I think there's some important historical links to major scientific discoveries and their effect on society. These things didn't happen overnight or even in the decade, but they were a big factor. I'm not sure it would apply today. Almost every day there's some big revelation in the science news. (I noticed Mudcat missed the big study that showed gender identity was a genetic trait... regardless of physical gender.)

Instead of a particularly scientific study affecting us socially, I think the frenetic pace of science (compared to history) adds to the common mythology that we are all rushing around with no time to do anything, and we're too busy to stop and understand anything outside our little world. Fast food, shorter movies, etc., etc. We're obsessed with "fast" and every other advertisement is telling Mom she doesn't have time to spend with her kids or cook a healthy meal, but buying this minivan will cure that for her!

The sheer volume of information available to us -- even pre-internet, but especially now -- is pretty overwhelming. This is predominantly fueled by scientific and technological advances. Socially, we are struggling to adapt.

Ironically, instead of being truly busy, I suspect that modern humans WASTE more time that at any other point in history.