Making sweeping, generalized statements about Americans is a risky business. Lately, our reading has brought to our attention several such generalizations, attaching many different characteristics to today’s Americans. Every descriptor does not apply to every American, but all descriptors apply to some. Society, it seems, is facing problems that are causing individuals to behave slightly off kilter. The forces contributing to society’s mental stresses include: Technology and the Brain – that is, the unanticipated impact of new technology on the human brain; Social and Economic Dislocations – that is, the inequitable distribution of wealth and influence; Errors and Misinformation – that is, misinformation as a societal norm with errors in thinking ensuing; and Significance Disrupted – that is, people’s search for meaning disrupted by new economic, technological and societal processes.
These unfolding realities suggest that society is passing through a long, slow transition to a societal and economic structure that has yet to be completed, leaving individuals at a loss as to how to find purpose and significance in their lives. As a result, tensions and conflicts between the old and the new reign, and will for some time.