As we approach the end of the year one cannot but reflect on this year and recall the major milestones. I tackle this from a different angle. Contrary to best practice I start with the title. From Leicester City to Brexit and recently Donald Trump’s victory, this year has to be the year of the unexpected. Granted, yet is there more of the expected than meets the eye?

Brexit and Trump outcomes were till the last-minute grossly unexpected yet in retrospect should we have learned to read the general sentiments of the human population out there? Polls got both these outcomes wrong and this is no coincidence.  So with such an ‘unexpected’ year what are we now to expect in the year ahead?

One would expect that over these years, with technological and data interpretation advances, that poll results would become more accurate and reliable. Yet, the opposite seems to be the outcome.

Traditionally polls were and some still are conducted over landlines with a more structured approach towards creating a sample that reflects the demographic of the electorate. This is not the norm anymore and with less people having landlines, it’s harder to reach and create the ideal sample. And when people are then reached and questioned for a poll, they either refuse or reply to a poll one way and do the opposite in the ballot box.

In a post-truth era where people do not care for facts as much as to what they want to believe, they live dual lives of what they portray they are as to what they really are

Yet, we live in a digital and connected world with unlimited access to data. People have the facility and power to state their comments and views. So one questions why with all of this data, information and social platforms it seems that we are then disconnected from reality.

I do clearly understand that data overload and screen dependency is affecting our daily life and human interactions yet I do struggle to accept the fact that it is having such a large influence on bigger issues. Issues which are far greater than those found in an individual’s domain but are in a way issues that in some way or another affect a country, a continent or the world.

In a post-truth era where people do not care for facts as much as to what they want to believe, they live dual lives of what they portray they are as to what they really are. In polls and data collection they would easily and happily click or reply in a way which might not reflect how they will actually vote. Why? They are either uninformed, easily swayed by last-minute sound-bites, they are shy to say the truth or they intentionally feel like misleading as a protest and anti-establishment act.

Hence, we are living in revolutionary times where it’s back to the individual who has his own manifesto and beliefs and has also multiple ways of demonstrating such from a personal platform. This personal empowerment is in a way a positive thing yet to a lesser extent if the individual manifesto is based on things which are not true or issues which are wrong.

So where will all this lead us to? Can such a rollercoaster approach by the majority made up of individuals with their own manifesto create more turmoil? Will an ever-increasing population born in a digital world within an instant-gratification society dictate a quick-fix approach to long-term challenges?

Will typical ‘unexpected’ outcomes become the norm and ‘expected’? If we settle for the ‘unexpected’ will this create a state of mediocrity in the way we approach national and global issues?

While we see this phenomena on an international scale we do have our own and fair share of national issues. More than this, it’s not about the unexpected or the expected but it’s how the people react to such events.

It’s an interesting, sometime frustrating, exercise of people-watching and analysis and seeing how each responds to the various and colourful issues. From environmental, lifestyle, economy, political, governance to education and more we are bombarded with debatable issues and we all have our opinion.

Yet, most just scrape the surface and it’s a personal opinion comprised of a lethal cocktail of on an overload of data, uninformed detailed information, and random sound-bites, garnished with personal bias.

So many questions and little clarity that make the year and times ahead an interesting yet challenging year. One thing is for sure, whatever the outcome, if expected for some it’s definitely unexpected for others.