Technology isn’t the future, Marty McFly.

We have been waiting anxiously for this day to welcome Marty McFly But why do we only think about technology when we think about the future?

by Ellen Anthoni, trend researcher @Trendwolves

Probably Marty won’t be disappointed when arriving. He could wear holograms, experience 3D porn, he could pay with a fingerprint, facetime with colleagues, answer calls with google glasses, get his coffee delivered by a drone, and dream about AeroMobil’s flying car. So we guess he wouldn’t mind lacing his shoes.

But we do worry for Marty. Because director Robert Zemeckis missed out on one thing when portraying the future: the internet. This global system of interconnected networks that shapes our lives in terms of communication, learning, collaboration, work, travel, opinion making and much much more.

Will Marty be able to cope with the constant stream of information? How will he react to the raw view on the world the internet sheds a light on? Shall he survive the look-and-compare culture on social media? How will he feel about the increased complexity and uncertainty of todays world?

We all like fantasizing about future technology. But it is damn hard to imagine how it will shape society and culture. That’s what future is about. How will people react to changes? How will they think? How will they adapt? So it isn’t about technology. Well, it ain’t only about technology.

Trendwolves is a European Trend and Marketing agency based in Ghent, Belgium. We specialise in youth culture, and Marty McFly came out of our 3D printer today. Contact us if you want more. We’re wolves, but we don’t bite :-)