future shock

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.

future shock

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of future shock¹

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

Future shock has left many members of American and global society feeling unmoored and increasingly confused and uncertain about their role in the present.

From Salon

Although they did not use the term burnout in their groundbreaking 1970 book “Future Shock,” Alvin and Heidi Toffler predicted that the breathtaking pace of our technological revolution would bring unsettling change, challenge and increased crime.

From Salon

To an unsophisticated and overwhelmed public, which is caught up in the spectacle of news as entertainment, struggling with economic precarity, future shock, and an pathological attention economy and empty consumerism, these discussions of politics all too often just seems like partisan bluster and fighting where both sides are equally bad and responsible for the country’s problems.

From Salon

Not only do fast-rising prices impose a high cost on Americans, she said; allowing inflation to fester also leaves the economy more vulnerable to future shock.

From Reuters

And it has made me wonder whether that feeling will ever fade, or whether we’re going to be experiencing “future shock” — the term coined by the writer Alvin Toffler for the feeling that too much is changing, too quickly — for the rest of our lives.

From New York Times