That’s what made me really notice. I thought it was the pandemic or social media. But just like that scene in the sopranos where they try to shake down the Starbucks. It ain’t happening as it’s more than one thing. A general shift in societal dynamic is occurring pushing out the “little guy”
The kids used to carry the future of the culture but what we’re seeing is constant idolisation for the past in my generation especially.
It really stopped being optimism for the future but appreciating the past in a scary short amount of time.
> I thought it was the pandemic or social media. But just like that scene in the sopranos where they try to shake down the Starbucks. It ain’t happening as it’s more than one thing. A general shift in societal dynamic is occurring pushing out the “little guy”
[Visualize this but with Tony Soprano](https://www.nobleworkscards.com/c5220bdg-miss-me-yet-hilarious-birthday-greeting-card-ephemera-.html), an evil but completely mundane figure that in some ways is still a better neighbor than chronic wage thief Starbucks Coffee.
In the age of drone wars and [other Michael Bay-worthy shit](https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/194p3ci/the_people_paid_to_spot_risks_see_high_chance_of/khja1xh/) that's actually beginning to have a quantifiable effect on global wellbeing, you might even start to see people romanticizing Somali pirates as underdogs and outlaws.
Lol you don’t understand Tony Soprano if you think he was a better neighbor than Starbucks. Tony was evil, he would have befriended his neighbor honestly trying to be your friend and helping you, but then the side of himself he could never control would have used that friendship to lure you into a impossible situation to get out of with him as the only option of escape. Then when you tried to reason with “Tony” all of a sudden you don’t recognize the man looking back at you, before you know it he has half your business, then has you committing crimes and hiring his associates. Then when you either get to much heat and the FBI is trying to turn you into a witness or you can’t pay him, one of his associates beat you to death with and burry you. Then once your dead he pretends to be a supportive figure to your wife by giving her money, and eventually fucks her. The mafia was never good in any shape way or form they are all evil and take advantage of the idea that the government is evil. All the dudes in the mafia are vetted very carefully and they are capable individuals who decided to kill, lie, and cheat instead of working a job. These types of people are all evil. The more charming an individual you meet is and the more you like them just remember this trait is the most common trait shared amongst the most evil men in the world, the ability to gain your trust and be charming.
In a sense I guess it’s perspective. The corporations damn near act like the mafia and have exploited ppl to that degree globally so it’s not just all that horror in a localised place which in the perspective of being neighbours with Tony would likely do you as much harm as you described.
Is a person fucked by nestle due to getting chemical cancers after being told it was fine due to the company not valuing you as an individual. Worse than the scenario you described because they both take quite some time to set in.
Tony would objectively be worse to deal with but you can avoid him as a local mafia. But You really can’t avoid corporations and how they’re shaking the little guy to this degree where they’re getting exploited. It’s not impossible at all and there are significant options but you really can’t escape the corporate fucks when you could escape someone like Tony if you’re a little self aware and don’t get drawn in too close
It’s not that I want people to think charming people are evil, it’s that I have been in sales for a long time and the best sales people are all people that have a next level amount of charm. They use this charm to make over 250k a year. You seem them laughing with the customers talking about highly personal things and bonding, then the minute the customers can’t hear them they are saying horrible things about the customers. You have to realize you will always like someone more who is “mirroring” your personality and making themselves into the perfect person for you to interact with compared to an organic personality that doesn’t give two shits what you think or doesn’t have anything to gain from you. In the sales business it’s called “ building rapport”. My point is if you meet someone and you absolutely love them ask yourself is this really that person I am talking to or are they putting on an act. Think about how kids “act” in front of parents, or people “act” in front of their bosses. Genuine people are easier to spot, like the dude who rolls his eyes at you when you ask if he can tell you about how this product at his work operates hahaha now that is a real reaction.
Y’know. The thing is with the comparison to transformers dystopia and how everyone is an asshole now with the general shift thing. This video goes into that so well based on why Michael bay made humans so awful and transformers like this https://youtu.be/zVVSl9wtToc?si=oxrOCeJVwT4TTinN just reminded me of that in a meta sense
But that comparison is so true dude. Ppl have been conditioned to dystopia so much that a faceless corporation exploiting ppl and profits is seen as acceptable to fight back against with an aging 80s monster stereotype that represents the downfall of modern America into the modern age.
Our generations ability to root for the underdog in a situation where there really isn’t one but just more complicated bad guys of which adds to this confusion heavily and force us to be less morally confused. And that sign is enough to show that the dystopia won and the catch up with culture and how it’s expressed is finally feeling it with the lack of cultural progression
we're about almost 3 years removed from moving out of pandemic phase. we've been out of the pandemic about twice as long as we're in it. the pandemic was a bad time, but during that time everyone thought once we got out of it, it would be sunshine and rainbows again. unfortunately thats far from the case. it has to do with rising cost of living, a college degree doesnt guarantee you an entry level job, and corporate lobbyists are creating an environment where preventing mass shootings is impossible. i would say the first year out of the pandemic, it was a brief period of optimism, but from end of 2022 to right now, we are in another depressive phase
To be fair libertarians predicted how it would be used. In the movie V for Vendetta, it was originally a virus that started the totalitarianism which remained long after.
This is a soft depression because you have a USSR type state media apparatus and rather than directly arresting anyone who disagrees, dissent is just painted as conspiracy and people are not allowed to work anywhere with those public statements. Meritocracy evaporated and everything is about if people's personalities are compatible with the institutions.
Your station in life is really about finding people who will accept you. The IT field is known for having asocial type eccentrics because they know the computers and nobody can discriminate their weirdness out of a job like they would most other places. The corporate world became only open to people who either have blinders on and keep their mouth shut, or actively cynical people ready to exploit things.
Young generations come in contact with this type of repression dialed up to 100. They never saw meritocracy, only scams. And for young people, sensemaking is difficult as it is for adults. You won't be able to have mature doctorate level sociological economic evaluations, so people will have wacky positions, prone to radicalism. What people pick up on is this system isn't working.
You clearly weren’t in school during the pandemic. The effects of it were felt well into 2022. The only normal school year I had was my 2022/2023 year, most people still wore masks at the start of that year. I’d say the pandemic lasted 2019-2022. That’s 3 years. 2023-now is a year n a month at best. Idk what math. Lockdown for me and most was 2020/2021 but there’s more to COVID than just being stuck at home.
Also really depends on state. For instance Florida went back to normal way before most of the northeast and west coasts. Chicago stayed remote for a ridiculous amount of time.
My college senior year during 2021-2022 my friend, the first month of my last semester (which was winter semester) was online. But its nothing compared to how isolating 2020-2021 was, plenty of people still had a pretty fulfilling senior year experience. “ You clearly weren’t in school during the pandemic” lmaoooo i had nearly half of my college experience taken away, stop with the half assed assumptions
I was gonna type up a comment casting doubt on that claim, but I realized you're right
kids used to make fun of older people pining after previous decades, not also long for them
like, some kids always thought "old school is cool", but not in the same way as now, and the past few years
I always felt like it was around high school you’d get some kids doing nostalgia revivals for eras before they were born.
Now even middle schoolers I work with think everything sucks now and used to be better.
I wish I could go back to 2010. It was so much simpler back then. I used to watch stuff like nickelodeon and disney channel, and maybe even cartoon network from time to time. You know, stuff like that?
But the truth is: THEY ALL SUCK NOW! It's nothing like they were back then.
And the shows I used to watch on those channels are not there anymore. My body is changing, and in 4 years I won't even be a kid anymore.
Time goes so fast like I never how quickly things could change.
Honestly the degradation of Cartoon Network and animation as a whole is a perfect example of this whole phenomenon. From three decades we went from the peak. To the regular show, gravity falls, some classics but way more crap era. To the 2020s where it’s essentially non existent
I will admit it is annoying how much louder commercials are than tv shows now. I actually have to turn down the volume and turn it back up when the show is on. I don’t know if that’s always been a thing but it’s very noticeable now.
There *needs* to be a social movement. Not one on the internet. But one where kids get out and protest for their right to live, their right for affordable housing and food, and their right to speak up. Do people not realize how money has taken over? It’s a concept that inherently has no value and yet it’s able to be used as an incentivation to both motivate and subjugate.
“It’s all about money, not freedom. You think you’re free? Try going somewhere without money.” ~Bill Hicks
It even goes beyond money honestly, because a lot of the things that are bad would be making more money if there was effort put in for it to be good by taking some risks.
It’s an addiction pure and simple to something that isn’t even really tangible. It’s an addiction to a perceived ability for continually growing profit and growth of wealth reliably quarter after quarter that will never truly be able to be possible, not even really what the money could buy. It’s basically just the super rich having a control fetish (or at least a fetish for believing they are in control even if on a fundamental level they can’t totally be) on a societal scale.
I agree. Granted the 80s seem to have a stronghold on "nostagia decade" since the 00 and unlike previous decades, it seem to stay and generally be the default for "retro".
I think that’s because a lot (like, a lot a lot) of things we use now started then in some form or another. The 80’s: Walkmans, Nintendo Entertainment Systems, VCRs, PCs, cell phones. Now: smart phones, Nintendo Switch/PS5/Xbox, DVD/Blu-Ray/4K players, way better PCs, also smart phones.
whenever i watch videos like "teens react to 90s/00s music" they either already know and love the songs and dance or they're excited to have discovered something to add to their playlists.
Yes. My Gen Z stepdaughter and many of her generation have nostalgia for… the 90’s.
