Every year, planners at Y&R share a roundup of today’s most interesting trends and their inherent tension. This year’s North American Trends with Tension report takes on an array of topics from big data to PC culture to food fetishization.

1. TRENDS
WITH
TENSION
TRENDS
WITH
TENSION
NORTH AMERICA 2016

2. 1. LIVING ALGORITHMS / ENGINEERING RANDOM
2. FOOD FOR FOLLOWERS / FOOD AS FUEL
3. VISUALS TO ENHANCE / VISUALS TO REPLACE
4. OVERLY PC / OVER PC
5. DATA DEFINES / DATA DISTRACTS
6. WINNING THE DATING GAME / STRIKING OUT MONOGAMY
7. LOSING OUR RELIGION / BOUND BY RELIGION
8. CHAINED TO “LIKES” / REJECTION OF “LIKES”
9. AGELESS / AGEIST
10. POLLS DOMINATE / POLLS DESTROY
SAID
OBSERVED
SEARCH IT
CRUNCHED
TRENDS WITH TENSIONY&R PLANNING
Every year, the planners at Y&R
share insights about how the world
around us is changing. However,
reality is never black and white.
At a macro level, every behavior,
observation and perspective has
an inherent tension. Every trend
has a countertrend.
Alex Burke | Elizabeth Chabot | Divya Darsi | Rachel Freudenstein
Alison Geraghty | Clare Hines | Gustavo Quintero

3. WE ARE INCREASINGLY AWARE AND DESPERATE
TO BREAK OUT OF THE ALGORITHMS THAT
INFORM MOST OF OUR DECISIONS.
In reaction to an increasingly algorithmic world, there’s a
desire for a dose of the randomness that we seem to have
lost. Random (the app) serves people things they’d never have
known to search for on Google. UberPool has found itself the
benefactor of unexpected meet-cutes, which is reason enough
for some singles to use the car service. Ironically, if we
want randomness, we have to plan for it.
THE HYPER PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATION ENGINES
THAT DICTATE OUR CONSUMPTION HABITS ARE BLEEDING
INTO OUR PERSONAL LIVES.
We can receive a recommendation for a group of friends who match
our current friends for a night out, or for a person to date based on
how many Internet friends we have in common. The hyper-personalized
recommendations we’ve come to expect from Netflix and Amazon
are now shaping our IRL interactions.
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES – DELIVERED
FROM NATUREBOX BASED ON WHAT WE PREVIOUSLY
ATE, WHAT OUR FACEBOOK PALS GAVE FIVE STARS
TO AND WHAT HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY PEOPLE WHO
HAVE SIMILAR COOKIES (NOT THE EDIBLE KIND). AS
WHAT WE SEE BECOMES INCREASINGLY TAILORED
BASED ON OUR PAST BEHAVIOR, PREFERENCES AND
SOCIAL GRAPH, WE SEE MORE AND MORE OF WHAT
WE ALREADY LIKE AND LESS OF WHAT WE HAVE YET
TO DISCOVER.
LIVING
ALGORITHMS
ENGINEERING
RANDOM

4. The Whole Glory Project allowed people
to be tattooed by Scott Campbell for
free – the catch: you have no say in
what he tattoos.
CRUISING THE CARPOOL
“It’s about gambling and meeting random
people and seeing what we can offer
each other.”
– Mack Weldon, who uses UberPool’s ride-sharing
service to network
73% of millennials hoped to take
a spontaneous trip in 2015.
– Study by Priceline on Mashable, 2015
SQUAD APP
Facebook purposefully altered
the mood of 700,000 people using
positive/negative posts.
– TIME, 2014
“The best way to get to know somebody
is by looking at what kind of shows
Netflix recommends for them.”
– @Abunny31
The Murdoch App, developed at
TechCrunch’s London Hackathon, listens
to your instant messenger conversations
and offers recommendations for things
you haven’t asked for.
ENGINEERING
RANDOM
LIVING
ALGORITHMS

