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BRAVE NEW
WORLDS
In 2021, global populations have continued to reel amid Covid-19. Learning to co-exist with a pandemic is… pretty tiring, as it turns out. We’re all desperate to move forward: both as individuals and societies. But moving out of this liminal moment in human history is easier said than done.
This year has been about renegotiating the rules of home, work and play in line with this new reality. Blended working. The Great Resignation. Vaccine passports. Broken-system sentiment. The urban exodus.
The way our societies, cultures and economies function is undergoing rapid change, and it’s driving an evolution of our relationship with digital: a re-evaluation of which aspects of life can legitimately play out online, when we need a physical lived experience, and – increasingly – where the two might overlap.
You’ve heard about the metaverse, right? It’s the next bet that businesses from Facebook to Fortnite are vying to stake their claim in. What about web3? Or blockchain? Do you know what an NFT is? Do you want to? Do you need to?
From the fringes of the internet, a wealth of new terms have become mainstays in the marketing press and mainstream media alike, rushing to alleviate the tensions of our new reality in a mid- to post-Covid world.
We’re at a tipping point, and the gold rush is in full swing.
Amid the frenzy, opportunities and scams are bubbling up in equal measure: and it’s showing no sign of slowing. As we enter into the next era of the internet, the future is uncertain. Who will build these worlds, and the systems within them could lead us into utopia or dystopia – or (most likely) a digital hinterland that straddles the two.
Either way, it’s too late to go back. We’re stepping into Brave New Worlds.

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Think Forward 2022 was informed by We Are Social's Cultural Insights team, a network of 50 analysts and strategiest globally, and supported by a survey of 3,000 people aged 18+ who use social media daily from the US, UK, France, Italy, China and Australia.
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