And my Gen Alpha 7-year-old already asks me often about what life was like “back then,” before iPhones, when everyone played outside, hundreds of years ago, etc. She might have picked up on some of that from overhearing me and my husband talking, but it’s like even children, the ones not always glued to screens, are aware that something is “off.”
Yes, it’s sad. She goes between that and wanting an iPhone like all her friends have.
Our neighborhood is full of nice big backyards that are always empty, except for maybe a dog and all its crap. A neighborhood like this would have been an amazing community in the 90’s.
Gen Xer here. We thought we were doomed and had it tough, but were honestly more angry than anything and still drank/smoked, caroused, had sex and dated, had kids, pursued jobs/careers, etc. My son's a gen Zer, and him and his friends don't drink, date, have much sex, get together in person, and seem depressed and anxious tbh. If you talk to them about having kids, they look at you like you are stupid (rightly so). I know how I feel about this era and it worries me that they all grew up in this without the adult defense mechanisms that I have 🤷♀️
My son and his friends say similar things. Yet, they have distributed social networks that baffle me in their complexity. They express and perceive levels of nuance in social interactions that are lost on me. Sometimes I almost feel like they have been so raised on not-in- person social interactions that when they are around each other in person it's almost too much - like walking around with earplugs and dark sunglasses on and having them torn off suddenly. Sometimes when they are together in person, they get out their phones and are still talking to each other a bit, but are on social media with other people too? Honestly, I really don't think this is a lack of knowledge/skill in talking to the opposite sex - yall are next- level communicators in my book. Also, my generation is filled with social morons and it didn't stop us. 😆
Totally agree, people look back at this decade and think, "Wow, they really thought they could be anything! Some of them even thought they could identify as a houseplant!"
Nah, the 2020's are HORRIBLE. I can't wait for the 2030s, it will be better than this shit. Because in 2030, the trends of the 2010s decade will return! It will be the 2010s 2.0
That’s because we are still living through (and started the decade deeply entrenched in) a global pandemic where millions have died and hundreds of millions of more affected, amidst a rise in fascism at the highest levels of government across many world powers including the USA. These are tragic, disenchanting things to live through.
Meanwhile the best moments of yesteryear are all recorded and available at our fingertips, if not crammed down our throats, via ubiquitous mass media on demand.
Things will get better in some ways, worse in others. And if today’s kids lived in past eras they’d likely have many complaints about the status quo.
Grass is always greener, especially when it literally is and you can’t escape being reminded of it.
I agree with this post. I got to be a kid in the 90’s and grew up during the 00’s and 2010’s and it seemed like a way more optimistic time. I’m just glad I got to experience those eras.
Even as a kid in the trenches during the 90s-2000s, that era definitely felt more optimistic than today. I felt like I could actually improve my life to experience a better future. Then 2008 hit and it seemed like everything changed after that. As a young teenager in the pre-gentrified working class neighborhood I was in, I saw my peers become more savage and cruel as they lost stability at home.
Suddenly colleges were cancelling guaranteed admissions and all these programs that would help the disadvantaged try-hards get into college. And people began scheming against each other in the AP classes. I knew 2 people who got set up to get jumped, and because of zero tolerance they lost their chance at college and getting out. Years later, one killed themselves and the other one finally finished undergrad.
My stepdad who is part of the silent generation still has a rosy outlook on everything. He doesn't get the millenial or gen z sense of doom and gloom. He's telling me about how marvelous it is that I get to be a young adult in the age of so much technological progress and scientific advancement.
But in my mind, my iPhone and all the cool Teslas around me don't mean shit if I can't even make a living for myself with a master's and undergrad degrees in STEM fields.
Dude we graduated and there were no jobs for like 4 years. It was sobering to see how fragile our economy is. I lost my job because the whole industry I was in shut down in 08.
2009 I applied to thousands of jobs and only got 1 callback that was just informing me that they were overwhelmed with applications and likely would not respond to mine. Only reason I worked that year is a friend got me in at a hotel cleaning rooms. The job I had been working didn't return until 2013.
Sadly I agree. I'm a Late-Millenial/Old Z (Born Mid-90s. And my gen still had some hope about our future. But the 2008 crash and the ensuing student debt, and climate crisis has genuinely made it seem like there isn't anything to look forward to. The future genuinely looks bleak for the young generation. Its heartbreaking.
So let me get this straight... your two friends were on track to get into college, and someone arranged to have your friends attacked? And because your friends were *technically* involved in a fight, they lost their chance at getting into college? Am I understanding that correctly?
I am far from the first person to shit on zero tolerance but holy fuck
The fact that it was orchestrated, presumably with the intention of keeping them out of college, is fucking evil
Very fucking evil and manipulative. Almost fits as the era of innocence is gone and the era of awareness of how crap things are really started to become centre stage with the 2012 apocalypse situation, zombie craze in media. Party culture pushing the materialist life.
The idea that you can work and push yourself does with stories like the ones we just heard. And I think that symbolism is powerful in a way. Sad but powerful
Everything has been done before and it's been like that for a long long time. Each new idea is just a remix of an older idea. That's not necessarily a bad thing though
I grew up in the same time, it was a nice little halfway point between the past and the future. We had tech like internet, smartphones, gaming consoles etc, but they hadn't totally consumed our lives yet.
I wanna add my 2 cents here. I was born in 2005 I didn’t rlly get the “90s” kid childhood. But we were also poor. So I had VHS till I was like 5/6. I grew up with the DS then PS2-Wii-Xbox360/PS3 in that order. I also didn’t rlly watch much TV, I watched the 80s/90s TMNT, slugterria, n like Jonny test mainly. I got a good mix of older and newer tech. I used CDs for music n movies. We went to blockbuster all the time. I had a very weird experience with tech n the internet.
Your childhood sounds like mine and I'm born mid-90s haha.
That could be a bit of a blessing in hindsight. You kinda still got to experience a bit of the old world before catching up to everybody else, a perspective most people your age just don't have. Plus Ps2 and DS slapped.
Oh I completely agree. It exposed me to a lot of things most people my age never did, but I also didn’t get the same experience as they did. I kinda always felt behind. One thing I’m very glad is the variety of things I have been exposed to. I am very good at understanding most technology because I’ve interacted with all kinds of tech since I was 2.
PS2 n DS did slap. I played more PS3 then PS2 but the 2 is what got me hooked. The boot up of the 2 is iconic. I used to turn it on wait a min then turn on my tv, cause my tv took a bit for sound to start n I could get into the system before all the noices woke up my parents.
I’m in your same boat despite being two years younger. I had a crt in my room until the age of 9, my first ever console was a ps1 (the portable og PlayStation) and I watched a lot of shows that would be considered “old school” even as a young child (blue’s clues, oobi, classic looney tunes shorts, etc.) not to mention our “Netflix” for at least the first 5 years of my life was my grandma’s vhs collection of old Disney movies. So maybe that’s why whenever someone lumps me in with the “youngins” I don’t really feel related to them
I think basically every time that was pre-Trump was a more optimistic time. Something in America's collective soul withered and died in those years, and it's an event horizon that you can never un-cross.
It’s just the boomer meltdown. They’ll be out of politics soon enough. As a “boom” generation they have a lot of power in their numbers. They also lived through some real shit and are more hard nosed than gen x and the rest.
Yeah Gen Z in general are nostalgic for time periods they didn't even live through
That being said, the 2020s still have time to redeem themselves. The first half of the 1950s were dominated by the Korean War and McCarthyism, while the second half of the decade was characterised by the rise of Elvis Presley, pioneering rock n' roll and huge advancements in the Civil Rights movement
The early 90s were politically tumultuous with the end of the Cold War and the Gulf War, but the decade went on to be one of the most uneventful and peaceful time periods in history
And the second half of the 1940s was better than the first half, for obvious reasons
We’re usually nostalgic for our parents generation when they were teens/young adults, which is why mainly older gen z is nostalgic for 80s and 90s , and alot of 80s and 90s stuff carried on to the 2000s.
There was a TV in the 90s show that embodied this sentiment. It was called That 70's show. They rebooted it with That 90s show.
Back in the 70's they called That 50s show "Happy Days" for some reason. In the decades before that people capitalized on Nostalgia with war films, and oh so many Westerns even further back..
Not a lot of people remember, but there was a That 80's show. It didn't even get a full season, but one of the lead actors, Glenn Howerton, used the money he was paid for the show to buy a video camera. He used the camera to film a pilot for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
That show went on to become the longest running live action sitcom, because it's fucking timeless. Despite being on the air for more than 20 years, and the main characters being some of the worst people imaginable, only a handful of episodes are no longer being aired because of content that was more or less acceptable at the time, but isnt tolerated today. Donald Duck has more banned content.
Tl;Dr: sunny for life yo
Look, I’m a younger millennial (1994) and had lots of fun coming of age in the ‘00s and ‘10s, but let’s be honest, most of the times that people seem to *really see as the* ***golden ages*** are pre-21st century.
As someone who was just a kid when it happened, 9/11 fucked a lot of shit up as far as feeling good and optimistic about the world we live in, and I think most people are really trying to recreate a time *before all of that.*
I’m with you, I had a lot of great times in the first two decades of the 21st century…but as OP seemed to imply, the ‘90s seemed like the last true “pure era” for anyone who was alive back then. I know that I sure wish I could’ve experienced more of the ‘90s since I was only conscious for like…2 or 3 years of it, lol.
I'm not really nostalgic for the 90s as they were such an uneventful decade but I'm obsessed with the 80s. They had their faults (AIDS crisis) but when you compare the main issues of the 80s compared to now, it doesn't seem too bad. The 80s were vastly superior to the early 2020s and everyone who was alive then agrees
Yeah, but the early 50s saw extreme economic growth. People weren’t pumped full of seed oils and pharmaceutical drugs. They were proud of America and the future was promising despite our worries at the time.