5. COUNTERING THE TREND OF FOOD FOR FUN AND
EXPERIENCE, SOME HAVE BEGUN TO TREAT FOOD
AS FUEL, AND THE BODY AS A MACHINE.
We’ve always looked to food to improve health, but now
the practice has become a science, with many nutritionists
recommending a healthy diet over traditional medicine.
Some are taking this to the next level by omitting food
altogether. We’ve graduated from juice cleanses to an even
more austere approach to nutrition. With the development
of products like Soylent, some of us are wondering,
who needs food when you have pure fuel?
WITH THE HELP OF INSTAGRAM AND FOOD-BLOGGING
CELEBRITIES, FOOD HAS BECOME A SIGNIFIER OF SOCIAL
STATUS.
We now share our food habits as a sign of education, income and
cultural savvy. The more hidden the restaurant, the rarer the ingredients,
or the longer the line to get in, the more likes and followers we gain.
This phenomenon fills our social feeds, with thousands of accounts
dedicated to creating food envy. Food has become a new social currency.
WE’VE ALWAYS LOVED TO EAT, BUT TODAY’S
CULTURE HAS REACHED NEW HEIGHTS OF FOOD
FETISHIZATION. A BUILDING TENSION EXISTS
BETWEEN MEALS SHARED FOR SOCIAL STATUS,
AND MEALS CONSUMED FOR PURE UTILITY.
FOOD AS
FUEL
FOOD FOR
FOLLOWERS

6. FOOD AS
FUEL
FOOD FOR
FOLLOWERS
JOYLENT
There are 1,171 books on Amazon with
“food” and “medicine” in the title.
– Amazon, 2016
“You need amino acids and lipids,
not milk itself. You need carbohydrates,
not bread.”
– Rob Rhinehart, Soylent CEO
Many dermatologists recommend
diet changes over skin care products.
Renowned dermatologist Nicholas
Perricone believes inflammation in the
body is behind every skin issue – and
the only way to change that is your diet.
– Refinery 29, 2016
#GIRLSWITHGLUTEN
There are over 77MM photos on
Instagram hashtagged #foodporn.
– Instagram, 2016
“You are demonstrating that you have
the luxury to be very, very deliberate
about something that a lot of people
really struggle to have.”
– Joe Pinsker, The Atlantic, 2015
Muk-bang is a South Korean
phenomenon also known as
gastronomic voyeurism, in which
someone sits alone at home and
eats copious amounts of food while
live-streaming it to their followers.

7. OUR USE OF VISUALS RATHER THAN FORMAL LANGUAGE
IS RENDERING US SPEECHLESS.
Little effort is required to send a quick string of emojis. It’s so easy that
when forced to return to the ancient art of words on paper or verbal
communication, we’re left scrambling, struggling to find the words to
express ourselves. Beyond effort, visuals are a far less precise way
of communicating. Visuals out of context are easily misconstrued.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but those thousand
words are different to every person viewing the image.
VISUALS TO
REPLACE
VISUAL TOOLS OPEN THE LINES FOR NATURAL,
EXPRESSIVE AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATION.
Emojis and GIFs are ubiquitous and have allowed us to
convey tone and mood more easily. Images can be used
consecutively to tell a story, or a single visual can express
a universal emotion. Whether it’s a clapping emoji to signify
congratulations or a fist-pumping baby (you know the one)
to express satisfaction, visuals express our true feelings
more accurately than words.
VISUALS TO
ENHANCE
EMOJIS, GIFS,
MEMES...OUR
PALETTE FOR VISUAL
COMMUNICATION IS
GREATER THAN EVER
BEFORE. BUT IS THIS
IMPROVING OUR
COMMUNICATION OR
HINDERING IT?

