This is quite insightful. It applies even more so to groups of people collectively (I'm sure I need not point out specific instances). All the more so when the data is noisy, and a bit of selectivity in setting the date range for analysis can result in the trend being minimized or reversed.

A moving average graph can help dispell this illusion, but the more aggressive the averaging the more it becomes a trailing indicator. One way to adjust for this is to use two moving averages (one longer one shorter) and plotting the difference between them. That will give you a fairly clear idea of whether the trend you're looking at is getting stronger, weaker, or reversing. It is still a trailing indicator but the trend-of-the-trend knowledge helps adjust for that.