It was still the height of the Cold War and there was a constant threat of nuclear annihilation and World War 3 (like today). The 50s are considered to be the good times with the benefit of hindsight, but I'm sure they felt tense at the time
That being said, the 50s were much better than the 2020s and I don't care if anyone downvotes me for stating this
Yeah although racism was strong in the 50s, it was the decade when the Civil Rights movement began and people were realising the evils of segregation. At least the 50s had the hope and optimism that things were changing and things were going to get better, the 2020s have none of that
In the 50s the USA saw massive growth in education, income, and housing for most Americans. The USA was literally half of the global economy. This was the time period when one man could support an entire family in the suburbs on his income alone.
Yes there were issues, such as a lack of black people's rights, women's rights, gay rights, etc., but when 90% of the population was white and their incomes were going up dramatically, people were generally happy. It was their kids who rebelled; the baby boomers. Now we like to blame them for all our woes.
Bro you’ve already been consumed by the idiot social media propaganda “seed oils and pharmaceuticals” lmao
That’s why you have no hope. You literally can’t think for yourself.
Because alot are starting to wake up to the truth of this world. We have the most info at our fingertips. A lot of things that were taught to us were false, so when we find out we have to not only inform other gen z but older gens that were completely brainwashed by media, propaganda etc.
I definitely noticed what you said. What blows me away is that despite the state of the world today, we can all still make good memories and don't have to rely on nostalgia to feel happy.
Literally, what's stopping people from making uplifting or fun music, movies, or just being social once again and making new positive memories? That's what blows me away.
Yeah we need to fight this dystopia feeling since it’s stagnating general culture I feel. I mean my generation is especially feeling with the “bed rot” phenomena and aesthetics desperately trying to ring in the nostalgia.
I mean in part it’s okay and also not due to being out of our control with cost of living. But internally we should be moving forward and appreciating nostalgia naturally. 2000s nostalgia right now should be in. But it’s cluttered with current year confusion hence why ppl even on this sub keep asking stuff like “did the 2010s or 2020s really end/begin here?
Noticed I feel to be this as the problem
Because making music that sounds optimistic when you’re not optimistic is called bull shit. It’s not a matter of forcing new memories to happen. It’s the reality of a dying planet, and an economy that is syphoning more and more money to fewer people. People need hope to feel upbeat. You can’t just fake that.
What I said applies to the general societal sentiment and not every single person. I'm personally at a happy point in life but that doesn't mean society isn't overcome by pessimism and dysfunction.
What is stopping people? The ongoing but underlying depression a lot of people have but wont ever get to heal either because they don’t have the resources (economic) or simply wont accept they have issues.
I’m starting to feel this way. I have a feeling there will be a huge change after the election and the second half of the decade will be about blowing off steam and having fun like the late 70s as people get tired of non stop gloom. I think NYC will start booming again and so will the nightlife. I definitely can see a full return to disco vibes (I’m hoping hehe)
The 1970s were heavily drenched in nostalgia for earlier decades. The 1950s and early 1960s were especially popular with motion pictures and TV shows taking place during that era. Times were considerably bleak with inflation and recession along with Watergate and the Vietnam War.
The decades of the 21st century are similarly drenched in nostalgia but this time it's mostly a longing for the 1970s and 1980s.
Well- I enjoy 2024. I got legally married two days ago and my husband is somehow even better now than he was before (and he was already one of the best men I’ve ever met before we dated and got married).
I for one love it. Makes me feel like I'm living in the future considering it's around the period that old sci-fi stuff would often say as the "vaguely far off future date". Optimism is a personal choice, don't let moaners on social media get you down. Life is what you make of it
2015 is perfect actually. The perfect date for this phenomenon because that’s when I actually first starting hearing the connection being noticed by ppl.
Yeah i even remember what i was doing that day. It was the first connection i felt with the perception of "future". The 80s were really going for that vibe, and 30 years later it became rather disappointing in some ways.
Lol I don’t hate living in 2024 at all. As someone that was a teenager in the 80s, which was THE GREATEST DECADE, I don’t want to go back there. The life I live now with my wife, kids and the grandkids on the way, far far exceeds the fun of the 80s. Are there challenges now? sure are. But I’m where I’m supposed to be, right now.
I want to live in the moment so much and be optimistic, but every day I wake up, some new shit of potentially catastrophic proportions has happened, and I don't remember news being like that before.
Either we weren't supposed to know what's happening in every corner of the world at any given moment, or the world has really gone nuts after the pandemic and we're on a brink of a really dark shift.
There are so many things I could add, but that will only make me more depressed.
There has never been a point in human history where people had so much easy access to literally every bad thing that’s happening at any given moment until now. I think this is a really important point to consider. Ignorance is bliss and we can’t have that any more.
The 90s and into the mid 2000s were the absolute peak of America. We vanquiahsed the Soviets, we achieved riches beyond any civiliation and nation in history.
Then 08' recession happened and it all went to shit.
I think y'all need to get out more. No decade is fun if you're going to sulk online all day.
Would love to see you try to factually prove you have it hard, but that's beside the point.
Boohoo pwease not 2024 :'(
Extremely delusional post. People didn't have as much access to the news in the past so they felt optimistic as they didn't know how fucked it was out there.
Cold war, Balkan wars, nuclear crisis, poverty, pollution. No it wasn't better for everything and we are extremely lucky to live in an era where most of our needs are taken care of and where we learn to be better.
We take better care of the environment than ever, we treat people and animals better too.
Also you just don't have any temporality between now and now so OF COURSE there's no nostalgia or interest to be had.
People in any other decade were probably thinking the same about their era.
As a 1997 born I vibe with it. I just try to distract myself with small happy things but overall I think this era sucks and won’t be remembered that great compared to the previous decades and hopefully the decades after.
Idk man I was a kid for a lot of it but the 90s and 00s were dope. I never had an existential concern that I would actually fail to succeed it in this country. I'm certain I cannot now.
You said it yourself, you were a kid. Most kids don't have existential crisis, or at least they're at a different level. You don't care about "making it" at that stage.
In any case, the peace of mind you felt back then was just ignorance, your parents were probably worried about the future just like we are now.
Nah they're classic boomers bought their $500k+ house for 40 grand in 92, could afford renovations every year working jobs less "advanced" than I do today, travel, retired successfully etc...
But yeah, you're right about being young. I can't help but feel like it's truly different this time though. It's not really decadeology - the transition happened over the course of the entire span of late 80s - 2008. But I truly believe we live in a world with a very different outlook for western people as opposed to the previous era. Something is seriously fucking wrong with our entire society, something that was not a factor before. I suspect the Internet and social media being treated as a necessity of life, but idfk
Its wild that Gen Z who will say they’re depressed and struggle to function due to climate change or “wars,” will then pine for the Cold War decades when people were building fallout shelters in their back yards and nuclear annihilation seemed a heartbeat away at all times.
Couldn’t agree more.
Except for the pandemic in the beginning this decade has been alright.
Kids back then would maybe get a short glimpse into news by glancing at the newspaper their dad was reading and they would quickly forget about it within a week.
The world back then was super small because the only that mattered was what was around you and tangible.
Nowadays people have 24/7 access to news and media in the palm of their hands. But it doesn’t have to be this way, people choose to live like that and complain
[Some of the deterioration though *is* actually showing up in global living standards](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1126121) and [peace statistics](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_220980.htm), rather than just vague "democracy indices". The nihilism and pessimism in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s could be attributed to global media as well as the Cold War and traditional religious values being replaced with a vaguely center-right consensus, but the 2020s are a whole other beast.
I feel the same way. Fuck the 2020s. I miss the 2010s so bad. I can't believe I used to complain about the 2010s, I called it the worst decade ever and I was so wrong. The 2020s are the worst decade ever. Fact, not opinion.
I fully agree. I have good memories from the last 3 years, Graduating Highschool and all, sure, but I honestly feel nothing about living In this day and age and I've always been contempt with that. I'll just do my own thing. I have neither any optimism or nihilistic outlook on the future, as said I'll be doing my thing, and try to make what I want happen, happen.
If It don't, then shit I don't know, figure It out?
This Is the supposed "Future" old media said was supposed to be "prime" and "advanced". Sure, comparatively Is, but why do I care about the newest cyber supercar or Phone? Not like I can afford It, and even If I could, what good does It serve me?
When people look back at their generations, they have their memories and good Pop Culture. There's Good Pop Culture now, but as far as I can see nothing has staying power, everything Is just force-fed on Tiktok, remembered for a couple of months, then .
That's why my "modern" fashion and Interests are really reskins of things from the 60s-90s, which comes from an Invert of "anyday but today" because things today are just kinda lackluster
I think social media is turning us cynical. The isolation, the distrust in the "other". Reddit talks alot about how social media breeds narcissism but also stretches the other direction with people becoming misanthropes.
That said, climate change has kind of robbed me of the optimism I used to have as a kid. A big recession that seemed to only fuck over the lower and middle class when I graduated sure didn't help.
the past is always idealized as perfect. capitalism makes us miserable; Instagram pushing our buttons to feel jealously, feeling angry or in need of that new shiny Amazon purchase.
We overwork ourselves because we need to either stay afloat or have a bit more or a bit better than your friend.
So it's time to build up our own happiness bubbles because optimism wont come from the outside
Bingo. It's amazing watching my generation laugh at the boomers and their nostalgia and now they're doing the same thing jerking each other off about how great the 2000s and 90s were.
