Next: A Vision of Our Lives in the Future. Marian Salzman
to adopt children will be among those who co-parent. Retirees will serve a greater role in the lives of young children, not just as caretakers for their own grandchildren, but – on a paid or unpaid basis – as surrogate grandparents and field-trip organizers for kids whose own relatives live too far away.
Experience Collection As excesses are increasingly recognized as such, expect people to place greater emphasis on acquiring (and giving) experiences rather than things. Diamonds may well be forever, but they don’t have the conversational value of an African safari. Dinner at a favourite restaurant, day spa treatments and even movie rentals will become increasingly common ‘gifts’ – replacing a host of unwanted ‘things’.
VRTV Virtual reality headsets will let viewers ‘walk through’ TV shows.
Pop & Pulp Providing a brief respite from info overload, enormous value will be placed on activities that allow one to temporarily switch the brain to ‘off’, such as sports, simple TV programmes and comics – anything that doesn’t require deep thought.
Healthy Cults New tribes of kindred spirits (e.g., parents who home-school, organic gardeners, mothers who perform community service, upwardly mobile professionals who bowl) will become the healthy cults of the twenty-first century. Cataloguing these hyperlocal associations will allow marketers to target such groups with products and pitches designed especially for them.
Easing Up As the true costs of stress (physical, financial and emotional) become more commonly known, look for companies to monitor and attempt to reduce the stress levels of employees. We’ll see everything from on-site aromatherapy centres and healthful cooking classes to all-expenses-paid, company-planned vacations.
Surroundings
Rebirth of the Big City We’ll see a backlash against country living as word gets out that the rural lifestyle is actually less healthy than living in metropolitan areas – this is already true in the UK. Telecommuters especially will stay in or return to the cities in an effort to retain a sense of connectedness to the world at large.
Members Only Parents concerned about their children’s safety will buy memberships in local ‘safe havens’ for kids. Look for an increase in members-only beaches and parks, zoo groups and museum clubs. Small neighbourhood parks will increasingly require electronic-passcard entrance.
Appliances Smarter than You Intelligent refrigerators will track consumption of staples, printing a shopping list on demand or transmitting it electronically to a home-delivery service; smart stoves will ‘know’ how you like your eggs; ‘energy management systems’ will supervise the activity of major home appliances, enabling homeowners to take advantage of off-peak pricing.
Wide World of Walls Intelligent fabrics, including wallpapers, will turn every flat surface into an art gallery one moment, a TV/computer screen the next. Virtual aquariums or scenic vistas on flat screens will add interest to the family room wall.
High-tech Homes We will control lights, phones, curtains, alarms, media unit, climate, etc. with the touch of a button – and we’ll soon take it all for granted.
Custom Living Home builders will see an increase in requests for ‘special purpose’ rooms, from sewing rooms and hobby shops to wine cellars and prayer rooms.
Tea Parlours Hot and cold, caffeine-laden and herbal, medicinal and simply comforting, tea will stake its claim as the all-purpose beverage of the millennium. Tea parlours will challenge coffeehouse culture.
Services
Nutrition on wheels Companies will deliver an assortment of nutritious frozen meals to busy households once a week. Meal trucks will circle through neighbourhoods at dinnertime each day to offer a selection of entrées and extras.
Community PAs Harried homeowners will pool resources to hire community personal assistants to do the things they no longer have time to do for themselves (e.g., dry cleaning drop-off/pick up, grocery shopping, pool maintenance, ‘handyman’ repairs).
Mail-order Genetics With the rise in infertility and with more older couples wanting to have children, mail-order catalogues will provide details about egg and sperm donors, allowing prospective parents to shop for genetics in the comfort of their homes.
It-ain’t-my-fault Insurance Look for insurance policies that cover the cost of divorce and others that protect parents from financial responsibilities caused by their children’s misbehaviour.
Media Menus Not satisfied with over a hundred cable channels and pay-per-view options? Look for on-demand movies and TV episodes, downloadable via your computer or PC/TV.
Friendship Finders Computer-generated friendship circles will identify those around the world with whom you have the most in common. On the face2face level, paid agents will unite people interested in forming friendships with other like-minded individuals.
Four-legged Security In our increasingly security-conscious world, we’ll see the growth of a rental market for trained dogs: bomb-sniffing attack dogs patrolling corporations, guard dogs for homeowners on vacation, ‘security’ dogs for people jogging alone or working late at night, etc.
Holiday-in-a-box Busy families will turn to ‘packaged’ holidays and other celebrations to cut down on stress. Even middle-class consumers will hire entrepreneurs to decorate their homes for Christmas, using either the customer’s decorations or rental adornments from the company. Expect to see an increase also in packaged holiday meals, either delivered to the door or picked up at high-class hotels, restaurants or supermarkets.
‘My’ Big Brother Soon after mourning the loss of their personal privacy, consumers will begin using Big Brother’s arsenal to their advantage. After all, he is part of the family. Net-based private eyes will be employed to check up on the criminal, financial background and medical records, etc. of a potential mate or employee; satellite technology will enable anyone to purchase a photo of a celebrity wedding, a competitor’s top-secret facility or a spouse’s indiscretions. Parents of young children will insist on having visual access to their little darlings at daycare, and parents of latchkey kids may extend camera-surveillance systems to their own homes.
Automatic Gift Transmission A growing number of companies (e.g., florists, wine merchants, speciality food stores) will offer personal shopping – in advance. Customers will fill out a form at the beginning of each year, indicating what should be sent to whom. The process will be carried out automatically at the appropriate times, with shipments billed to your credit card as they’re sent out.
Digital Signatures Unique to the individual, digital signatures will be as important in the coming decade as PIN numbers are today.
Dial-a-geek The increase in home offices will escalate demand for on-site emergency computer diagnostics and repair.
Gene Screen We can expect an increase in genetic discrimination, as dates, job applicants and club members are screened by intellectual aptitude.
Triple Play Daycare and elder-care initiatives will increasingly bring together three groups currently in need of companionship: children, the elderly and pets.
Personal Shoppers Migrating from department stores to supermarkets, personal shoppers will be retained by busy consumers to plan a week’s worth of meals and deliver the necessary combination of raw ingredients, frozen foods and prepared meals. Menus will be tailored to family food preferences, dietary needs, lifestyle and weekly schedules.
Gadgets and Gizmos
Sleep Channels Sleeping machines will be used either to produce restful sleep or provoke intense dreams. In development: