LIFESTYLE, GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES and BELIEF.

Let’s unpack the observation held by most older adults that the younger generation is overly focused on lifestyle. There is a reason for that and perhaps an element of truth. How fast do we want our societies to change? If they change too fast and lose continuity with the previous generation, will society decay?

Lifestyle (L) is recognized to be a mix of Attitude (A) and Belief (B). L = A + B.  For L to stay the same, both A and B can change but they need to change relative to one another. So, A+ and B-1 keeps us at the same L. 

Something interesting has happened in the US over the past 30 years.  US attention spans have decreased. That is not surprising to any of you.  But as attention spans decreased, belief increased. This is not belief as in religion, but belief in the materials, posts, news, etc. that exist around you. You were barraged with so much information that you have no choice but to believe more. But those included new beliefs that previous generations did not need to consider. Do I believe LinkedIn posts?  

Our lifestyle is not lost because we can increase B and still maintain our lifestyle by adjusting A. If B increases can we reduce A so that L stays the same?  Now reducing A does pose a problem in that we need to make people feel worse and at some point, we’ll likely induce suicide. Not a good plan. Let’s decide to not let A drop too low and that instead we will just live with L increasing. Lifestyle will change.

Older adults will have one lifestyle L1 and younger adults will have a second, L2. It is the difference in L1 and L2 that becomes substantial enough to define another generation.

L = A + B.  We can do a lot by playing with Attitude and Belief. What can I make you believe?  That the world is flat? That an electric vehicle (EV) is better than an internal combustion engine (ICE)? And if we do it when you are in a good mood (high Attitude), we can induce a substantial enough Belief change into the market that we create a new Lifestyle that defines a new generation.

Speaking of creating a lifestyle that defines a generation, this month, Veriphix’s Belief3 Russian Index has data to help Western companies plan for reintroduction of products and services once the war ends. For the next 3 weeks, we will be looking at the Russian market to get a better appreciation for what is really in the mind of the Russian population and what they want for their future.