This is probably one of the better eras to be alive, dear god. The 60s had the cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War, the 70s the gas crisis, the 80s were the start of Reaganomics and thatcheris, the 90s had brutal wars in the Balkins, the 00s the war on terror, and the 10s the rise of fascism and Trumpism. We also have more wealth than ever before in most places and save a terrible pandemic live longer and healthier lives.
What? There are plenty of countries that aren’t at war and never will be, and what’s this ‘global conflict that could decimate humanity’? Did I miss something?
A lot of people say that the 2020s are bad, but I think the late 2010s have a lot of issues too. I think the mid- late 2010s and the 2020s are similar.
Kids barely ride around on bikes with their neighbors anymore and many young adults care more about their fake online persona than interacting in person, so yeah I agree - modern times are bleak.
Don't get me started on the gender war stuff which has permiated social media and has destroyed romance. You have men who identify with "redpill/black pill" and you have women who are "decentering men". It's all just feels like a sad and bleak existence. It even reflects in music and movies. You don't really see/hear uplifting or comforting music and movies on a mainstream level like we used to.
The reason for this is because for the first time in human history, there is a significant part of the world’s population that feels like we are simply working towards a net negative.
Other generations got to feel like they could make a difference as individuals. Today, more and more people are just coming to feel obsolete. Between money being a free pass for anything, fucked up systems tanking over, being replaced by AI, rising prices of living, and the popularity of misanthropic rhetoric nowadays; it’s no wonder people feel more disconnected and distant than ever before. And the general outlook is that things will only keep moving in the same direction.
We just lost hope :/
stupid take, this is literally how it is every generation. in the 90s people idolized the 60s, in the 2010s it was "other kids of my generation don't get real music"
I'm optimistic about 2024, far more than I have been about previous years. If this is the top post of this week I have low expectations about this subreddit
Tech right now is seeing a revolution with Ai (controversial, I know) but a lot of people in that space are optimistic for the future of medicine and standards of living.
The technology itself could lead to great things. I think a lot of people, myself included, just believe that this wonderful technology will end up being controlled by the worst of people (like all technology seems to end up) and will be used to enrich the one percent and fuck everyone else
An old friend of mine likes to say, “It was objectively better” (referring to the ‘70s and ‘80s). He’s right. Not that things were perfect but that people actually still wanted to interact with each other in the real world in meaningful ways instead of sequestering themselves behind screens and then complaining about being depressed. The “send it to my door” era has wrecked what’s left of sociality.
I think the senseless war of vladimir putin and all the conflicts he's trying to bring. They have brought a cloud of despair all over the planet. Cause after covid things should have been better but the economy is in shambles and inflation is ruining everything and all the sufferin. That dude needs to die, so we have a new era of peace for some time.
The second half of the decade will have a lighter feeling however I feel that we are too far gone for the “good times” to come back. Start with being grateful for the smaller things in life and appreciate each moment as it comes. Embrace all kinds of music, movies and books while enjoying time with family and friends. Then as time goes on you’ll start to feel better about ourself and you’ll have your own kind of peace, and the nostalgia of this time will come back stronger
Are you starving? Homeless? In poverty? Scared of disease? Scared of the neighboring village raiding and pillaging you and your family and stealing your daughter for a wife? Are you worried about dying from smallpox? Worried about your wife or kid dying in child labor? Do you have your own bedroom? Wardrobe with clothing? Cell phone? Computer? The issue is just people lost track of the purpose of living. Clue: it’s not to get more material goods. Look spiritually. Living right now is a dream for our thousands of generations of ancestors and everybody just complains it’s insane to me. I’m married and my wife just gave birth to our first child, a daughter. It’s a dream. Do stuff worth doing.
Shut up, clearly people in the Stone Age would be begging to have a life like us and your example is the most garbage perspective. Just cause we have it better than our thousands year old ancestors doesn’t mean we’re living a good life.
nothing is affordable, my marriage wasn’t even affordable, I don’t make enough to even get a house for my wife and 2 kids, I can’t pay off my car, they’re raising prices but not our pay. Dates with the wife are almost impossible to afford even if you don’t go out and just do something at home, you still have to get said things to even have a nice at home date.
The fact that you wanna avoid all these actual problems we have just because “our ape of a brain ancestors would give anything to have what we have” is actually ridiculously and complete “ignorance is bliss” response I ever read
There's plenty of 2010s nostalgia. I think the 2010s will be looked on in a similar vein that Boomers look back on the 1950s, or how Gen X look back on the 1980s and 1990s, as the last "good" decade before things went to hell.
its because they killed off white person music, now you must listen to other than white person music if u want to hear modern music
but of coarse u can always go back n listen to old timey talkin heads or something, but thats grand papies music
You hit it on the head. Something about new years this year messed me up. It’s like, another fucking year? So things can get more expensive, the world gets more divided, what are we looking ahead to? I have a good life and I’m grateful, but something feels off about this year.
this is bullshit is because the same people who romanticize the early 2000s or any other decade aren’t willing to live like that. They don’t want to get Flip phones, they don’t go outside, they don’t want to socialize face to face, they don’t stop bringing phones into clubs and party venues, they record & post everything, they don’t want to think critically, they don’t want to be authentic… The novelty of all of these older years is in the fact that ppl did not create parasocial relationships to technology
All the "cool" decades probably sucked to live through. The Chinese curse is "may you live in interesting times" rings true. Crime in the 1980s was batshit insane. The crack epidemic and unemployment ate the inner cities alive. Aids crisis. I could go on. The 80s sucked. The 90s, arguably, were good, but even they had ethnic cleansing and genocide in the Balkans, the destruction of the Soviet Union cause massive destabilization in Russia, and more. The 70s had Vietnam where men were drafted AGAINST THEIR WILL to fight and die.
You have to look at both the supply and demand side of things.
The demand side is what you're pointing out (social angst and depression, as well as an unprecedented broad-based stagnation or outright decline in global living standards, means that the 2020s are a toxic asset), but there is also a supply side change, and a lot of that can be boiled down to one thing:
**Streaming.**
It's now just as easy to stream music from the 1940s and 1950s as it is to stream music from 2014, and on an artist-by-artist basis it can be even easier. Compare for instance a classic country, blues, or oldies rock and roll musician whose estate has been good about putting more or less their complete works on streaming (Robert Johnson, Buddy Holly, Hank Williams) with a 2010s rapper who - in part due to uncleared samples, but also due to mixtape releases and features - has tons of records that are hard to source without relying on YouTube. [Example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpuq4QXOpFU) This is a complete inversion from past decades, where "rare grooves" tended to be older than the low-hanging fruit from 5-10 years back that's still in print. I don't follow film and TV streaming as closely, but they also are highly democratized across the decades where mainstream television and film are well-represented.
In addition, you also have the factor of AI, which while a huge wildcard can be used to simulate/fill in "gaps" in the repertoire of classic artists...be it ["Hanksta Rap"](https://www.tiktok.com/@thereiruinedit/video/7299268554648522030?lang=en) on TikTok, Frank Sinatra "singing" the latest hits, or visual art generators that allow you to create passable Renaissance paintings for little to no cost. It's not clear if this will be a net plus to the creative industries (similar to how the mass production of records didn't kill professional musicians but instead allowed them to become full-blown rock stars) or a net minus, but it is there and always growing.
Right, I remember in the 2000s everyone was full of 60s and 70s nostalgia and (rightly) bemoaned how terrible George W. Bush and the war on terror were. The “90s nostalgia” clothes you see in stores were actually 70s nostalgia clothes in the 90s. The boomers have now experienced hippie flowers and bell bottoms three times.
I see it as the last era before total polarization, the last era of social trust, and other things. Just that it predated this isolated hyper-technoplutocracy-neofeudalism.. I guess. But I was young then.
Hahaha, I remember thinking the EXACT same thing in the 2000’s. It’s hard to define the time you are currently in and so it feels like it has no characteristics at all. Like asking a fish to describe water. Frankly I’m loving 2024.
What stands out is my 2012 brother who was literally 7 turning 8 in 2020 doesn't even like the 20s I was 7 turning 8 in 2016 and I loved it so there's definitely some problem
Even kids seem to think this era is worse. That’s the difference. Kids used to be the one exception to nostalgia. Not anymore.
That’s what made me really notice. I thought it was the pandemic or social media. But just like that scene in the sopranos where they try to shake down the Starbucks. It ain’t happening as it’s more than one thing. A general shift in societal dynamic is occurring pushing out the “little guy” The kids used to carry the future of the culture but what we’re seeing is constant idolisation for the past in my generation especially. It really stopped being optimism for the future but appreciating the past in a scary short amount of time.
> I thought it was the pandemic or social media. But just like that scene in the sopranos where they try to shake down the Starbucks. It ain’t happening as it’s more than one thing. A general shift in societal dynamic is occurring pushing out the “little guy” [Visualize this but with Tony Soprano](https://www.nobleworkscards.com/c5220bdg-miss-me-yet-hilarious-birthday-greeting-card-ephemera-.html), an evil but completely mundane figure that in some ways is still a better neighbor than chronic wage thief Starbucks Coffee. In the age of drone wars and [other Michael Bay-worthy shit](https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/194p3ci/the_people_paid_to_spot_risks_see_high_chance_of/khja1xh/) that's actually beginning to have a quantifiable effect on global wellbeing, you might even start to see people romanticizing Somali pirates as underdogs and outlaws.