8. VISUALS TO
REPLACE
VISUALS TO
ENHANCE
EMOJINAL INTELLIGENCE
Three-quarters of younger
millennials said that they find
it easier to express emotions
via emojis rather than words.
– Bangor University, 2015
“We don’t have time for words because
they’re not fast enough, nor are they
descriptive enough about the things
we want to convey.”
– Adam Leibsohn, COO of GIPHY
Studies show that emojis trigger
the same part of the brain (the
occipitotemporal cortex) as face-to-face
interaction.
– “Emoticons In Mind,”
Social Neuroscience Journal, 2014
EMOJIFICATION
46% of consumers believe that an
image alone is not enough – you
need words to truly express yourself.
– Iconoculture, Trends Report 2016
“It has been occurring to me more
and more while trying to articulate
myself that I’m having a difficult time
saying what I want to say, and I think
it might be the fault of my use of
emojis and umbrella words...So many
misrepresented and falsely articulated
emotions.”
– Leandra Medine/The Man Repeller
The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the
Year in 2015 was not a word at all – it
was “Tears of Joy,” the most used emoji.

9.
DIEHARD PROPONENTS OF FREE SPEECH
BELIEVE YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO
SAY ANYTHING. FORGET POLITICAL
CORRECTNESS – THIS IS RADICAL
SELF-EXPRESSION.
Any time there is a call for PC sensitivity, there is a
response of radical self-expression. This extremist
rhetoric dominates pockets of the media and
is met by waves of nodding heads, as if to say,
“Finally, someone who tells it like it is.” As America
becomes more diverse, and we are forced
to confront different viewpoints, the frustrated
public demands its right to free speech,
flirting with bigotry in the process.
WHEN LIVING IN A HYPER-PC CULTURE, THE GOLDEN
RULE IS: IF YOU CAN’T SAY THE RIGHT THING, DON’T
SAY ANYTHING AT ALL.
We are entitled to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Today
we use this freedom to denounce anything or anyone associated with
racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other form of intolerance. There is
no such thing as a harmless joke or “boys will be boys.” It’s no longer
up for discussion; we’re drawing a thick line in the sand, admonishing
intolerance of any kind. If you offend the rules of political correctness,
prepare for retaliation.
INSTANT COMMUNICATION EXPOSES
US TO NEW IDEAS AND PERSPECTIVES,
BUT WHEN EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION
AND A PLATFORM ON WHICH TO SHARE
IT, EVERYONE ALSO HAS A RIGHT TO BE
OFFENDED. A FUNDAMENTAL DEBATE AS TO
WHAT SHOULD QUALIFY AS “FREE SPEECH”
IS UNDERWAY, AND TWO EXTREMES
ARE EMERGING.
OVER PCOVERLY PC

10. OVER PCOVERLY PC
STARBUCKS CHRISTMAS CUPS
67% of Americans think people should
be able to say offensive things about
minority groups publicly.
– Pew, 2015
“Identity politics allow people to claim
the moral high ground from a precious
position of victimhood, whether they’re
the offending party or the offended
one. We need a return to a culture that
prioritizes the politics of ideas over the
politics of identity and biology.”
– Daily Beast, 2015
Donald Trump’s call for an all out
ban on Muslims sent even the “fair”
media outlets in a tizzy, calling him a
bigot at best, and at worst, “The New
Fuhrer.” But other media professionals
and politicians were not so quick to
denounce his statement – maybe
because they knew how many
Americans were nodding their heads
at his ability to say out loud what
others are silently thinking.
YOU PC, BRO?!
40% of millennials are okay
with limiting free speech which
is offensive to minorities.
– Pew, 2015
“To ask marginalized students to throw
away their enjoyment of a holiday, in
order to expend emotional, mental,
and physical energy to explain why
something is offensive, is – offensive.”
– A letter from “concerned Yale students” to
Associate Master Erika Christakis
Led by the Black Justice League, 200
Princeton students walked to call for
the removal of the Woodrow Wilson
Building in protest of the president’s
racism. This is part of a larger trend of
students speaking out against historical
figures’ pasts of intolerance.

