Emerging Words From the Future (Spring 2026)

Over the last couple of years and through my own foresight journey (as a social worker and a human)…I’ve found emerging language regarding the future to be really interesting, illuminating, sometimes troubling, and valuable. Sometimes there are words that are more “pop culture” words that emerge from the mainstream (they are a little like popcorn…not much substance). I’m less interested in these and more interested in terms that reflect some deeper shifts in the emerging world. Though sometimes words are themselves signals…they seem silly or superficial at first…and then shift to mean something very important. Some of you know that during the life of this blog, I’ve developed an “alphabet of the future” (linked below) with a cumulative accounting of this little project. Here’s past editions of this particular post.

As always, when I’m learning about this concepts, I’m wondering how they fit in social work, if I see any trace of responsivity, relevance or connection to them – and if they’d be useful for us, and if so why. The list is always a work in progress – things that might refresh our perspectives and our imaginations. I post these revisions and expansions on an irregular basis. I gather up words as I hear them go by – if I’m not intrigued and curious…I let them go by. These have been gathered up over the last few months. When I’m done, I add them to a comprehensive version including all terms I’ve turned up across the years (linked below).

Climate Hushing – Emerging trend of people in politics, business and other community leadership of avoiding public discourse about climate change, climate goals or environmental sustainability efforts. It is driven by fears of political backlash, public scrutiny, or accusations of greenwashing leading to a silent retreat from climate climate action. More information here.

Cognitive Surrender – This is a new concept introduced by a recent report by the Wharton School called “cognitive surrender,” defined as our tendency to adopt AI outputs with “minimal scrutiny,” overriding “both intuition and deliberation.” You can read more about it here. This is an emerging concept with much discussion about its utility/relevance. Here’s another piece that summarizes the research. Here’s a podcast exploring these ideas.

Consciousness Hygiene – This is a new term recently coined by author Michael Pollan. He says: “That people need ‘consciousness hygiene’ to defend our internal world against invaders that are trying to move in (Note: He’s describing digital overload.) Our ability to sit with our thoughts and perceive the world, he argues, is increasingly disrupted by algorithms engineered to tickle our dopamine receptors and capture our attention. Meanwhile, people are forming attachments to non-human chatbots, projecting consciousness on to entities that do not possess it. You can read more of his ideas here. He and others suggest a deliberate and conscious practice of curtailing personal digital engagement and the careful protection and development of our attention and focus.

Dark Data – This refers to data collected by a wide range of computer systems, but not actually accessed or utilized as a direct part of the intended operation of the computer system. It’s related to the idea that we have moved to a world in which more data is gathered than can possibly be analyzed. This has both privacy concerns (what happens to this “extra” data?) and both economic/ecological costs (because storing this extra data is not free or “clean.”). Some have suggested that a large amount of the world’s collected data falls into this category with no clear plan in place for what to do about it. Many are rallying for a generalized “data decarbonization” to address the problem. More information on the concept can be found here. Here’s a video explainer on the topic from the World Economic Forum.

Ecocide – The destruction of large areas of the natural environment as a consequence of human activity. Merriam-Webster Online, retrieved 3.30.2026. Helpful overview of the concept and a listing of how it is treated in international and domestic law.

Enshittification – Enshittification is an informal word used to criticize the degradation in the quality and experience of online platforms over time, due to an increase in advertisements, costs, or features. It can also refer more generally to any state of deterioration, especially in politics or society. Similar forms include enshittify and enshittified. Merrian-Webster Online, retrieved 3.30.2026. Here’s the originator of the term Cory Doctorow describing what it means. Here’s author Paul Krugman’s recent take (link here).

Managed Decline – is a phrase that refers to the management of the decline (or “sunset”) phase at the end of a life cycle, with the goal of minimizing costs or other forms of losses and harm. The concept originated in business where it referred to the management of companies and industries, but has since spread beyond to be used in other contexts. (See complete Wikipedia overview here.) This is a concept that is gaining a lot of traction as entire sectors of our infrastructure are facing brittle, fragile or unstable futures. Are we suffering from system neglect, managed decline or a combination compounded with other features? Important conversation and frame.

Quiet Quitting – described as the practice of disengaging with work in such a way as to show up and demonstrate the bare minimum to avoid getting fired, but not overinvesting in traditional fast-paced and/or competitive attention and/or accomplishment seeking behaviors (e.g. opting out of “hustle culture.” Emerging in 2022 via Tik Tok, it is attributed to burned out Gen Z workers rebelling against what is perceived to be a very unfair and unrealistic system towards workers. You can read more about it here, here and here.

Refugia – (Special thanks to Dr. Nancy Smyth for introducing me to this term and concept.). Refugia (singular: refugium) are environmental, ecological, or geographical “safe havens” that protect plants and animals from changing conditions, allowing populations to persist, adapt, and expand during stressful periods. These key areas act as buffers against climate change or disturbances like fire, sustaining biodiversity. Common synonyms include “safe havens,” “sanctuaries,” “relict areas,” and “niches”. You can read more about this concept here. You may also be interested in additional information here and here. Dr. Smyth has suggested that our Social Work Futures Lab and related community can serve as a kind of “refugia” for the profession of social work as we navigate intense, harsh and rapidly changing ecological conditions of our work. Powerful concept. How might we see our work as “refugia faciliators/protectors?”

Here’s the comprehensive alphabet of the future which includes these and all of the definitions I’ve offered up over the last few years.