The Psychology of the First Modern Revolution

We are experiencing a great revolution—the First Modern Revolution– the result of a seismic shift in individual and group psychologies that come from the development and use of social media. This revolution is unfolding across societies around the world and is driving the techno-cultural trends we see for 2011.

The really profound revolutions take place by shifting people’s worldviews, changing their expectations of how the world works and their place in it. The wealth of communication and media technologies have created a global community. Although perhaps not the Utopia many hoped for, it is clear that the days of isolation are over. I don’t care if you’re talking about global capital flows or conducting academic inquiry, to understand what’s going on, you have to get out of your own bucket, box, shoes, vantage point, ivory tower, or boardroom and look at the world from 360 degrees and appreciate it as a system.

As humans, in our quest for certainty and answers, we prefer to approach things from a linear and reductionist point of view. We value the ability to isolate things to the point where we can measure something with precision and certainty. Great things have come of this approach. It also delivers a false sense of security because, just like in a family, very little happens that doesn’t affect the rest of the system.

A good example is the integration of technology into society. We interact with technology at every level of life, from the profound to the mundane. Without it, much of what we can do today wouldn’t be possible. Without us, however, there would be no technology. We act as if that’s not the case, when we’re looking for answers to what troubles us. While we generally have no problem taking credit when things go right, we’re always looking to offload problems. The fact that we blame technology is just one of the ways that it has shifted our world view.

I am talking about trends in technology that have impact at a cultural or social psychological level. For a great article on social media technology trends for 2011, see Ravit Lichtenstein’s. 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011