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The META Trending Trends: 02026

An Analysis of 70+ Global Trend Forecasts → 9 Most Reported Social Shifts

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Big Shifts

Dashboard Culture vs. Camouflage Culture

How the Attention Economy killed Camp, collapsed distance, and left us unable to critique a UFC fight on the White House lawn.

Oct 5, 2025 • Matt Klein and Remi Carlioz

Do Not Be Afraid of the Dark: A Guide to the Dark Mode Shift

What happens when the pendulum swings and the mask comes off?

Feb 17, 2025 • Edmond Lau and Matt Klein

Arousal Quantified: 7 Trends Revealed via Pornhub's Data

What millions of searches and clicks say about sexual desire

Dec 20, 2024 • Matt Klein

Pandemic Learning Loss: Understanding Academic, Mental & Developmental Delays

The opportunity isn’t to make up for lost learning, but reinvent our society's core pillars.

Jan 16, 2024 • Matt Klein

Foresight & Strategy

So You Want to Study Culture?

Career advice I wish I learned much sooner

May 20, 2025 • Matt Klein

Fast-Food's Billion Dollar Misspend

Why investing in service not celebs may be the move

Apr 28, 2025 • Matt Klein

The Uncomfortable Truth: Data Lies, Making Anything "Real"

How numbers are shielding flawed research from criticism, distorting our reality

Mar 6, 2025 • Matt Klein

Cultural Singularity & The Need for Friction: The Business Case for Thinking the Inverse

How "Hyper-Optimization" threatens creativity and how slowness will save us

Jan 28, 2025 • Matt Klein

Creators

The New Rules of Selling In: A Guide to Creator Sponsorships

“Selling in” is when you accept corpo cash from a position of power, not desperation.

Nov 10, 2025 • Matt Klein

5 Years of ZINE & Writing for Madison Square Garden

130 pieces, 1 stadium full of readers and counter-intuitive lessons on growth

Sep 11, 2025 • Matt Klein

The Creator Economy Is a Race to the Bottom for Human Dignity

The hidden costs and house of cards in the age of influence

Aug 11, 2025 • Matt Klein and Brooks Miller

Beware the Curators

Why Life Beyond Algorithmic Recommendations Requires Skepticism

Jun 22, 2024 • Matt Klein

Reality

Reality Somms: How to Cultivate A Discipline of Knowing What’s Real

How to Serve Propriety as a Business

Jan 21 • Matt Klein and Brian Lange

The Art of (Attention) War

How to win back our attention as the infinite is making us insane

Dec 29, 2025 • Matt Klein and Nick Susi

Alone in Self-Driving Cars: How Convenience Dissolves Consensus

The Mess of Human Interaction is the Point

Dec 9, 2025 • Matt Klein and Ruby Justice Thelot

Lessons From My Grandma Inventing DoorDash

How Reality & Product Culture Fit Works

Nov 24, 2025 • Matt Klein

Life Online

AI & Our Unconscious: Using Dream Data To Decode Culture

What 5,000 dreams about AI reveal about our relationship to it

Jul 21, 2025 • Matt Klein, Will Cady, and Emily

You Didn't Notice Anonymous Internet Browsing Was Just Killed

What a new Supreme Court ruling means for privacy, free speech and the future of the internet

Jun 30, 2025 • Matt Klein

How to Build the Good Internet

Stepping out of the dark forest and reclaiming a social, handmade and cozy web

Jun 2, 2025 • Matt Klein and Sacha Judd

The Most Important Image of 2024

What The Costco Guys on Fallon reveal about our media environment

Jan 3, 2025 • Matt Klein

Interviews

Interview with Filmmaker Charlie Shackleton: On True Crime & The Creative Process

Charlie Shackleton (CS) is one my favorite creative minds.

Jul 29, 2025 • Matt Klein

Interview with Seth Godin: On Strategy, Stories & How to Hack Back

Seth Godin is an author, speaker, entrepreneur and teacher.

Apr 1, 2025 • Matt Klein

1:03:22

Interview with Douglas Rushkoff: Program or Be Programmed

🎧 Listen now | Rushkoff on how to reject what our platforms want and embrace our humanity

Nov 19, 2024 • Matt Klein

58:09

Interview with Rory Sutherland: Emotional Efficiency & Reframes

🎧 Listen or Read | Rory on good old ideas, economic BS, imagination, and solving the wrong problems

Jul 16, 2024 • Matt Klein

SOCIAL_Commentary

SOCIAL_Commentary_Vol.6

SOCIAL_Commentary is a reading of our memes — theorizing what they say about the zeitgeist — an expression of collective truths.

Dec 18, 2024 • Matt Klein

SOCIAL_Commentary_Vol.5

A reading of our memes — theorizing what they say about the zeitgeist — an expression of collective truths.

Sep 16, 2024 • Matt Klein

SOCIAL_Commentary_Vol.4

A reading of our memes — theorizing what they say about the zeitgeist — an expression of collective truths.

Aug 26, 2024 • Matt Klein

SOCIAL_Commentary_Vol.3

A reading of our memes — theorizing what they say about the zeitgeist — an expression of collective truths.

Sep 19, 2023 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS

3_TRENDS_Vol.27: Elliot Aronow: Sarapocial Relationships, Senseless Data + Boy Talk

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Apr 29, 2024 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS_Vol.26: Julia Dixon: Peak Sludge, Neo-Luddites + Gen Alpha Trap

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Apr 8, 2024 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS_Vol.25: Sarah Unger: Aspirational Stability, Blurred (Platform) Lines + Psych Edu

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Nov 6, 2023 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS_Vol.24: Agus Panzoni: IRL Escapism, Meta Cringe + Screen Angst

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Jun 12, 2023 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS_Vol.23: Magdalene Taylor: Sexual Skepticism, Female Trad Health + Politicization of Transport

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

May 2, 2023 • Matt Klein and Magdalene J. Taylor

3_TRENDS_Vol.22: Sarah Rabia: Bimbos, Midlife Revolution + New Age Rage

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Mar 7, 2023 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS_Vol.21: Joanna Lepore: Dark Philanthropy, Frail Brands + Choice Abandonment

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Feb 13, 2023 • Matt Klein

3_TRENDS_Vol.20: David Paleschuck: Vibe Dosing, Packaged Meaning + Celebrity Drugs

3_TRENDS is an interview series with the world's leading cultural researchers and thinkers, sharing their favorite overlooked trends.

Jan 18, 2023 • Matt Klein

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