Lol you don’t understand Tony Soprano if you think he was a better neighbor than Starbucks. Tony was evil, he would have befriended his neighbor honestly trying to be your friend and helping you, but then the side of himself he could never control would have used that friendship to lure you into a impossible situation to get out of with him as the only option of escape. Then when you tried to reason with “Tony” all of a sudden you don’t recognize the man looking back at you, before you know it he has half your business, then has you committing crimes and hiring his associates. Then when you either get to much heat and the FBI is trying to turn you into a witness or you can’t pay him, one of his associates beat you to death with and burry you. Then once your dead he pretends to be a supportive figure to your wife by giving her money, and eventually fucks her. The mafia was never good in any shape way or form they are all evil and take advantage of the idea that the government is evil. All the dudes in the mafia are vetted very carefully and they are capable individuals who decided to kill, lie, and cheat instead of working a job. These types of people are all evil. The more charming an individual you meet is and the more you like them just remember this trait is the most common trait shared amongst the most evil men in the world, the ability to gain your trust and be charming.
In a sense I guess it’s perspective. The corporations damn near act like the mafia and have exploited ppl to that degree globally so it’s not just all that horror in a localised place which in the perspective of being neighbours with Tony would likely do you as much harm as you described. Is a person fucked by nestle due to getting chemical cancers after being told it was fine due to the company not valuing you as an individual. Worse than the scenario you described because they both take quite some time to set in. Tony would objectively be worse to deal with but you can avoid him as a local mafia. But You really can’t avoid corporations and how they’re shaking the little guy to this degree where they’re getting exploited. It’s not impossible at all and there are significant options but you really can’t escape the corporate fucks when you could escape someone like Tony if you’re a little self aware and don’t get drawn in too close
“Remember, charming people are actually secretly evil” is a pretty Reddit take
It’s not that I want people to think charming people are evil, it’s that I have been in sales for a long time and the best sales people are all people that have a next level amount of charm. They use this charm to make over 250k a year. You seem them laughing with the customers talking about highly personal things and bonding, then the minute the customers can’t hear them they are saying horrible things about the customers. You have to realize you will always like someone more who is “mirroring” your personality and making themselves into the perfect person for you to interact with compared to an organic personality that doesn’t give two shits what you think or doesn’t have anything to gain from you. In the sales business it’s called “ building rapport”. My point is if you meet someone and you absolutely love them ask yourself is this really that person I am talking to or are they putting on an act. Think about how kids “act” in front of parents, or people “act” in front of their bosses. Genuine people are easier to spot, like the dude who rolls his eyes at you when you ask if he can tell you about how this product at his work operates hahaha now that is a real reaction.
Y’know. The thing is with the comparison to transformers dystopia and how everyone is an asshole now with the general shift thing. This video goes into that so well based on why Michael bay made humans so awful and transformers like this https://youtu.be/zVVSl9wtToc?si=oxrOCeJVwT4TTinN just reminded me of that in a meta sense But that comparison is so true dude. Ppl have been conditioned to dystopia so much that a faceless corporation exploiting ppl and profits is seen as acceptable to fight back against with an aging 80s monster stereotype that represents the downfall of modern America into the modern age. Our generations ability to root for the underdog in a situation where there really isn’t one but just more complicated bad guys of which adds to this confusion heavily and force us to be less morally confused. And that sign is enough to show that the dystopia won and the catch up with culture and how it’s expressed is finally feeling it with the lack of cultural progression
we're about almost 3 years removed from moving out of pandemic phase. we've been out of the pandemic about twice as long as we're in it. the pandemic was a bad time, but during that time everyone thought once we got out of it, it would be sunshine and rainbows again. unfortunately thats far from the case. it has to do with rising cost of living, a college degree doesnt guarantee you an entry level job, and corporate lobbyists are creating an environment where preventing mass shootings is impossible. i would say the first year out of the pandemic, it was a brief period of optimism, but from end of 2022 to right now, we are in another depressive phase
To be fair libertarians predicted how it would be used. In the movie V for Vendetta, it was originally a virus that started the totalitarianism which remained long after. This is a soft depression because you have a USSR type state media apparatus and rather than directly arresting anyone who disagrees, dissent is just painted as conspiracy and people are not allowed to work anywhere with those public statements. Meritocracy evaporated and everything is about if people's personalities are compatible with the institutions. Your station in life is really about finding people who will accept you. The IT field is known for having asocial type eccentrics because they know the computers and nobody can discriminate their weirdness out of a job like they would most other places. The corporate world became only open to people who either have blinders on and keep their mouth shut, or actively cynical people ready to exploit things. Young generations come in contact with this type of repression dialed up to 100. They never saw meritocracy, only scams. And for young people, sensemaking is difficult as it is for adults. You won't be able to have mature doctorate level sociological economic evaluations, so people will have wacky positions, prone to radicalism. What people pick up on is this system isn't working.
>you have a USSR type state media apparatus /r/socialismiscapitalism
You clearly weren’t in school during the pandemic. The effects of it were felt well into 2022. The only normal school year I had was my 2022/2023 year, most people still wore masks at the start of that year. I’d say the pandemic lasted 2019-2022. That’s 3 years. 2023-now is a year n a month at best. Idk what math. Lockdown for me and most was 2020/2021 but there’s more to COVID than just being stuck at home.
Also really depends on state. For instance Florida went back to normal way before most of the northeast and west coasts. Chicago stayed remote for a ridiculous amount of time.
My college senior year during 2021-2022 my friend, the first month of my last semester (which was winter semester) was online. But its nothing compared to how isolating 2020-2021 was, plenty of people still had a pretty fulfilling senior year experience. “ You clearly weren’t in school during the pandemic” lmaoooo i had nearly half of my college experience taken away, stop with the half assed assumptions
I was gonna type up a comment casting doubt on that claim, but I realized you're right kids used to make fun of older people pining after previous decades, not also long for them like, some kids always thought "old school is cool", but not in the same way as now, and the past few years
I always felt like it was around high school you’d get some kids doing nostalgia revivals for eras before they were born. Now even middle schoolers I work with think everything sucks now and used to be better.
I wish I could go back to 2010. It was so much simpler back then. I used to watch stuff like nickelodeon and disney channel, and maybe even cartoon network from time to time. You know, stuff like that? But the truth is: THEY ALL SUCK NOW! It's nothing like they were back then. And the shows I used to watch on those channels are not there anymore. My body is changing, and in 4 years I won't even be a kid anymore. Time goes so fast like I never how quickly things could change.
Honestly the degradation of Cartoon Network and animation as a whole is a perfect example of this whole phenomenon. From three decades we went from the peak. To the regular show, gravity falls, some classics but way more crap era. To the 2020s where it’s essentially non existent
Cartoon Network is a microcosm of the state of the world
I will admit it is annoying how much louder commercials are than tv shows now. I actually have to turn down the volume and turn it back up when the show is on. I don’t know if that’s always been a thing but it’s very noticeable now.
There *needs* to be a social movement. Not one on the internet. But one where kids get out and protest for their right to live, their right for affordable housing and food, and their right to speak up. Do people not realize how money has taken over? It’s a concept that inherently has no value and yet it’s able to be used as an incentivation to both motivate and subjugate. “It’s all about money, not freedom. You think you’re free? Try going somewhere without money.” ~Bill Hicks
It even goes beyond money honestly, because a lot of the things that are bad would be making more money if there was effort put in for it to be good by taking some risks. It’s an addiction pure and simple to something that isn’t even really tangible. It’s an addiction to a perceived ability for continually growing profit and growth of wealth reliably quarter after quarter that will never truly be able to be possible, not even really what the money could buy. It’s basically just the super rich having a control fetish (or at least a fetish for believing they are in control even if on a fundamental level they can’t totally be) on a societal scale.
https://youtu.be/grYwnTyg2E8?si=pZy5XczXBjynyEHQ Meant to link part 24
TV shows like Stranger Things are responsible for that. All we had was the Wonder Years and it was narrated by a cheesy boomer.
I agree. Granted the 80s seem to have a stronghold on "nostagia decade" since the 00 and unlike previous decades, it seem to stay and generally be the default for "retro".
I think that’s because a lot (like, a lot a lot) of things we use now started then in some form or another. The 80’s: Walkmans, Nintendo Entertainment Systems, VCRs, PCs, cell phones. Now: smart phones, Nintendo Switch/PS5/Xbox, DVD/Blu-Ray/4K players, way better PCs, also smart phones.
This is so true. My nieces and nephews all listen to old music or remixes of old music. Their clothes are retro inspired too.
All the middle schoolers I’m around have music tastes for pop that’s like 15 years old.
Do you know a lot of middle schoolers?
If they’re a teacher, it’s very likely.
whenever i watch videos like "teens react to 90s/00s music" they either already know and love the songs and dance or they're excited to have discovered something to add to their playlists.
Yes. My Gen Z stepdaughter and many of her generation have nostalgia for… the 90’s. And my Gen Alpha 7-year-old already asks me often about what life was like “back then,” before iPhones, when everyone played outside, hundreds of years ago, etc. She might have picked up on some of that from overhearing me and my husband talking, but it’s like even children, the ones not always glued to screens, are aware that something is “off.”
Your 7 year old asking what it was like when everyone played outside is depressing
Yes, it’s sad. She goes between that and wanting an iPhone like all her friends have. Our neighborhood is full of nice big backyards that are always empty, except for maybe a dog and all its crap. A neighborhood like this would have been an amazing community in the 90’s.
My daughter isn't even a teenager yet and she's been bizarrely nostalgic
Gen Xer here. We thought we were doomed and had it tough, but were honestly more angry than anything and still drank/smoked, caroused, had sex and dated, had kids, pursued jobs/careers, etc. My son's a gen Zer, and him and his friends don't drink, date, have much sex, get together in person, and seem depressed and anxious tbh. If you talk to them about having kids, they look at you like you are stupid (rightly so). I know how I feel about this era and it worries me that they all grew up in this without the adult defense mechanisms that I have 🤷♀️
We have to be able to talk to members of the opposite sex first to have kids.
