Retrospective Perspectives 2025/2026

2025 has seen mounting challenges: from geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty to the growing difficulty of processing information and distinguishing what’s real and what’s not. Without strong personal and social anchors, such pressures risk translating into widespread confusion and declining well-being.

Recent data suggests a notable shift in global happiness patterns. According to the World Happiness Report, some Western countries have experienced stagnation or modest declines in self-reported well-being, often linked to rising social isolation, political polarization, and economic anxiety. At the same time, several emerging economies show positive momentum. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, while India improved its ranking – trends commonly associated with strong community ties, family cohesion, cultural resilience, rising GDP per capita, and increasing perceptions of personal freedom.

This points to a broader realignment in how happiness is sustained globally: social trust and community infrastructure may, in some cases, prove as important as traditional economic strength. As a quote often attributed to Stephen Hawking puts it, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” Perhaps this is an invitation to reassess long-held assumptions about security, prosperity, and where a meaningful life can be built.

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Debates around online safety, artificial intelligence, and migration have intensified in recent years, alongside proposals for expanded digital identity systems at national and regional levels. While these initiatives are often justified by efficiency and security, critics warn of potential trade-offs involving privacy, anonymity, and individual autonomy. There is no single global digital ID, but the direction of travel raises legitimate questions about how much control individuals retain over their digital selves.

In an environment shaped by algorithm-driven attention and constant stimulation, many people exchange long-term autonomy for short-term convenience. Chronic exposure to emotionally charged information has been linked in research to elevated stress responses, which can contribute to mental and physical health risks over time. Stress is not the sole cause of disease, but it is a significant factor in modern lifestyles.

One way to interpret this period (illustrated by a hypothetical AI-generated reflection here) is that humanity learned to transmit information faster than it learned to digest it. Abundance arrived before restraint; speed before reflection; information before knowledge and connectivity before wisdom.

“Never had a species known so much, and never had it understood so little at once.”

If ignorance is one of our main vulnerabilities, acknowledging it may also be our greatest opportunity. Inflation today is not only financial, but informational and emotional: an overproduction of signals competing for attention, often diluting the substance of genuine happiness.

“Attention is the ultimate currency.”

What we choose to focus on matters. Consuming information with purpose — rather than passively scrolling in boredom — can help restore agency. In my own experience, engagement with authentic art and creative expression offers a meaningful counterbalance to algorithmically manufactured gratification.

The arts, in their many human forms, engage our senses and reconnect us with something tangible in an increasingly abstract world. To me creativity is not an exception but a default state — one only has to watch a child draw, build, or play to remember this.

I wish you clarity in redefining what happiness means to you, discernment in navigating the synthetic and the natural, and courage to adapt thoughtfully rather than react impulsively. Do contact me if you feel I can be of assistance in your life.

Wishing you and your families a healthy, grounded, and adaptable New Year.

Toby