Young people shape the future. Well, well. If that’s true we have some interesting predictions for you. No more social networks, enter the capitalistic resistance and the return of the we generation. Fasten your seatbelts, this is what experts see as the trends of 2010 in terms of youth.

The end of social network sites?

Some predict that social network sites like Facebook and Twitter have reach their heights and their popularity can only go downhill from now on. Trendwatching bureau Trendwolves observe that young people are saying goodbye because they are aware of their addiction and the dominant place these applications take in their lives. The overload of information has become too much for them and they decide to close their account, although mostly temporarily, because they have a strong feeling they lost control over their lives. They go into “e-holiday”. Some as the result of an emotional event, like an ugly break-up and the need to be left alone for a while. Defriending, the major trend of last year, was already alluding on this trend for more control and conscious usage.

Another argument that’s being throw into the discussion is that young people want to get back to the tangible, tactile dimension of life as a way of labeling themselves. Although a lot of people still download music, you can see a rise in the sales of vinyl. A way for music lovers to distinguish themselves from the rest.

I thinks these are two correct observations, but we’ll need to put this all into perspective, because the supportive strenght and the feeling of being connected with the world, that is a key feature of social network sites, are being underestimated here. People won’t cut cords that easily, or it’s just to drawn attention (and that’s using social network sites, not saying goodbye to it).

Capitalism as resistance

You remember all the zombie walks in the streets last year? Young people decided to team up through the internet sphere and meet at a certain place and time for a surprise manifestation to reclaim public space. Last year’s trend definitly was flash mobbing. These little acts of resistance are far away from the student riots and protests of may ’68. And they are about to become even smaller.

Graham Brown points to carrot mobbing as the new form as activism. Young people go to shops, bars and restaurants that support causes they strongly believe in. That way they hope to come to a responsible economy and a better world. Or as they put it so nicely: “Carrotmob is a network of consumers who buys products in order to reward businesses who are making the most socially responsible decisions.” The action is no longer boycotting, but encouraging.



This development ressonates very strongly with the world, and I notice a lot of young people around me relate to it too, because for many it has become clear that they are not able to overthrow capitalism, even with its breakdown now, with a (social) revolution. Resistance from the inside is the only option, by manipulating and using the drives of capitalism in our own advantages to come to another, and hopefully righter, world.

Express yourself 3.0, from me to we

The usage of video technology is still being seen as een important instrument for young people to express themselves. It’s being predicted that young people will still turn to this instrument to make themselves hear in the world and will keep using it as a way of labeling themselves. Young people are the leading distributor of this technology.

An important change of emphasis is being noticed by Trendwolves. In 2010 young people “are what they share”. Totally in line with the mental shift from a materialistic to a more experience valuated culture. Not what you own, but what you share with others will be important. The recent phenomenon of swap parties, where girls meet up to trade cloths, are considered to be a good example of this trend in the offline world. Also sharing skills is becoming more meaningful. Check out all the how-to videos on YouTube or guiding sites like TicTacDo.

Youngsters are again finding pleasure in this sense of community. While they used to play and work on their computer by themselves, they’re inviting friends for some “table surfing” in search of “we-scapism”.

Although I thinks there are some valuable arguments in the statements above – sharing will be very important element in identity construction - I think the conclusion is based too much on the old paradigm that technology alienates youngsters from each other, while since the advent of the internet youngsters have always used the web to be in contact with each other, so not necessarily leading to more individualism.

We’ll have to wait till next year to see if all these big and small assumptions will become true. There’s only one thing we can be sure of, and that’s the sheer invention all young people share.