy gives individuals the tools to improve their quality of life, but has disastrous effects on dopamine regulation, environmental sustainability, and allows for harsh working conditions and exploitation of labour, especially in third-world countries. And it doesn’t end with material consumption of goods and services.
Content consumption is highly unregulated and has the capacity for both personal and social harm. The time we spend on devices and social media is directly correlated to our decreasing attention span and negative consumption habits.
The nature of advertising is constantly adjusting and updating according to user patterns and behaviours as well as evolving research in the areas of psychology and marketing.
It’s becoming more difficult to detect and is inextricable from the world of influencers and content creation. Even those who don’t seem like they’re selling anything outright are often gearing you towards it.
The algorithm bombards you with information, content and advertising, but regardless of the extent of media literacy you have, no one is immune to the effects of persuasion and distraction. Popular commentator on TikTok Hank Green said in a video on what he describes as an “attention oligarchy”, that we like to believe the timeline is curated by us; but it is in fact curating us. It can adjust ways of thinking and push opinions and ideas that are absorbed by our consciousness so implicitly that it’s almost unnoticeable, leaving us vulnerable to the whims of these corporations.
To escape the cycle of consumption, one must stay intentional about the information, content and goods and services that we are consuming to avoid giving away our attention.
No.3: Social Media
In light of the TikTok ban and its hasty reinstatement in the US, it has become clear the role that these platforms play in pushing ideas, political content and news reporting, as well as the capacity for these platforms to unite people from a variety of political leanings and for the organisation of protests and rallying.
The reporting on Gaza and October 7 revealed this to a large extent; for the first time in the history of this conflict, almost every person became aware of the situation, and were able to receive live updates from within the situation. The democratisation of media reporting and independent documentation and media coverage challenged the previous information monopoly on the stories and history of Palestinians.
Governments and corporations are aware of the efficacy of using social media to persuade or influence the public opinion and so aim to work alongside these major platforms.
Mark Zuckerberg last year took part in an interview with Joe Rogan to express opinions that seem to reveal a desire to work alongside major politicians, and to insert himself into the current cultural movement. Elon Musk is also notoriously involved with Donald Trump.
Trump’s attempts to control TikTok by seeking a joint venture between TikTok’s current China-based parent company, ByteDance, and a new American owner brings further attention to the significance of these platforms in the public discourse.
As the global political situation continues to unravel, the role social media plays in the provision of news and information cannot be ignored.
No.4: Technological Advancements and AI
The convergence of artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, and technology is something that has been hailed as the pinnacle of progress, but the rate of technological advancement over the past decade has been extraordinarily rapid, and the natural consequence of progress is the ambition to take it even further.
In the past three years AI ownership has skyrocketed. Big tech companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon are heavily investing in the technology. Many countries are also working on increasing their ownership.
Trump has invested billions of dollars in AI companies, and overturned Joe Biden’s order from 2023 to implement guardrails and safety standards to mitigate potential risks of AI to national security and economic wellbeing.
The US is competing with China for the spot as the global leader in AI. Placing the priority on advancement and progress may explain the lack of regard for individual safety.
This will have implications globally, and those who are quick to accommodate and incentivise these changes will emerge from the AI arms race with a geopolitical advantage. Governments and leaders around the world will consider their own authority and influence in the field to keep up with the rate of progress, and those who may have been cautious might forgo safety concerns to secure a spot on the leadership board.
The widespread use of sites like ChatGPT means that many people are unknowingly training these systems and allowing them to collect data that will be central to their proliferation, which will be easier to accept as we grow desensitised to it. Outsourcing our “thinking” to a machine which relies on an external automated intelligence will only weaken our capacity to engage in critical thought. As well as this, autonomous machines cannot fully take into account the human aspects of labour and critical reasoning and so relying on them to do so comes with high risk.
These systems also carry risks around cybersecurity and may be a target for hackers or others with nefarious intent who could easily exploit these systems to our detriment. The more we engage with these AI tools, the more data and information the systems will have learned about our cognition and experiences.
No.5: Accessibility of pornography and ‘gooning’ content being pushed by the algorithm
Pornography desensitises viewers to the brutalisation and suffering of women and severely damages empathic capacity. It’s a billion-dollar industry grounded upon the exploitation of women and girls – by trafficking, trading and selling them – and builds a system that actively degrades and objectifies women.
Widespread use of pornography has been very clearly associated with increased rates of domestic violence, gender-based violence, sexual assault and femicide, and has serious material ramifications.
The current ease and accessibility of pornography is made worse by social media algorithms actively pushing content that is both implicit and explicit in their intent. Feeds are saturated with sexual or one-dimensional depictions of women, especially if the algorithm detects that you are in the demographic that might eventually be interested in this content.
Ultimately, it markets a fabricated perception of women to an audience of consumers. This learned perception has material consequences over time, including on public policy and legislation.
The proliferation of AI technology will speed up this process, and further contributes to this warped perception of sex, love and relationships.
By design, this contributes to the bastardisation of women. In Japan, the rise of apps and sites that use this technology to simulate real relationships has seen declining birth rates and mass social isolation. These tools work to accommodate their perception of women rather than challenge it and could present serious issues for policymaking.
Long-term exposure to pornography will lead to less satisfying relationships and a desensitisation to violent imagery, and this combination perpetuates the cycle of hatred and resentment. These strong emotions have the capacity to unite people according to their shared worldview, and this could very easily be manipulated for financial or political gain.
Many major players have recognised this and capitalise on this perception of women by redirecting it to suit an agenda. This worldview can be manipulated to garner support for regressive legislation and public policy, or at least make it easier to accept.
Featured image: The cogs of commerce are grinding people down. Photo: Charlie AJA/iStock by Getty Images