In a conversation with Diana, she noted that it takes time for innovations to become traditions, through a couple of generations. The first grows up with the innovation, getting used to it, and the second generation is taught by the first to accept it as the norm. The challenge is that in a period of rapid change this process just doesn’t have time to play out, with significant consequences.
How Innovations Gradually Become Traditions
Innovations start with early adopters willing to take a chance on something new. They pave the way for wider acceptance. The generation that grows up with the innovation becomes very comfortable with it, fitting it into their lives and mindset.
As the first generation gets older, they teach the next generation, from a position of authority, making the innovation the standard through education and socialization. The second generation grows up seeing the innovation as a normal part of their life. It’s no longer new or disruptive, just a regular part of the everyday routine.
As more generations adopt the innovation, it gets deeply ingrained in cultural practices and institutions, cementing its place in tradition.
Corollaries Of The Generational Process
For an innovation to become tradition, it needs to grow at a pace that allows for this generational uptake. Fast innovation cycles can disrupt it, preventing the continuity and stability needed for lasting traditions.
Communities that rely a lot on tradition to maintain their identity may resist fast-paced innovations, seeing them as a threat to their long-held practices and beliefs.
In societies where traditional bonds have weakened, rapid innovation can make people feel rootless, making it much harder for them to develop or maintain a stable cultural identity.
Peer-to-Peer Communities Can Help Transform Innovations
Peer-to-peer (P2P) communities may be better equipped than top-down hierarchical organizations to absorb innovations and turn them into their own internal structures and traditions. Through decentralized decision-making P2P communities can adapt to new innovations faster, as changes can happen at the grassroots level without waiting for approval from the top.
P2P communities nurture a culture of collaboration and open communication that encourages experimenting with and integrating new innovations. Innovations spread through personal networks and direct interactions, horizontally, leading to more natural widespread adoption.
Innovations can be customized to fit the specific needs and contexts of different subgroups within the community, ensuring they’re locally relevant and useful.
Navigating the tension between progress and cultural continuity
This approach creates environments where innovation is more easily absorbed, and transformed into new traditions that reflect the collective wisdom and needs of the community. In a time of rapid technological change, P2P communities provide a resilient and adaptive model for integrating innovations into everyday life.
By understanding how innovations become traditions and leveraging the strengths of P2P communities, we can allow individuals to be more comfortable in their necessarily uncertain role, and extend their adaptability.