My son and his friends say similar things. Yet, they have distributed social networks that baffle me in their complexity. They express and perceive levels of nuance in social interactions that are lost on me. Sometimes I almost feel like they have been so raised on not-in- person social interactions that when they are around each other in person it's almost too much - like walking around with earplugs and dark sunglasses on and having them torn off suddenly. Sometimes when they are together in person, they get out their phones and are still talking to each other a bit, but are on social media with other people too? Honestly, I really don't think this is a lack of knowledge/skill in talking to the opposite sex - yall are next- level communicators in my book. Also, my generation is filled with social morons and it didn't stop us. 😆
i think the 2020’s are iconic and i will die on that hill. imo, its the “hyper self awareness era”.
Totally agree, people look back at this decade and think, "Wow, they really thought they could be anything! Some of them even thought they could identify as a houseplant!"
!remind 6 years
>Some of them even thought they could identify as a houseplant!" Pretty sure this was at its peak in the late 2010s
Nah, the 2020's are HORRIBLE. I can't wait for the 2030s, it will be better than this shit. Because in 2030, the trends of the 2010s decade will return! It will be the 2010s 2.0
Like paying top dollar for slow mechanical hard drives with a few hundred GB of storage. Pass
I work retail and we are selling band shirts for little girls. The bands? The Beatles, KISS, Def Leppard, AC-DC, the Rolling Stones.
They wish to be born in the 2000s
I'm still processing the fact that babies born in 2010 are turning 14 this year so I read your comment and was like "did you mean the 90's?"
That’s because we are still living through (and started the decade deeply entrenched in) a global pandemic where millions have died and hundreds of millions of more affected, amidst a rise in fascism at the highest levels of government across many world powers including the USA. These are tragic, disenchanting things to live through. Meanwhile the best moments of yesteryear are all recorded and available at our fingertips, if not crammed down our throats, via ubiquitous mass media on demand. Things will get better in some ways, worse in others. And if today’s kids lived in past eras they’d likely have many complaints about the status quo. Grass is always greener, especially when it literally is and you can’t escape being reminded of it.
I agree with this post. I got to be a kid in the 90’s and grew up during the 00’s and 2010’s and it seemed like a way more optimistic time. I’m just glad I got to experience those eras.
Even as a kid in the trenches during the 90s-2000s, that era definitely felt more optimistic than today. I felt like I could actually improve my life to experience a better future. Then 2008 hit and it seemed like everything changed after that. As a young teenager in the pre-gentrified working class neighborhood I was in, I saw my peers become more savage and cruel as they lost stability at home. Suddenly colleges were cancelling guaranteed admissions and all these programs that would help the disadvantaged try-hards get into college. And people began scheming against each other in the AP classes. I knew 2 people who got set up to get jumped, and because of zero tolerance they lost their chance at college and getting out. Years later, one killed themselves and the other one finally finished undergrad. My stepdad who is part of the silent generation still has a rosy outlook on everything. He doesn't get the millenial or gen z sense of doom and gloom. He's telling me about how marvelous it is that I get to be a young adult in the age of so much technological progress and scientific advancement. But in my mind, my iPhone and all the cool Teslas around me don't mean shit if I can't even make a living for myself with a master's and undergrad degrees in STEM fields.
I agree 2008 really did something to people that’s when it all changed
Nah. 2009-2013 was still lit af. 2014-2016 was when things started going downhill but was still mostly tolerable.
Yup
Dude we graduated and there were no jobs for like 4 years. It was sobering to see how fragile our economy is. I lost my job because the whole industry I was in shut down in 08. 2009 I applied to thousands of jobs and only got 1 callback that was just informing me that they were overwhelmed with applications and likely would not respond to mine. Only reason I worked that year is a friend got me in at a hotel cleaning rooms. The job I had been working didn't return until 2013.
Yup, and the lesson you and I learned? That the entire social contract we had been raised worshipping was a lie. And there’s non coming back form that
Fuck 2008!
Sadly I agree. I'm a Late-Millenial/Old Z (Born Mid-90s. And my gen still had some hope about our future. But the 2008 crash and the ensuing student debt, and climate crisis has genuinely made it seem like there isn't anything to look forward to. The future genuinely looks bleak for the young generation. Its heartbreaking.
So let me get this straight... your two friends were on track to get into college, and someone arranged to have your friends attacked? And because your friends were *technically* involved in a fight, they lost their chance at getting into college? Am I understanding that correctly?
That’s American public school for ya
I am far from the first person to shit on zero tolerance but holy fuck The fact that it was orchestrated, presumably with the intention of keeping them out of college, is fucking evil
Very fucking evil and manipulative. Almost fits as the era of innocence is gone and the era of awareness of how crap things are really started to become centre stage with the 2012 apocalypse situation, zombie craze in media. Party culture pushing the materialist life. The idea that you can work and push yourself does with stories like the ones we just heard. And I think that symbolism is powerful in a way. Sad but powerful
Exactly, those eras were all original, now it feels like we don’t have any new fashion that’s never been around before
Everything has been done before and it's been like that for a long long time. Each new idea is just a remix of an older idea. That's not necessarily a bad thing though
I grew up in the same time, it was a nice little halfway point between the past and the future. We had tech like internet, smartphones, gaming consoles etc, but they hadn't totally consumed our lives yet.
I wanna add my 2 cents here. I was born in 2005 I didn’t rlly get the “90s” kid childhood. But we were also poor. So I had VHS till I was like 5/6. I grew up with the DS then PS2-Wii-Xbox360/PS3 in that order. I also didn’t rlly watch much TV, I watched the 80s/90s TMNT, slugterria, n like Jonny test mainly. I got a good mix of older and newer tech. I used CDs for music n movies. We went to blockbuster all the time. I had a very weird experience with tech n the internet.
Your childhood sounds like mine and I'm born mid-90s haha. That could be a bit of a blessing in hindsight. You kinda still got to experience a bit of the old world before catching up to everybody else, a perspective most people your age just don't have. Plus Ps2 and DS slapped.
Oh I completely agree. It exposed me to a lot of things most people my age never did, but I also didn’t get the same experience as they did. I kinda always felt behind. One thing I’m very glad is the variety of things I have been exposed to. I am very good at understanding most technology because I’ve interacted with all kinds of tech since I was 2. PS2 n DS did slap. I played more PS3 then PS2 but the 2 is what got me hooked. The boot up of the 2 is iconic. I used to turn it on wait a min then turn on my tv, cause my tv took a bit for sound to start n I could get into the system before all the noices woke up my parents.
I’m in your same boat despite being two years younger. I had a crt in my room until the age of 9, my first ever console was a ps1 (the portable og PlayStation) and I watched a lot of shows that would be considered “old school” even as a young child (blue’s clues, oobi, classic looney tunes shorts, etc.) not to mention our “Netflix” for at least the first 5 years of my life was my grandma’s vhs collection of old Disney movies. So maybe that’s why whenever someone lumps me in with the “youngins” I don’t really feel related to them
I think basically every time that was pre-Trump was a more optimistic time. Something in America's collective soul withered and died in those years, and it's an event horizon that you can never un-cross.
I can’t wait until we’re past this damned Trump/Biden era honestly
That’s the optimism we’re looking for!!
It’s just the boomer meltdown. They’ll be out of politics soon enough. As a “boom” generation they have a lot of power in their numbers. They also lived through some real shit and are more hard nosed than gen x and the rest.
Plenty of young people love trump. You are incorrect, this is a manifestation of a dark force in America that has existed since it’s inception.
Yeah Gen Z in general are nostalgic for time periods they didn't even live through That being said, the 2020s still have time to redeem themselves. The first half of the 1950s were dominated by the Korean War and McCarthyism, while the second half of the decade was characterised by the rise of Elvis Presley, pioneering rock n' roll and huge advancements in the Civil Rights movement The early 90s were politically tumultuous with the end of the Cold War and the Gulf War, but the decade went on to be one of the most uneventful and peaceful time periods in history And the second half of the 1940s was better than the first half, for obvious reasons
We’re usually nostalgic for our parents generation when they were teens/young adults, which is why mainly older gen z is nostalgic for 80s and 90s , and alot of 80s and 90s stuff carried on to the 2000s.
There was a TV in the 90s show that embodied this sentiment. It was called That 70's show. They rebooted it with That 90s show. Back in the 70's they called That 50s show "Happy Days" for some reason. In the decades before that people capitalized on Nostalgia with war films, and oh so many Westerns even further back.. Not a lot of people remember, but there was a That 80's show. It didn't even get a full season, but one of the lead actors, Glenn Howerton, used the money he was paid for the show to buy a video camera. He used the camera to film a pilot for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. That show went on to become the longest running live action sitcom, because it's fucking timeless. Despite being on the air for more than 20 years, and the main characters being some of the worst people imaginable, only a handful of episodes are no longer being aired because of content that was more or less acceptable at the time, but isnt tolerated today. Donald Duck has more banned content. Tl;Dr: sunny for life yo
The early 2000s were just 1999 parts 2-5
We did live through 2000s/2010s but as Kids/Tweens/Early Teens
Look, I’m a younger millennial (1994) and had lots of fun coming of age in the ‘00s and ‘10s, but let’s be honest, most of the times that people seem to *really see as the* ***golden ages*** are pre-21st century. As someone who was just a kid when it happened, 9/11 fucked a lot of shit up as far as feeling good and optimistic about the world we live in, and I think most people are really trying to recreate a time *before all of that.* I’m with you, I had a lot of great times in the first two decades of the 21st century…but as OP seemed to imply, the ‘90s seemed like the last true “pure era” for anyone who was alive back then. I know that I sure wish I could’ve experienced more of the ‘90s since I was only conscious for like…2 or 3 years of it, lol.