11. WHEN DATA DETERMINES
HOW EVERYTHING IS DONE,
ONE MISSTEP CAN RESULT IN
HORRIBLE OUTCOMES.
Corporations today are increasingly
dependent on algorithms to aid in a variety
of tasks. However, if businesses don’t
always consider the effects of the results,
unintended consequences can arise such
as damaging the brand, offending their
customers or terrifying data breaches.
BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS HAVE
COME TO DEPEND ON DATA TO MAKE
BETTER INFORMED DECISIONS AND
ENHANCE HOW WE LIVE.
Forget gazing into the crystal ball to tell us what
people care about, that’s what data is enabling for
businesses today. The sheer size of the Internet,
the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices and
data analytics tools create a perfect storm where
data-driven decision making is the only way to
do business. From personalized medicine based
on our genomes to preferred content always
available to us, data will transform how business
is done and the way we live.
WE CREATE 2.5 QUINTILLION BYTES OF DATA
EVERY SINGLE DAY. OUR PREFERENCES,
BEHAVIORS AND PROCESSES CREATE POWERFUL
DATA THAT WILL SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR
INNOVATION AND GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION
– UNLESS WE LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT’S REALLY
IMPORTANT IN THE MIDST OF IT ALL.
DATA DISTRACTSDATA DEFINES

12. DATA DISTRACTSDATA DEFINES
BIG DATA TERRORISM
Three out of four data and
development professionals suspect
business stakeholders misuse data
when making business decisions.
Eighty-one percent believe the data
is misinterpreted.
– ProPublica, 2015
“Enterprises have spent far too little time
thinking about what data they should
be collecting and how they should be
collecting it. Instead of spearfishing,
they’ve taken to trolling the data ocean,
collecting untold amounts of junk
without any forethought or structure.”
– TechCrunch, 2015
Flickr’s auto-tagging algorithm with
advanced image-recognition technology
mistakenly auto-tagged online photos of
black men as “animal” or “ape.” A white
woman covered with multicolored paint
was also similarly tagged, and images of
concentration camps were tagged with
the labels “jungle gyms” and “sport.”
– The Guardian, 2015
PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
In the past year, the number of
organizations that have deployed or
implemented data-driven projects
has increased by 125%.
– IDGE 2015 Big Data and Analytics Survey
“Big data will become an historic
driver of progress, helping our
nation perpetuate the civic and
economic dynamism that has
long been its hallmark.”
– White House Big Data Piracy Report, 2014
This year, we saw the “smart everything”
phenomenon, which included an increased
number of “smart buildings,” like the Ronald
Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. It saved
$800,000 in energy costs in a single year
due to big data. An algorithm was created
to analyze building, weather, geographic and
public search data. The information identified
energy spikes caused by fans operating at
higher levels than necessary, resulting in
the adjustment and reduced costs.
– Business Insider, 2015

13. DATING APPS HAVE SHIFTED OUR PERCEPTIONS OF
CHOICE SO MUCH SO THAT WE’RE SEEING
A DECLINE IN MONOGAMOUS RELATIONSHIPS.
Dating apps have created a world of never-ending
options, where we can order a date the way we order
delivery. Tonight you want Italian, but tomorrow you
might want Thai. This has created an environment
where we never feel the need to settle for
“the one,” – or any one at all.
AN EXPLOSION OF DATING APPS HAS ALLOWED
US TO LOOK FOR LOVE IN AN UNPRECEDENTED
NUMBER OF WAYS. THE WHOLE WORLD OF
DATING IS AT OUR FINGERTIPS, BUT WHAT WILL
WE DO WITH THIS NEWFOUND ACCESS?
NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, THERE’S
SOMEONE OUT THERE FOR YOU AND
THE VAST ARRAY OF DATING APPS WILL
HELP YOU FIND THAT PERSON.
Whether you’re straight, gay, single, into God or into
threesomes, there’s an app to help you find exactly
what you’re looking for. Those who would have
spent their lives searching, or just pondering their
preferences, now have the tools at their fingertips
to find relationship bliss. It’s a dating revolution, and
we’re never going back.
STRIKING OUT
MONOGAMY
WINNING THE
DATING GAME

