Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock, where he introduced the idea that too much rapid change could leave people feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and disconnected. He called it "future shock" — and honestly, reading it today feels almost eerie with how accurate he was.
Toffler believed we were moving from an industrial society to a "super-industrial" one, where everything would change faster than people could handle. The book was a huge hit at the time, selling over six million copies, but what's crazy is how much of what he talked about feels even more true in 2025. Some examples:
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Disposable culture: He predicted throwaway products, and now we have single-use plastics, fast fashion, and gadgets that feel obsolete within a year.
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Tech burnout: Toffler said technology would become outdated faster and faster. Today, if you don’t upgrade your phone or update your software, you feel left behind.
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Rent instead of own: Services like Airbnb and Uber fit his prediction that we’d move away from owning things and toward renting everything.
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Job instability: He nailed the rise of the gig economy, freelancing, and how fast-changing industries make it hard to stay trained up and secure.
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Transient relationships: He warned about shallow, fleeting social connections — something social media, dating apps, and global mobility have absolutely amplified.
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Information overload: This term literally came from Future Shock, and if you've ever felt exhausted just from scrolling through your feeds or reading the news, you know exactly what he meant.
Toffler also talked about the "death of permanence" — not just products, but relationships, jobs, even identities becoming temporary and interchangeable. He warned it would cause "shattering stress and disorientation." Looking around at the rising rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout today, it’s hard not to see what he meant.
I think about this book a lot when I read about some of the sick things happening today. Is this a warped perspective?
Very cool idea!
Tho I think people from 70s would very much still choose 2025 living over 70s. People really underestimate how much better we have now.
Especially if you take a look at the whole world outside of US bubble. You think people in Asia and Africa yearn for 70s? You think people in Easrten Europe has any fondness of Soviet occupation? Future shock is shockingly great in their eyes.
I think the more apt issue here is simply the fact that US empire is falling as this shock does not replicate everywhere so clearly it's not universal. Most places benefited greatly from information flow and imo it's a very clear net gain.
Couldn't I yearn for a time that has neither the bad points of 1970 and none of the bad points from 2025? Not everything was worse in the 1970s, and not everything was better, either.
Sure the same way I yearn for Middle Earth then.
If you take at least half of a reasonable utilitarian position then 70s don't stand a chance no matter how you look at it. Everything is literally better now except nostalgic bullshit like "housing was cheaper if I was white american" and "I couldn't doomscroll" sort of nonsense. Absolute drivel.
I don't find it too hard to indicate some things that were actually better in the 1970s:
I can make all these points without saying "1970 was better in every way than 2025". Why does it have to be all-or-nothing? Can't some things have been better then and not worse?