Understanding the Elements  and Characteristics of a  Trend

Understanding the Elements and Characteristics of a Trend 

When you see cumulonimbus clouds suddenly formed within the horizon, you would probably guess that a rain or thunderstorm is imminent. When rain comes moments later, surely you would exclaim that you were right about your guess. You were able to spot an incoming rain. That was about spotting an incoming rain, but, how about a trend? Can you spot a trend? In the previous module, you were introduced to the descriptions, definitions and distinctions between a trend and a fad. In this module, you will learn to spot the elements of a trend, and what characterizes it from microtrends and macrotrends at one end to megatrends and gigatrends at the other. What starts as barely perceptible oscillations in our immediate environment may become the great movements of history. The trick is to spot which ones will develop and how far it will last. Some people like to categorize trends and a good place for you is to start this hierarchy. 

Elements of a Trend

1. Number of participants pertains to people who follow a certain trend which is started by an individual or a group of people. The group then grows into a community, and eventually swells into national and international societies. For example, the prevailing fashion of a period, follows what celebrities are wearing or what fashion designers offer. People often copy the trendsetters and so a new fashion trend develops. In the recent century, styles of clothing are usually distinguished by decades. One example of this is denim jeans that became a casual wear by all genders on a regular basis. Jeans are especially perfect for crafting swoon-worthy ensembles mostly due to the fact that they work well with just about anything especially when it comes to different looks (Griswold and Maguire 2020). 

2. Pattern of behavior refers to a trend that is formed from repetitive actions of people. For example, the simple act of taking a selfie has now become a cultural trend. It is almost impossible not to see someone taking a selfie in any place - be it in a tourist spot, in a restaurant, in a hotel lobby, beside a movie poster in a cinema, in a concert hall, and at an event, among others. Before smartphones and portable digital cameras, pictures or portraits were taken by another person. The selfie phenomenon enabled people to construct themselves visually and present it to the public by putting it on social media. Others view the taking of selfies with disdain as a symbol of narcissism and superficiality, while others consider it as an act of self-exploration and a gauge for acceptance. 

3. Long period of time is one of the crucial elements of a trend which means that a trend has to have a long-time frame, sometime running for decades. A trend may experience some ups and downs in popularity, may fade away, and may recur. A good example of this element of trend is the telephone. It is a communication instrument that revolutionized modern living and created various social impacts. It was soon overtaken by the popularity of mobile phones in the late 1990s that have text messaging feature. Then newer technologies allowed smartphones to include many applications and internet connectivity. Although telephones are still present in homes and offices, smartphones clearly have gotten ahead in functionality and usage. 

4. Cause refers to the starting point of a trend which can be an idea, a technology, an event or a person. All trends have beginnings and someone or somebody definitely started it. The question here is, how did it start? Now, this becomes quite obvious as all material elements of a culture started with one’s ideas, therefore, it is also conclusive that one starting point of a trend was an idea. Someone or somebody thought about it in the first place. Let us go back to the evolution of telephone mentioned above. If you will try to think about it, it was Alexander Graham Bell who first invented and engineered the very first telephone back in 1876 (https://www.britannica.com). What do you think prompted him to such an endeavor? Well, if you guessed that it began with an idea of bridging the gap of a long – distance relations though live voice communication then you must be right. So, besides the snail mails which were already prevalent those times, people had another option – the telephone. Fast forward a bit, back in the late 1990’s, these messages through mails or letters evolved and entered the digital world through beepers while telephones also evolved into cellular mobile phones. At present, all those separate features plus some more were combined into the devices we presently called “smartphones.” Believe it or not, all of these were one’s ideas which eventually turned into a reality. 

The Walkman revolutionized music playing. Portable audio players today can trace back their roots to the Walkman. 

5. Consequence refers to the considerable impact or influence of a trend. Social networking has become an encompassing trend that tends to influence behaviors of online users. With the popularity of smartphones, users began subscribing to various social networking portals which enable them to post activity statuses and photos, and even connect with celebrities. Currently, these social media platforms and their messaging and video conferencing features are finding their relevance today especially for the students and teachers. For example, due to the pandemic, teachers, students and parents use these features for the virtual teaching and learning process. However, this trend can also create a rather negative consequence among its followers. One example is depicted on the illustration below. Quality time among family members to share one another’s presence is being diverted to other less relevant concerns brought about by the social media. They can literally be described as “near yet so far” which means that they may be physically near each other, in fact, sharing food on the same table, yet their attention is far from the family moment.