I do agree that the Internet will hopefully alleviate some of the power the major media companies have over trends. The beauty of the Internet lies in the fact that it is an active medium, instead of a passive one like the media of ‘yore’. You search for what you want. It is very individualistic. However, with that, advertisers are starting to clue in on how to take advantage of the ‘activeness’. The Internet is not immune, although one could hope it provides an avenue to awareness for some.

I’m reminded of a song by Blur, with the lyrics ‘..we wear the same clothes because we feels the same’ – because doing so helps us to feel included in something .. part of the pack.

Now that geographic boundaries are becoming less pronounced (and are loosing their original function) society is become more tribal, and perhaps feudal. I agree with what I thought your article was suggesting – it does seems to be that individualism is becoming less sort after.

Increasingly so, I can’t see a favourable top down world view that’s worth believing in – and I think this is true for many people. Our ideologies have to be appropriated from elsewhere – and when we have free choice (as opposed to a dogmatic & prescribed world-view) maybe we are all sometimes guilty of erring on the side of caution by following.

The individual experience of childhood, is lost to the strong desire to ‘fit in’ during teenage years – and I think that McLuhan (okay, groan) was right when he suggested that this is what’s happening with recent society. Being ‘with it’ means accepting and following. Marketers have just realised that our desire to be ‘with it’ is strong and monopolise on this – and because connotation-as-a-device is so potent (and most marketers don’t see themselves as artists), original meaning can be seen as irrelevant..

The idea of society itself being in a teenage state makes some sense to me. Childhood seems to be getting shorter, but the teenage wilderness years seem to be starting earlier (tweens) and ending later (pressures to get married and have children before 30 aren’t so prominent – we’re living longer, etc).

What I’m interested in, is what’s next – if society is still in it’s ‘teenage years’, what will the ‘grown up’ years be like? Are we destined to sheepism for ever? Has it always been like this?