14. STRIKING OUT
MONOGAMY
WINNING THE
DATING GAME
TOOLS FOR TINDER
42% of Tinder users are either
in a relationship or married.
– Global Web Index, 2015
“When there is a surplus of women,
or a perceived surplus of women, the
whole mating system tends to shift
towards short-term dating.”
– David Buss, professor of psychology at
University of Texas at Austin Vanity Fair 2015
In his article “Beating the Tinder Game,”
Blake Jamieson describes how he
successfully hacked Tinder in his favor.
He used the official “Match of the
Day” logo on his profile, swiped right
on everyone, and tweaked his profile
photos and information based on
feedback he got along the way.
The result? Over 2,000 matches.
– Blake Jamieson, Medium.com, 2014
HIGH THERE
By 2040, it is estimated that 70%
of couples will have met online.
– VICE, 2015
“As an introvert, it was great. I would
have never spoken to you at a bar.
And there is no way we would have
met because our social circles are so
different. There’s a great randomness
to it,” says Jess, who met her girlfriend
on Tinder.
– BuzzFeed, 2015
An influx of niche dating apps allow
us to be more specific about what we
want out of a partner (or partners) and
a relationship, helping us find who we’re
looking for faster. Whether our criteria
be spirituality (J-Swipe, Collide), sexuality
(3nder, HER), or lifestyle (Farmers Only,
Date Surfers), there’s an app for that.

15. GLOBALIZATION ENSURES THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
OF A FEW IMPACT THE DAILY LIVES OF ALL.
A constantly connected world continues to inject religion
into our everyday lives. From local debates on birth control
and gay marriage to topics abroad on terrorism and
Islamophobia, religious issues make up a disproportionate
amount of media coverage. A worsening refugee crisis,
continued global economic turmoil and a shift in power
in the world’s most powerful nation have driven policy
makers to flirt with religiously discriminatory proposals.
While these might never come to fruition, the current
rhetoric will bring societal repercussions in the form
of increased nationalism and divisiveness.
THE ROLE OF ORGANIZED RELIGION IN OUR
EVERYDAY LIVES CONTINUES TO DIMINISH
AS YOUNGER GENERATIONS COME OF AGE
AND BEGIN TO DICTATE NEW NORMS.
A growing sense of individualism among the
younger generation of developed countries
continues to shift us away from active religious
practice. An increasingly accepting society no
longer forces us to abide by traditional norms
and allows us to express beliefs in our own way,
or increasingly, not at all. While millennials have
been labeled the least religious generation ever,
emerging gen Z is set to prove itself even more
secular as they disregard traditional rules and
rituals in favor of religion-free moral values.
WITH NEW GENERATIONS COMING OF AGE IN A TIME
MARKED BY BOTH INDIVIDUALISM AND GLOBALIZATION,
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH RELIGION IS SHIFTING.
LOSING OUR
RELIGION
BOUND BY
RELIGION

16. BOUND BY
RELIGION
LOSING OUR
RELIGION
THE HOLY QURAN EXPERIMENT
58% of adults who are 18–49 years
old report seeing someone share
their religion online in the past week.
– Pew, 2014
“ISIS is recruiting through the Internet.
ISIS is using the Internet better than
we are using the Internet, and it was
our idea.”
– Donald Trump
For the first time in hundreds of years,
a caliphate has been formed. Social
media has allowed the caliphate to
recruit far beyond its borders and
expand its reach into western developed
nations, defacing the reputation of an
entire religion and fueling nationalist
fires. New tools have sent us back to
less accepting times.
SBNR
Twelfth graders and emerging
college students in the 2010s
are twice as likely to never attend
religious services and classify
their religious affiliation as “none”
vs. students their same age in
the 1970s.
– PLOS, 2015
“I’m not religious; I’m spiritual.”
– Sam, 26
Much like gen z and “spiritual”
millennials, Pope Francis rejects the
premise that religious matters should
place heavy emphasis on societal topics
such as gay marriage and abortion,
and says they should instead focus
on fundamental values of service and
altruism. These views have earned him
the respect and admiration of both
religious and non-religious people who
practice religion or spirituality in their
own way, and even got him on the
cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

17. WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF CHASING LIKES.
DIGITAL VALIDATION HAS AFFECTED OUR ABILITY
TO CARE ABOUT THINGS IN REAL LIFE. IN TURN,
WE’RE DENOUNCING SOCIAL MEDIA.
Social media makes it easy to share experiences; however, the
value we assign to earning more instant validation negatively
affects our lives. The dependence on such validation increases
stress levels, affects mental health and drives feelings of loss.
Therefore, people are speaking out against social media.
WE’RE OBSESSED WITH GETTING
MORE LIKES. TODAY, THE ONLY STUFF
THAT MATTERS ARE THE THINGS THAT
ACCUMULATE LIKES.
Double taps, RTs, likes – these are the
new social currencies of our time. We are
defined by the amount of digital validation
we receive on social media. The pursuit of
this new currency affects our behavior and
influences our decisions and relationships.
OUR ABILITY TO SHARE EXPERIENCES
AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK INSTANTLY
VIA SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED
HOW WE CONNECT WITH EACH
OTHER. THIS TYPE OF DIGITAL
VALIDATION IS NOT ONLY DRIVING
ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR, BUT ALSO
FORCING US TO EVALUATE WHAT IS
REALLY IMPORTANT IN OUR LIVES.
REJECTION
OF “LIKES”
CHAINED
TO “LIKES”

18. REJECTION OF
“LIKES”
CHAINED
TO “LIKES”
#THIGHREADING
A 2015 study looked at the behaviors
of 1,623 people, and 58% of them
admitted that “posting that perfect
picture has prevented them from
enjoying life experiences.”
– Geekwire, 2015
Instagram star Essena O’Neill publicly
speaks out against social media. “I just
want younger girls to know this isn’t
candid life, or cool or inspirational.
Its contrived perfection made to
get attention.”
– The Guardian, 2015
Socality Barbie on Instagram: Satirical
Instagram account poking fun of
perfectly posed and carefully curated
adventure photography on social media.
– Instagram, 2015
PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
Instagram hosts more than 46 million
#blessed posts, the social media
humblebrag hashtag, which boasts
about workouts, spending time with
friends, trips, etc.
– Instagram, 2015
“I do delete pictures that don’t
get enough likes (140 likes for a
selfie, on average) because I think
I probably didn’t look good enough
for my followers.”
– Lindsay Correia, 22, The Guardian
Best Nine, a website that searches
your Instagram account and creates
a collage of your top nine most-liked
photos, exploded in the final days of
2015. In addition, Best Nine informs
users of the cumulative number of
likes their top nine photos received.

19. WE’VE COME TO EMBRACE THE FLUIDITY OF
AGE, AS IT NO LONGER LIMITS HOW WE’RE
PERCEIVED OR WHAT WE CAN DO.
Advances in medicine and technology have
forced us to reconsider how we look at age.
At 54, we can look like we’re 34, or have a child or
walk the runway. Savvy advertisers use digital tools
to target audiences in a far more sophisticated
manner than age alone. The phrase “age is just
a number” has never been more true.
TODAY’S SOCIETY IS MORE AGEIST THAN EVER.
MAJOR DIFFERENCES IN TECHNOLOGY HAVE ONLY
STRENGTHENED OUR OBSESSION WITH CHASING YOUTH.
Generations are defined by the technology they grew up with,
and that technology changes at a far more rapid pace than ever
before. People who grew up with the first computers and the first
touch screens are all in the workforce, competing for the same
jobs. These changes exacerbate generational differences
and discrimination against the elderly.
RAPID CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY AND
ADVANCES IN MEDICINE HAVE CHANGED THE
WAY WE LOOK AT AGE AND AGING. IN SOME
WAYS, TECHNOLOGY HAS MADE AGE IRRELEVANT,
WHILE IN OTHERS, IT’S DIVIDED US FURTHER.
AGELESS AGEIST

