A craze is another term for a fad, a phenomenon brought about when humanity's crowd mentality and continual search for uniqueness picks up on something fresh and new in a particular culture, whether that be electronically-based (as in Internet culture) or as part of a national identity. Sometimes, if the fad can be translated into a format understandable by foreigners (or those who simply have never heard of it), can achieve wide recognition, as well. Fads, while usually short-lived (although widely popular in a given area), sometimes form the basis for a cult culture centering around them.
Some examples include
- Star Wars and Star Trek,
- Many music-based subcultures (such as punk, goth, emo, indie, raver, etc.),
- Many catchphrases from movies ('It's a trap!', '1.21 jiggawatts!', 'No, I'm Spartacus!', 'Luke, I am your father', etc.),
- Some video games (Quake III', Halo), and many others.
- Some toys - Frisbee, yo-yo, Hula-hoop, Rubic's Cube.
Fads are inherently one of the less predictable aspects of the future—but we can predict with certainty that there will be new fads in the future.