01 I will survive Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. 11 Focus : People cope by focusing on what they can control. When the big wide world feels negative and daunting, some people will channel their attention on communities where they feel they belong. They will reduce their sphere both physically and virtually, quieting the noise and rejecting the global-first version of life that has been promoted by online news and social media in the past decade or more. They’ll cut out anything that falls outside their highest priorities. When people don’t know how to plan for the future, or when their autonomy to plan is compromised, they naturally channel their attention on things they can control. Accenture’s research project participants told us about their initiatives to organize community shopping and share transportation. Besides the obvious cost savings, these initiatives create meaning and help focus their minds. 23 Single-function platforms are creating spaces where like-minded individuals can relax and bond over shared interests. Discord, a platform whose original purpose was for in-game communication, has always been grounded in social connection. 24 Digitally, this is manifesting in a shift from large- scale influencers to micro-influencers, whose follower numbers sit between 1,000 and 100,000. 25 Micro-influencers offer the promise of greater credibility as they tend to focus on niche areas— some on travel, others on financial advice. Sixty-one percent of US consumers think these communities are more trustworthy than brands. 26 We expand on this phenomenon in the trend entitled I’m a believer . + 25mm, ultra realistic, algorithm v3, change 100