Trend spotting: futurist reveals 16 forces shaping America - interview with Faith Popcorn - Interview

Entrepreneur, Dec, 1996 by Robert McGarvey

10. 99 Lives: Today's consumers are busy, busy, busy. Life in the late '90s is just plain hectic, and smart businesses find ways to make their customers' lives easier.

11. Cashing out: Employees are jumping out of conventional careers and into more fulfilling, simpler ways of life, often in the countryside.

12. Being alive: "Wellness" as a concept continues to mushroom, and healthy living is a dominant philosophy.

13. Down-aging: Nostalgia for a childhood past: "When we eat Oreos, this is down-aging," says Popcorn.

14. Vigilante consumers: The business that messes with its customers can expect to pay a price, as consumers organize boycotts and go on the attack.

15. Icon toppling: If it's big, established and traditional, it's in trouble as we join in overturning all the pillars of society.

16. SOS: "Save Our Society." A growing sense of living on an endangered planet is spawning a new environmental consciousness, new ethics and a new compassion.