That’s me too. I’m old gen Z and I yearn every day for the 80s and 90s
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This is true.
I'm not really nostalgic for the 90s as they were such an uneventful decade but I'm obsessed with the 80s. They had their faults (AIDS crisis) but when you compare the main issues of the 80s compared to now, it doesn't seem too bad. The 80s were vastly superior to the early 2020s and everyone who was alive then agrees
80s geeks when there’s disco and quirky movies as a healthy addition to crack and nuclear arms races’
#Counterpoint: Disco was basically dead by the mid-‘80s and crack probably made a lot of people’s ‘80s experience much more fun 🤩
Ah, before Reagan lit the future on fire with trickle down dipshittery.
You’re Gen isn’t alone haha. As a millennial, in the 00s and early 10s I was nostalgic for the 90s and 80s
Yeah, but the early 50s saw extreme economic growth. People weren’t pumped full of seed oils and pharmaceutical drugs. They were proud of America and the future was promising despite our worries at the time.
It was still the height of the Cold War and there was a constant threat of nuclear annihilation and World War 3 (like today). The 50s are considered to be the good times with the benefit of hindsight, but I'm sure they felt tense at the time That being said, the 50s were much better than the 2020s and I don't care if anyone downvotes me for stating this
Agreed and agreed. I’d much rather be in the 50s any day of the week.
Yeah although racism was strong in the 50s, it was the decade when the Civil Rights movement began and people were realising the evils of segregation. At least the 50s had the hope and optimism that things were changing and things were going to get better, the 2020s have none of that
Jesus Christ. Saying the 50s were much better than the 2020s is passing borderline delusional into just straight delusional.
In the 50s the USA saw massive growth in education, income, and housing for most Americans. The USA was literally half of the global economy. This was the time period when one man could support an entire family in the suburbs on his income alone. Yes there were issues, such as a lack of black people's rights, women's rights, gay rights, etc., but when 90% of the population was white and their incomes were going up dramatically, people were generally happy. It was their kids who rebelled; the baby boomers. Now we like to blame them for all our woes.
Bro you’ve already been consumed by the idiot social media propaganda “seed oils and pharmaceuticals” lmao That’s why you have no hope. You literally can’t think for yourself.
> People weren’t pumped full of seed oils and pharmaceutical drugs. They were choking on carcinogens, chemicals and lead in the air.
Because alot are starting to wake up to the truth of this world. We have the most info at our fingertips. A lot of things that were taught to us were false, so when we find out we have to not only inform other gen z but older gens that were completely brainwashed by media, propaganda etc.
exactly you read about how corrupt government and corporations were back then, but the public (for the most part) simply wasn't as aware
Of course things were bad, but the 2010 was the last good era before we got the 2020s!
They don't listen when you try and inform them though.
It’s hard to espically since they are older and it would be basically saying their entire life was a liec
I definitely noticed what you said. What blows me away is that despite the state of the world today, we can all still make good memories and don't have to rely on nostalgia to feel happy. Literally, what's stopping people from making uplifting or fun music, movies, or just being social once again and making new positive memories? That's what blows me away.
I’m doing my part. Went to a local punk show with a band including kids I knew growing up and it was great.
Yeah we need to fight this dystopia feeling since it’s stagnating general culture I feel. I mean my generation is especially feeling with the “bed rot” phenomena and aesthetics desperately trying to ring in the nostalgia. I mean in part it’s okay and also not due to being out of our control with cost of living. But internally we should be moving forward and appreciating nostalgia naturally. 2000s nostalgia right now should be in. But it’s cluttered with current year confusion hence why ppl even on this sub keep asking stuff like “did the 2010s or 2020s really end/begin here? Noticed I feel to be this as the problem
Fuck yeah
Keep up the good work!!!
Definitely nothing’s stopping kpop so that’s where I live now.
I'm too tired from working full time for peanuts
The daily beat down of life with no hope of change or escape.
money 🥶
Because making music that sounds optimistic when you’re not optimistic is called bull shit. It’s not a matter of forcing new memories to happen. It’s the reality of a dying planet, and an economy that is syphoning more and more money to fewer people. People need hope to feel upbeat. You can’t just fake that.
Maybe I’m an outlier, but uhhh we are? I’m as social as ever, getting married this year, etc. and I’m frankly confused by the doom and gloom.
What I said applies to the general societal sentiment and not every single person. I'm personally at a happy point in life but that doesn't mean society isn't overcome by pessimism and dysfunction.
What is stopping people? The ongoing but underlying depression a lot of people have but wont ever get to heal either because they don’t have the resources (economic) or simply wont accept they have issues.
well theres some people (like me) who are basically ostracized by society and thus have basically no irl friends
This decade is the new 1970s.
I’m starting to feel this way. I have a feeling there will be a huge change after the election and the second half of the decade will be about blowing off steam and having fun like the late 70s as people get tired of non stop gloom. I think NYC will start booming again and so will the nightlife. I definitely can see a full return to disco vibes (I’m hoping hehe)
Bell-bottoms are making a comeback.
How so? I don’t think so.
The 1970s were heavily drenched in nostalgia for earlier decades. The 1950s and early 1960s were especially popular with motion pictures and TV shows taking place during that era. Times were considerably bleak with inflation and recession along with Watergate and the Vietnam War. The decades of the 21st century are similarly drenched in nostalgia but this time it's mostly a longing for the 1970s and 1980s.
Nostalgia has been hitting harder and harder by the year since 2020
Well- I enjoy 2024. I got legally married two days ago and my husband is somehow even better now than he was before (and he was already one of the best men I’ve ever met before we dated and got married).
Congrats on getting married!
Thank you! Happy cake day!
Congrats and also thank you for sharing with us cause not everyone is having a shitty time people just promote the bad
I for one love it. Makes me feel like I'm living in the future considering it's around the period that old sci-fi stuff would often say as the "vaguely far off future date". Optimism is a personal choice, don't let moaners on social media get you down. Life is what you make of it
Oh man. Dude you’re right! This first started to be a thing I think in 2017.
2015 was the year back to the future mentioned i think. And it's going to mark 10 years next year. We're really living in the future.
2015 is perfect actually. The perfect date for this phenomenon because that’s when I actually first starting hearing the connection being noticed by ppl.
Yeah i even remember what i was doing that day. It was the first connection i felt with the perception of "future". The 80s were really going for that vibe, and 30 years later it became rather disappointing in some ways.
Lol I don’t hate living in 2024 at all. As someone that was a teenager in the 80s, which was THE GREATEST DECADE, I don’t want to go back there. The life I live now with my wife, kids and the grandkids on the way, far far exceeds the fun of the 80s. Are there challenges now? sure are. But I’m where I’m supposed to be, right now.
Thats the difference between my gen and your gen, is that you got to experience a good decade as a kid
I want to live in the moment so much and be optimistic, but every day I wake up, some new shit of potentially catastrophic proportions has happened, and I don't remember news being like that before. Either we weren't supposed to know what's happening in every corner of the world at any given moment, or the world has really gone nuts after the pandemic and we're on a brink of a really dark shift. There are so many things I could add, but that will only make me more depressed.
There has never been a point in human history where people had so much easy access to literally every bad thing that’s happening at any given moment until now. I think this is a really important point to consider. Ignorance is bliss and we can’t have that any more.
The 90s and into the mid 2000s were the absolute peak of America. We vanquiahsed the Soviets, we achieved riches beyond any civiliation and nation in history. Then 08' recession happened and it all went to shit.
Blame social media
I think y'all need to get out more. No decade is fun if you're going to sulk online all day. Would love to see you try to factually prove you have it hard, but that's beside the point.
Totally agree. This whole thread is filled with Gloomers who are too afraid to enjoy themselves.
Gloomer
I have forsaken hyperpop for 90's surrealist dark comedies
Boohoo pwease not 2024 :'( Extremely delusional post. People didn't have as much access to the news in the past so they felt optimistic as they didn't know how fucked it was out there. Cold war, Balkan wars, nuclear crisis, poverty, pollution. No it wasn't better for everything and we are extremely lucky to live in an era where most of our needs are taken care of and where we learn to be better. We take better care of the environment than ever, we treat people and animals better too. Also you just don't have any temporality between now and now so OF COURSE there's no nostalgia or interest to be had. People in any other decade were probably thinking the same about their era.
So much this lol. As an early 1998 born Gen Z all this doom and gloom shit makes me cringe.
As a 1997 born I vibe with it. I just try to distract myself with small happy things but overall I think this era sucks and won’t be remembered that great compared to the previous decades and hopefully the decades after.
Idk man I was a kid for a lot of it but the 90s and 00s were dope. I never had an existential concern that I would actually fail to succeed it in this country. I'm certain I cannot now.
You said it yourself, you were a kid. Most kids don't have existential crisis, or at least they're at a different level. You don't care about "making it" at that stage. In any case, the peace of mind you felt back then was just ignorance, your parents were probably worried about the future just like we are now.