20. AGELESS
PRESCHOOL IN A NURSING HOME
Two Thirds of women who freeze
their eggs cite deferring childbearing
for a later age.
– NCBI, 2013
“RIP Millennials: Marketing Will Be
‘Age Agnostic’ Next Year”
– Advertising Age, 2015
A slew of mature celebrities starred in
many of the year’s hottest Hollywood
films and fashion campaigns. From Iris
Apfel for Kate Spade, to Joan Didion for
Celine, to Dolce and Gabanna’s nanas,
the hottest new models are defying
age norms.
AGEIST
AGEQUAKE
The U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission received
20,588 charges of age discrimination
in 2014, a rise from 17,837 a decade
earlier.
“We were educated and prepared for a
world that no longer exists. How many
of us function effectively and efficiently
with the new technology? How many
of us operate in the universe of social
media?”
– Elaine Yaffe
Workplaces are drastically altering their
practices to attract and retain young
talent. GE now offers unlimited vacation,
McKinsey allows 5–10 weeks unpaid
time for “personal interests,” and many
companies are creating interim positions
in order to promote younger employees
more frequently.

21. IN AN INCREASINGLY DATA-DRIVEN WORLD, TOOLS TO
ANALYZE AND PREDICT BEHAVIOR ARE EVERYWHERE.
In our digitally focused society, everything we do creates data. The
sheer volume of information provides countless data sets waiting to
be analyzed and interpreted by number crunchers. Predictions from
our data will continue to influence society and how we live.
POLLS HAVE BEEN USED THROUGHOUT
HISTORY TO ASSESS PUBLIC OPINION, SERVE
AS A CATALYST FOR CHANGE AND FORECAST
POLITICAL OUTCOMES. AS THE VARIETY OF
DATA INCREASES, POLLS HAVE THE ABILITY TO
BOTH AFFECT PUBLIC POLICY IN NEW WAYS
AND DANGEROUSLY MISLEAD THE PUBLIC.
AS TECHNOLOGIES EVOLVE, SO MUST DATA
COLLECTION PROCESSES. POLL DATA ARE
NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE, WHICH CAN GREATLY
MISDIRECT POPULAR OPINION.
Polls can be useful in forecasting societal outcomes,
from predicting political elections to who will likely win the
Super Bowl. Data can, however, be withheld, misrepresented or
inaccurate, leading the data to cause mass confusion or anger.
POLLS
DOMINATE
POLLS
DESTROY

22. POLLS
DOMINATE
TWITTER POLLS
The number of polls conducted
during the year before the
presidential primaries has
increased by 40%.
– Real Clear Politics, 2015
“Without accurate polling, government
may end up losing its most powerful
tool to know what the people who
elect really think.”
– Nate Silver
With the proliferation of information
today, data-driven journalism and
analytics tools like data-mapping identify
new trends and explore and predict
human behaviors.
– The Typewriter, 2015
POLLS
DESTROY
POLL HERDING
The accuracy of poll numbers has severely
weakened because it is harder to reach
people by phone. Pew Research used
to receive 35% response rates to their
political telephone polls in the 1990s;
today it’s 9%.
– Information Week, 2015
“The science of public surveying is
in something of a crisis right now.”
Geoffrey Skelley, political analyst at the
University of Virginia Center for Politics.
– US News, 2015
Earlier this year, an election in Britain
was falsely predicted, surprising
everyone. Early forecasting suggested
a win for the Labor Party, which lost to
the Conservative Party. The inaccuracy
could be credited to the “shy Tory” vote
– voters who didn’t want to admit their
intention to cast an unpopular vote.
– National Review, 2015

23. ALEXANDRA.BURKE@YR.COM
DIVYA.DARSI@YR.COM
SANDY.THOMPSON@YR.COM