If 2025 set the floor, what comes next?
Some things will continue. Some things will pivot. And a few shifts might actually change how we live, work, and make decisions.
Here's my take on what's coming — not hype, not doom, just patterns worth watching.
The quick version:
- 🔄 Continuing: AI as infrastructure, hard job market, climate as cost, policy shaping outcomes
- 🏡 New: Small systems living — contained, local, intentional
- 🤖 New: AI keeps evolving — agentic AI, deeper embedding, but people get selective
- 💼 New: Work redesigned around AI — shorter weeks, fewer hours
- 🧘 New: "Career Lite" normalizes — work without identity collapse
- 🤝 New: Trust moves permanently to individuals over institutions
- 🐢 New: Friction becomes a feature — slowness as skill
- 🍽️ New: Dining gets redesigned — small plates, experience over volume
- 🔮 Long-term: Life gets smaller, home becomes platform, emotional regulation becomes currency
What Continues From 2025
These didn't end — they set the floor for what comes next.
AI as infrastructure, not novelty. Deeper integration into work, search, products. Fewer "wow" moments, more quiet dependence. Less about tools, more about workflow power users.
Jobs stay hard — unevenly. Hiring doesn't snap back. Fewer "safe" career paths. More competition for fewer high-quality roles.
Climate + energy = permanent constraint. Higher costs baked in. Insurance, housing, utilities keep shifting. Regional differences matter more.
Policy and geopolitics keep shaping outcomes. Trade, tariffs, wars, elections → economic friction. Less globalization, more fragmentation.
🏡 The Rise of "Small Systems" Living
People stop trying to optimize everything and start building contained, manageable lives.
What this looks like:
- Fewer apps, fewer subscriptions
- Smaller social circles
- Tighter routines
- More local focus
- More "this works for me" energy
Why now: Burnout + uncertainty + too much choice.
The signal: People choose stability over maximization.
🤖 AI Keeps Evolving — But So Does How We Use It
AI will keep changing everything. A few things to watch:
AI gets even more embedded. Search, shopping, work tools, creative software — AI quietly becomes the layer underneath. You won't always know when you're using it.
Agentic AI goes mainstream. AI that doesn't just answer questions but takes actions — booking, buying, scheduling, executing. Early versions are clunky. They'll get better fast.
But people get more selective. Not everyone wants AI everywhere. More discernment about when to use it:
- AI for boring work? Yes.
- AI for thinking help? Yes.
- AI for everything personal, social, or creative? Not so fast.
The pushback phase begins. More "off" switches. More opinionated use. AI boundaries become a form of taste.
The question shifts. It's no longer "do you use AI?" — it's "how intentionally do you use it?"
💼 Work Needs a Redesign
Hot take: If AI is really as productive as everyone says, we should be working less, not more.
What I hope we see:
- Shorter work weeks finally getting tested seriously
- Fewer hours, same output
- Work redesigned around AI, not just AI layered on top of existing work
The productivity gains are real. The question is whether they go to shareholders or to people's lives.
We've been promised "work smarter, not harder" for decades. AI might actually make it possible — if we demand it.
🧘 "Career Lite" Gets Normalized
Not anti-work — anti-identity collapse around work.
More people:
- Downshift titles
- Choose flexible income over ladder climbing
- Stop chasing prestige roles that drain them
This isn't idealistic like 2020. It's pragmatic.
"I don't need my job to be my personality."
🤝 Trust Moves to Individuals — Permanently
People rely less on:
- Official advice
- Generic experts
- Large platforms
And more on:
- Peers
- Niche creators
- People who show their process
This fuels:
- Micro-brands
- Small newsletters
- "Follow the person, not the outlet"
Authority becomes earned repeatedly, not assumed.
🐢 Friction Becomes a Feature
Counterintuitive but real: people start choosing friction.
- Physical hobbies
- Analog tools
- Slow rituals
- Effortful experiences
Not nostalgia — regulation.
Think:
- Cooking instead of delivery
- Walking instead of optimizing
- Fewer notifications
- Intentional constraints
Slowness stops being associated with laziness and starts being associated with competence.
🍽️ Dining Gets Redesigned
GLP-1s and weight-loss drugs are quietly reshaping how people eat — and that means restaurants need to catch up.
What's coming:
- Smaller portions, better quality. Tapas, small plates, tasting menus become more mainstream — not just fancy.
- Fast casual goes healthy. Quick dining that's actually good for you, not just convenient.
- Experience over volume. People want to enjoy a meal, not finish a plate. Dining becomes about the moment, not the amount.
The restaurants that figure this out early win.
🏠 Culture and Lifestyle: What's Evolving
Reliable character > main character. Less performance, more just being a person. Steady and consistent wins over loud and dramatic.
Outside becomes the goal. People actively seek nature, daylight, and time away from screens. Not as wellness trend — as regulation. Parks, walks, camping, just being outside becomes how people recover.
Micro-cultures solidify. Fewer shared cultural moments. More niche worlds with their own references. You won't get every joke anymore — that's fine.
Analog as identity. Cooking, gardening, crafts, sports — things you do with your hands become how people signal who they are.
Digital boundaries normalize. "I don't use that app" stops being weird. Choosing what NOT to use becomes intentional.
The vibe: Less aspiration, more grounding. Cozy wins over impressive.
🔮 The 5-10 Year View (Condensed)
Looking further out, here's the terrain — not predictions, just direction.
Life gets smaller, more local, more intentional. After decades of scale and speed, daily life contracts. Stronger attachment to place. Less desire to be everywhere and do everything.
Work stops being the center of identity. Work remains important, but loses its role as primary identity and proof of worth. More people design income around life, not vice versa.
AI becomes boring — and that's the point. AI becomes like electricity or GPS. Deeply embedded, rarely discussed, missed only when it breaks. The differentiation isn't who uses AI, but who sets boundaries and retains judgment.
Climate shapes everyday decisions. Where people live matters more. Insurance availability shapes housing. Infrastructure reliability becomes visible. Adaptation becomes normal.
Fewer big trends, more micro-cultures. The era of monoculture fades. More niche worlds, more overlapping communities. Belonging comes from alignment, not scale.
Home becomes the primary platform. Office, gym, studio, social hub, recovery space. Not luxury-driven — function-driven.
Emotional regulation becomes currency. As systems stay volatile, emotional steadiness becomes valued. People value calm leaders. Reactivity burns out faster.
📣 What This Means for Brands and Business
Advertising can't cover up weak products. If it's not good, no campaign saves it.
Usefulness beats aspiration. "This helps" outperforms "this transforms you." Calm beats loud.
AI floods the market with mediocre creative. The edge is taste and restraint — things AI can't fake.
Owned beats rented. Platforms get riskier. Email, community, and loyalty become strategic assets.
The BS tax goes up. Advertising still matters — but it rewards clarity, usefulness, and trust.
The Throughline
The next few years aren't about acceleration. They're about integration.
- Integrating tech without losing humanity
- Integrating work into life, not swallowing it
- Integrating risk without living in fear
- Integrating limits without feeling deprived
People stop asking: "How do I win the system?"
And start asking: "How do I build a life that holds up?"
Read the Companion Piece
This post is part of a two-part series. If you haven't read the 2025 recap:
→ Read: 2025 Was Loud. Here's What Actually Mattered.
How to read this: This piece synthesizes publicly available data, reporting, and trend signals as of late 2025, combined with my own analysis. It reflects patterns and probabilities, not predictions or guarantees. Markets, technology, and culture change quickly — consider this a directional lens, not a definitive forecast. Nothing here should be interpreted as financial, investment, or legal advice.