RESEARCH REPORT

Accenture Life Trends 2025

A window into people's behaviors and attitudes to the world around them, including business, technology and societal shifts. This year, five emerging trends explore the cost of hesitations as people go after a healthier, more balanced relationship with technology—for themselves and for the next generation.

10-MINUTE READ

October 16, 2024

In brief

People are rebalancing key behaviors, shifting their priorities and figuring out how to meet their own needs in a technology-dominated world.
Important evolutions in online interactions, parenting, work, life goals and how people choose to spend their time will affect businesses and brands.
New technologies including generative AI have a role to play—and questions remain on what shape that role should and will take.

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The ways in which people's views and behaviors evolve reveal opportunities for brands to meet them where they are. With the benefit of real human insights, businesses can refresh their offerings and processes, creating evergreen relevance and growth.

Cost of hesitations

The online experience is degrading and hesitation is becoming a reflex as people can no longer trust what they see, creating a risk for anyone doing business there.

Wait, is this real?

People's ability to trust digital technology is under threat, and its additive value has become diluted by authenticity issues. Online, the lines between the real and the deceptive are blurring, making it harder for people to tell them apart and introducing hesitation.

“Personally, I find fake pictures or videos on the internet very unacceptable. Even though the internet is a virtual environment, virtual does not mean fake.”

^{YK Zhang, 33, China}

Fraudulent behavior isn’t new, but with a tool like generative AI, people aiming to commit crimes online can do it more easily. A lack of action from those who should be moderating technology prompts the question: is people's well-being simply considered the cost of progress?

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In the past year:

60%

of survey respondents have been questioning the authenticity of online content more than before.

52%

of people have seen fake news or articles.

39%

have seen fraudulent product reviews online.

33%

have experienced deep-fake attacks or scams for personal information and/or money.

The search for authenticity

Any organization with an online presence should be actively finding ways to rebuild trust and to enable people to feel confident in their channels and content. Those that do so successfully could enjoy the luxury of becoming a hesitation-free choice.

Whether formalized or driven by what people will tolerate, there will likely be new rules of engagement around using AI, including what is and isn't fair game for "scraping" to train the technology.

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Platforms must invest in and modernize their content moderation value chains to address the known exponential influx of content that is harmful and/or deceitful.

Brands need to establish and communicate clear methods for customers to verify their authenticity.

Customers will need and demand support as more and more people fall victim to these sophisticated scams.

If the volume of deep-fake scams continue, insurance companies may want to think through new types of products.

Governments may need to ramp up consumer protections and new compliance measures placed on organizations.

The parent trap

An acceleration of policies and parental activism to establish guardrails around young people's online experiences will have major repercussions for organizations.

Demand for change

Today's parents are facing a tough challenge: helping young people shape a safe, healthy relationship with digital technology. Evidence of the harm it can cause is stacking up, encompassing bullying, abuse, unrealistic beauty standards, deep-fakes, sextortion and age-inappropriate content that once seen, cannot be unseen.

“When there are screens, there's no communication.”

^{Marie, 44, France}

As governments work on legislation, parents and schools are organizing, too. People will be watching how brands target children and young people from now on.

56%

of 18–24-year-olds agree that social media impacts how they think about their identity.

23%

of those over the age of 55 say the same thing.

Brand strategies need a radical rethink

While debate rumbles around how much smartphones and social media affect young people's health, parents are feeling the urgency and they just want solutions.

Brands must be ready for a world in which the next generation has a simpler relationship with technology than their elders. We could see a wholesale rethink of how and where to market to anyone under 16, which would decimate some services and create opportunities for others.

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If reaching younger people matters to a brand, it will be crucial to workshop a less digital/social media-dependent strategy.

If limits on child- or teen-focused apps and devices are imposed, it will be necessary to redesign or create services that don’t depend on smartphones.

Organizations should ensure they stay on top of what is culturally relevant.

It’s important to think through an organization’s permission space.

If parents’ gatekeeping role for children and young people expands, brands should consider how to create parent-friendly propositions.

Impatience economy

The power of the crowd and its strong, person-to-person affinity is satisfying people's impatience for new ways to achieve health, wealth and happiness. How do brands fit in?

Proactive search for alternatives

Technology makes it easy to find faster ways to pursue a goal and social media offers a stage on which anyone can share their experiences and advice in relatable, intimate ways. People recognize themselves reflected in others' stories, making their tips feel more relevant.

“I look for shortcuts in every area that I can. Anything that I can do to speed my life, help make things go faster, better, more accurate.”

