102. Is the Internet Speeding Up Cultural Change?

About this episode

This episode explores the relationship between the internet and cultural change, questioning whether rapid shifts are genuine transformations or merely faster-moving opinions.

A listener question sparked today’s discussion about the relationship between the internet, culture, and societal transformation. While social media and online platforms appear to accelerate cultural change at unprecedented speed, this episode explores whether what we are witnessing is genuine transformation or simply faster-moving opinions and visibility. Drawing on sociology, systems thinking, and examples ranging from environmental movements to changing attitudes around sexuality and identity, the discussion unpacks the difference between opinions, attitudes, values, and worldviews, and why some forms of cultural change endure while others quickly reverse. The conversation also explores how culture sits between structure and agency, shaping both institutions and human behaviour simultaneously, and why the internet may be amplifying surface-level shifts far more rapidly than deeper societal transformation itself. For changemakers navigating an increasingly fast-moving digital world, this episode offers a grounded framework for understanding what truly creates long-term cultural change, and why some of the most important forms of transformation still take decades to unfold. 📰…

Topics covered

• internet
• cultural change
• societal transformation
• social media
• sociology
• values
• worldviews

Keywords

• internet
• cultural change
• society
• social media
• sociology
• values
• opinions
• transformation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Humanitarian Changemakers Network

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