In this series of posts, Influencers and members predict the ideas and trends that will shape 2015. Read all the stories here and write your own (please include the hashtag #BigIdeas2015 in the body of your post).

2015 will be the year of duende. Of joie de vivre. Of soul. Every culture already has a way of expressing it: that feeling of moving in time with the world, of being at one with your mind, your body, your surroundings.

Doesn’t sound very 2015, does it? In the centuries-old tradition of flamenco, the dancer that “has duende” is accessing a heightened state of emotional authenticity. But to anyone who lives in the modern world of always-on, 24-hour, touch-of-a-button, click-to-order, 110 percent full-bandwidth mania, duende sounds pretty far from reality. Having soul feels like a distant lore. Joie de vivre a lost knowledge.

Indeed, Future Foundation research tells us that 56 percent of Americans agree that “the stresses of modern life mean that people are less happy than they used to be.” Even among 16-24s – the millennials so eager to Facebook and Whatsapp and Snapchat all at the same time – a majority concur that modernity and serenity are fundamentally incompatible. But 2015 is the year we start to get some of that back in the form of what we’ve been calling Cruise Control (we even filmed the Trend in 6 seconds here!).

To the modern American, duende doesn’t mean surrendering your spirit to the rhythm of the maracas. In fact, it means quite the opposite: control. Eighty percent of Americans tell us that they try to appear under control at all times. And it’s that “at all times” that’s key — true control occupies all moments, whether while eating (half claim to eat “in moderation”), while organising (a third use banking apps), or even in bed (a third check their emails in bed every single day). The trappings of the modern world aren’t going to disappear any time soon — but in exerting effortless control over all of these information streams (and by extension, over the self), we start to feel a little more at one with the world.

So why 2015? Surely new technologies such as the Apple Watch mean more notifications and more stress? Not necessarily. In fact, I think wearables embody the notion of Cruise Control. With continuous tracking, we will be able to monitor the whims and whines of our bodies while fine-tuning doses of exercise/caffeine/H2O. And a wearable doesn’t have to mean you’re a slave to notifications: products such as Kovert Design’s smart ring (which lets you switch off safe in the knowledge that your jewelry will only vibrate for important calls) show us how wearables will help us control our connections in the name of quietness.

2015: the year that the desire for control becomes a techno-spiritual reign over all of life’s variables. As for happiness: well that depends on whether you accept Cruise Control as a route to happiness. Only you have control over that.

Image: Future Foundation

Statistical sources: Future Foundation research, 2014, Base 2,000 – 5,000 respondents

