Did you know that loneliness has the same effect on the human body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day?  Or that humans have a shorter attention span than goldfish?

Those are just two of the little-known facts that Chief Futurist Sheryl Connelly shared – with context, of course – during a recent Zoom meeting with Ford Retired Engineering Executives (FREE).   

Connelly began her presentation by clarifying what “futuring” is and what it is not.

“I'll be the first to tell you that I cannot predict the future. And, I’ll go so far as to tell you that you should be wary of anyone that tells you they can predict the future because futuring isn't about predicting.  It’s really about preparation,” she explained.  “At the end of the day, my goal is to make sure that Ford builds resilient plans so that we come up with products, services, experiences that work in an economic collapse as well as when the economy's thriving.”

The seven microtrends featured in the 2021 Further with Ford trends report are an important part of the cache of tools Ford uses to think about the future through a different lens.

“When we talk about trends, we're trying to look at the social technological, economic, environmental, and political forces that might put pressure on society's values as a whole,” said Connelly.

Connelly shared the detail on the effect of loneliness as she talked about this year’s trends and the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic.  According to the trends report, 64% of Generation Z (ages 24 and under), 57% of Millennials (25 to 40), 47% of Generation X (41 to 56) and 34% of Baby Boomers (57 to 75) said that they feel lonely on a regular basis, leaving many people reconsidering where they live, moving closer to family, and finding companionship in new ways – online and off.

“Loneliness is tricky for a variety of reasons.  Part of it is because it has very little to do with proximity to other people,” explained Connelly.  “In fact, we know that half the people that said that they were lonely on a regular basis, say that they still feel lonely when they're around other people. Why is this? It's because the loneliness is about not feeling seen, heard, understood and appreciated. You can be with people and still feel lonely because there isn’t an emotional connection.” 

Another outcome of the pandemic is that our attention spans are getting shorter.  Not only do we have a shorter attention span than goldfish (8 seconds versus 9) but  Connelly said that the human attention span has eroded by a third over the past two decades (from 12 seconds to 8) with the introduction of smart devices and connectivity.  With the onset of the pandemic, 76% of Gen Z and Millennials said they spend too much time on the internet and 53% of all adults resent being interrupted by their devices, leading many people to look for ways to escape.  Some escaped to their vehicles.

“The pandemic resulted in people using their vehicles in new and different ways.  17% of the people that we surveyed said that they were using their vehicle for work, and men were three times as likely to work from their vehicle than their female counterparts,” said Connelly.  “One in five people told us that their vehicle was an important place for privacy. One in four said they use their vehicle as a place to relax or be alone. And one in 10 told us that they used their vehicle as a place to hide.”

Connelly said the trends give Ford much to think about in terms of how to think about the future of the automobile.  

“One of the things you might be asking yourself, is why would Ford Motor Company care about loneliness? What does that have to do with our business model?” she said.  “Fifty percent of the people we surveyed told us that their best conversations take place in the car during long road trips.  So, it's this notion of, can the car mean something other than transportation? Can the car stand for connection and community?”

Connelly said the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning come at an ideal time when trends show that consumers are looking for ways to protect the environment without having to give up anything in return.

“We call it the green paradox. These are the people that say, yes, I'll do my part as long as I'm not inconvenienced, or the inconvenience is small. So, remembering to bring a reusable grocery bags, forgoing my plastic straw – those things are easy.  But half of Americans agree that if you’re asking them to make bigger sacrifices, they’re less likely to do it,” she explained.  “We know that consumers would consider electric vehicles if they felt like they didn't have to make a sacrifice.  They want the mileage and the muscle, and the way that we're doing it through our vehicle strategy is to make sure that we deliver these iconic vehicles with no sacrifice associated with changing to a powertrain that's electric.”

Click here to read the entire 2021 Further with Ford trends report.