^{Stan, 46, US}

Whether it's for health, finances or the things that bring joy, hearing directly from people with similar experiences is powerful. Brands that learn from this trend and use it to enhance the services and information they offer will likely build stronger connections with their customers.

63%

of survey respondents of all ages get inspiration from social media on how to do things smarter.

74%

of those aged 18-34 would do the same.

68%

would engage more with a brand that educates them through blogs and videos.

Connection, built through content

Trusted institutions have the right message but not the right medium. Social platforms have the right medium but not always the right messages. Success here means delivering trusted information with a relatable, person-to-person quality and through the right channel.

People's determination to succeed is strong, and they'll always look for new ways to do it. Companies that satisfy their desire for relatability and speedy routes to achieve goals will be rewarded.

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Brands should seek ways to enhance experiences with a human touch that sets them apart.

It will be important to reinvent organizations with customer-centricity at the heart.

The crowd’s power to navigate alternatives shows that there are unmet needs.

Companies should seek opportunities to position products and services in other contexts and ecosystems, broadening propositions through partnerships that develop the brand’s role in people’s lives.

Customer service needs fresh focus.

The dignity of work

The dignity of work is being shaken by business pressures, tech advances and evolving human dynamics. How can unmotivated employees be expected to deliver their best for customers?

Employee emotional distancing

For many, work is feeling increasingly transactional and draining, and an emotional distance between workers and work is becoming clear. A relentless push for efficiency is leaving employees feeling like productivity carries more weight for leaders than their skills, experience and contribution to company culture.

“I'd say the boss's attitude toward employees has changed too: It's no longer about employee well-being but more about performance, money. I don't get the recognition I used to.”

^{Marie, 44, France}

What do employees get from the working experience—and what should they expect? There's growing feeling that people's agency and dignity needs to be restored and refreshed in the face of a challenged work culture.

52%

of people prize work/life balance above all else.

29%

of employees trust that their company’s leaders have their best interests at heart.

49%

of employees say they hear "improving productivity" messages from leaders more than those about improving customer value or workforce development.

Employee experience drives customer experience

Today's workplace makes demands of leaders that need a new mindset and special energy to navigate complex challenges. It means balancing financial pressures and the relentless drive for growth in a volatile economy with dwindling team morale.

Fundamentally, people do their best work when they feel valued, and their best work shapes exceptional customer experience that drives business growth. It follows that organizational success starts with making people feel respected, understood and motivated.

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The workforce needs to be re-energized—starting with leaders.

People need to be treated like people and machines like machines—and AI shouldn't be personified.

Leaders should design fulfilling work structured with dignity and respect to retain the best talent.

Employees should have their voices heard and respected when it comes to AI adoption.

For all companies, change management is a constant requirement.

Social rewilding

People are rethinking how they spend their free time, finding joy and balance in real-world activities and genuine human connections—and changing the opportunity for businesses.

Grounded in culture and place

In the same way that rewilding seeks to regenerate the natural world, social rewilding restores people's own natural rhythms. This means rediscovering the deep joys found outdoors, in cultural exploration, in rebuilding healthy routines and reviving lost hobbies.

“Living in the present and focusing on what’s in front of me is the most real and reliable for me.”

^{XJ, Li., 27, China}

It's not a rejection of digital, but a search for texture. People are rebalancing the conveniences of technology with the meaningful experiences that await them in the real world.

42%

of people surveyed said their most enjoyable experience the previous week was physical.

15%

said their most enjoyable experience the previous week was digital.

38%

increasingly appreciate the “joy of missing out” on technology.

65%

of people say they are intentional about their use of social media.

Balancing digital with physical

Social rewilding is about people taking a new direction after years of living a digital-first lifestyle. If people's drive for screen-free experiences results in scaling back their activity online (particularly on social media), marketers will need to find new, imaginative routes to engage. Real-life experiences that feel authentic to the brand will likely chime with people's new, more textural outlook.

As people assess their own digital habits and help the next generation find a healthier balance, stopping to smell the roses is becoming a priority.

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Brands should seek out non-digital ways to authentically connect with customers. This could be a key differentiator at a time when many brands have shifted the focus to digital.

Organizations need to understand what people value in simpler technology.

There's an opportunity to build affinity by sensitively connecting with local cultures and highlighting the texture and nuance of specific cities and regions in events, content, advertising and experiences.

Certain brands may benefit from embracing the nature-led aesthetic that is becoming increasingly important to people.

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Our annual trends report is a labor of love and we would like to thank everyone who contributed from Accenture Song’s global network of designers, creatives, technologists, sociologists, and anthropologists.