social media in 2026 and beyond

When social media users were asked what they want brands to prioritize most, more than half (57%) said they want the brands they follow to post more original content series, according to Sprout Social’s 2026 trends, which cited a Pulse Survey conducted last year.

5. Optimization diminishes our humanity.

Our myopic obsession with efficiency and the optimize-everything (including our self) mindset forces us into consistent, productive, linear beings when in fact we are human because we are not. We need businesses to design for non-linear, non-binary, inconsistent, incoherent selves.

1. Original thinking begins at the origin.

As we imagine the future, it’s worth returning to the past—honoring the masters and elders, drawing from ancient philosophy and Indigenous wisdom, practicing age-old rituals, and seeing artificial intelligence as ancestral intelligence.

this is not about anti-technology or anti-ambition. It is pro-focus, pro-intention, and pro-discernment in how we understand broader historical contexts and apply the affordances of modern technology and media to our own ambitions. This is a call to reclaim our attention as a finite, precious resource.

Understanding reality isn’t about infinitely chasing truth with our finite attention. It’s about understanding which worlds are becoming more or less consequential .

Much of today’s commentary now looks less like real cultural analysis and more like white collar fan fiction and conspiracy theories about what’s happening “backstage.”