future shock

American  

noun

1. physical and psychological disturbance caused by a person's inability to cope with very rapid social and technological change.

2. any overload of a person's or an organization's capacity for adaptation or decision-making.

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future shock Cultural  

1. A sense of insecurity and disorientation often felt by people whose societies are undergoing rapid change.

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Etymology

Origin of future shock

On the model of culture shock; popularized by a book of the same title (1970) by Alvin Toffler (1928–2016), U.S. journalist

Example Sentences

Deep in a bunker, a family keeps on singing in the year’s most nightmarish piece of future shock.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2024

The latest Black Mirror series from Charlie Brooker presents, despite its transition to Netflix, another unsettling collection of future shock nightmares drawn from consumer technology and social media trends.

From The Guardian • Oct. 26, 2016

Crichton, after all, was coming from the ambivalent “high tech/high touch” era of wariness and future shock, when computer technology was not to be trusted, even if it was programmed to be harmless.

From Washington Post • Sep. 29, 2016

I took her to sign up and felt a kind of future shock among the 50-foot walls and barbell racks, the yoga studio, spinning room and the pro shop.

From New York Times • Jul. 25, 2015

As computerization spreads across society, the populace at large is subjected to wave after wave of future shock.

From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Sterling, Bruce