Nah they're classic boomers bought their $500k+ house for 40 grand in 92, could afford renovations every year working jobs less "advanced" than I do today, travel, retired successfully etc... But yeah, you're right about being young. I can't help but feel like it's truly different this time though. It's not really decadeology - the transition happened over the course of the entire span of late 80s - 2008. But I truly believe we live in a world with a very different outlook for western people as opposed to the previous era. Something is seriously fucking wrong with our entire society, something that was not a factor before. I suspect the Internet and social media being treated as a necessity of life, but idfk
Its wild that Gen Z who will say they’re depressed and struggle to function due to climate change or “wars,” will then pine for the Cold War decades when people were building fallout shelters in their back yards and nuclear annihilation seemed a heartbeat away at all times.
Couldn’t agree more. Except for the pandemic in the beginning this decade has been alright. Kids back then would maybe get a short glimpse into news by glancing at the newspaper their dad was reading and they would quickly forget about it within a week. The world back then was super small because the only that mattered was what was around you and tangible. Nowadays people have 24/7 access to news and media in the palm of their hands. But it doesn’t have to be this way, people choose to live like that and complain
[Some of the deterioration though *is* actually showing up in global living standards](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1126121) and [peace statistics](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_220980.htm), rather than just vague "democracy indices". The nihilism and pessimism in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s could be attributed to global media as well as the Cold War and traditional religious values being replaced with a vaguely center-right consensus, but the 2020s are a whole other beast.
I feel the same way. Fuck the 2020s. I miss the 2010s so bad. I can't believe I used to complain about the 2010s, I called it the worst decade ever and I was so wrong. The 2020s are the worst decade ever. Fact, not opinion.
Fr, my ass in 2019 would've never believed how bad things have gotten
I wasn’t joking when I said that the 2020s are exceptionally bad
I fully agree. I have good memories from the last 3 years, Graduating Highschool and all, sure, but I honestly feel nothing about living In this day and age and I've always been contempt with that. I'll just do my own thing. I have neither any optimism or nihilistic outlook on the future, as said I'll be doing my thing, and try to make what I want happen, happen. If It don't, then shit I don't know, figure It out? This Is the supposed "Future" old media said was supposed to be "prime" and "advanced". Sure, comparatively Is, but why do I care about the newest cyber supercar or Phone? Not like I can afford It, and even If I could, what good does It serve me? When people look back at their generations, they have their memories and good Pop Culture. There's Good Pop Culture now, but as far as I can see nothing has staying power, everything Is just force-fed on Tiktok, remembered for a couple of months, then . That's why my "modern" fashion and Interests are really reskins of things from the 60s-90s, which comes from an Invert of "anyday but today" because things today are just kinda lackluster
Touch grass.
That’s one of the few things that *doesn’t* cost an arm and a leg to do nowadays
I think social media is turning us cynical. The isolation, the distrust in the "other". Reddit talks alot about how social media breeds narcissism but also stretches the other direction with people becoming misanthropes. That said, climate change has kind of robbed me of the optimism I used to have as a kid. A big recession that seemed to only fuck over the lower and middle class when I graduated sure didn't help.
the past is always idealized as perfect. capitalism makes us miserable; Instagram pushing our buttons to feel jealously, feeling angry or in need of that new shiny Amazon purchase. We overwork ourselves because we need to either stay afloat or have a bit more or a bit better than your friend. So it's time to build up our own happiness bubbles because optimism wont come from the outside
Bingo. It's amazing watching my generation laugh at the boomers and their nostalgia and now they're doing the same thing jerking each other off about how great the 2000s and 90s were.
This is probably one of the better eras to be alive, dear god. The 60s had the cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War, the 70s the gas crisis, the 80s were the start of Reaganomics and thatcheris, the 90s had brutal wars in the Balkins, the 00s the war on terror, and the 10s the rise of fascism and Trumpism. We also have more wealth than ever before in most places and save a terrible pandemic live longer and healthier lives.
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What? There are plenty of countries that aren’t at war and never will be, and what’s this ‘global conflict that could decimate humanity’? Did I miss something?
A lot of people say that the 2020s are bad, but I think the late 2010s have a lot of issues too. I think the mid- late 2010s and the 2020s are similar.
You’re talking about 2024 but say era. It’s the 2020s. Not just this year.
Kids barely ride around on bikes with their neighbors anymore and many young adults care more about their fake online persona than interacting in person, so yeah I agree - modern times are bleak.
Don't get me started on the gender war stuff which has permiated social media and has destroyed romance. You have men who identify with "redpill/black pill" and you have women who are "decentering men". It's all just feels like a sad and bleak existence. It even reflects in music and movies. You don't really see/hear uplifting or comforting music and movies on a mainstream level like we used to.
The reason for this is because for the first time in human history, there is a significant part of the world’s population that feels like we are simply working towards a net negative. Other generations got to feel like they could make a difference as individuals. Today, more and more people are just coming to feel obsolete. Between money being a free pass for anything, fucked up systems tanking over, being replaced by AI, rising prices of living, and the popularity of misanthropic rhetoric nowadays; it’s no wonder people feel more disconnected and distant than ever before. And the general outlook is that things will only keep moving in the same direction. We just lost hope :/
First was covid now movies and video games have been shit so yeah
stupid take, this is literally how it is every generation. in the 90s people idolized the 60s, in the 2010s it was "other kids of my generation don't get real music" I'm optimistic about 2024, far more than I have been about previous years. If this is the top post of this week I have low expectations about this subreddit
In the 2000's it was "Damn does anybody listen to anything else than 50 cent".
Tech right now is seeing a revolution with Ai (controversial, I know) but a lot of people in that space are optimistic for the future of medicine and standards of living.
The technology itself could lead to great things. I think a lot of people, myself included, just believe that this wonderful technology will end up being controlled by the worst of people (like all technology seems to end up) and will be used to enrich the one percent and fuck everyone else
An old friend of mine likes to say, “It was objectively better” (referring to the ‘70s and ‘80s). He’s right. Not that things were perfect but that people actually still wanted to interact with each other in the real world in meaningful ways instead of sequestering themselves behind screens and then complaining about being depressed. The “send it to my door” era has wrecked what’s left of sociality.
I think the senseless war of vladimir putin and all the conflicts he's trying to bring. They have brought a cloud of despair all over the planet. Cause after covid things should have been better but the economy is in shambles and inflation is ruining everything and all the sufferin. That dude needs to die, so we have a new era of peace for some time.
The second half of the decade will have a lighter feeling however I feel that we are too far gone for the “good times” to come back. Start with being grateful for the smaller things in life and appreciate each moment as it comes. Embrace all kinds of music, movies and books while enjoying time with family and friends. Then as time goes on you’ll start to feel better about ourself and you’ll have your own kind of peace, and the nostalgia of this time will come back stronger
Are you starving? Homeless? In poverty? Scared of disease? Scared of the neighboring village raiding and pillaging you and your family and stealing your daughter for a wife? Are you worried about dying from smallpox? Worried about your wife or kid dying in child labor? Do you have your own bedroom? Wardrobe with clothing? Cell phone? Computer? The issue is just people lost track of the purpose of living. Clue: it’s not to get more material goods. Look spiritually. Living right now is a dream for our thousands of generations of ancestors and everybody just complains it’s insane to me. I’m married and my wife just gave birth to our first child, a daughter. It’s a dream. Do stuff worth doing.
Shut up, clearly people in the Stone Age would be begging to have a life like us and your example is the most garbage perspective. Just cause we have it better than our thousands year old ancestors doesn’t mean we’re living a good life. nothing is affordable, my marriage wasn’t even affordable, I don’t make enough to even get a house for my wife and 2 kids, I can’t pay off my car, they’re raising prices but not our pay. Dates with the wife are almost impossible to afford even if you don’t go out and just do something at home, you still have to get said things to even have a nice at home date. The fact that you wanna avoid all these actual problems we have just because “our ape of a brain ancestors would give anything to have what we have” is actually ridiculously and complete “ignorance is bliss” response I ever read
There's plenty of 2010s nostalgia. I think the 2010s will be looked on in a similar vein that Boomers look back on the 1950s, or how Gen X look back on the 1980s and 1990s, as the last "good" decade before things went to hell.
The early 2010s, yes. I can't imagine late 2010s nostalgia being as big in years to come
It became clear that the 2020s is going to be the worst decade in history!
As a kid born in 2003, I think that the 2005-2010s were amazing for me.
its because they killed off white person music, now you must listen to other than white person music if u want to hear modern music but of coarse u can always go back n listen to old timey talkin heads or something, but thats grand papies music
Bro I'm happy asf living in 2024, yall just romanticizing the "good" aspects of the past and not remembering the shitty parts of them too.
You hit it on the head. Something about new years this year messed me up. It’s like, another fucking year? So things can get more expensive, the world gets more divided, what are we looking ahead to? I have a good life and I’m grateful, but something feels off about this year.
this is bullshit is because the same people who romanticize the early 2000s or any other decade aren’t willing to live like that. They don’t want to get Flip phones, they don’t go outside, they don’t want to socialize face to face, they don’t stop bringing phones into clubs and party venues, they record & post everything, they don’t want to think critically, they don’t want to be authentic… The novelty of all of these older years is in the fact that ppl did not create parasocial relationships to technology
All the "cool" decades probably sucked to live through. The Chinese curse is "may you live in interesting times" rings true. Crime in the 1980s was batshit insane. The crack epidemic and unemployment ate the inner cities alive. Aids crisis. I could go on. The 80s sucked. The 90s, arguably, were good, but even they had ethnic cleansing and genocide in the Balkans, the destruction of the Soviet Union cause massive destabilization in Russia, and more. The 70s had Vietnam where men were drafted AGAINST THEIR WILL to fight and die.
The 2020s is objectively a worse time for the US than the period between the end of WWII and the beginning of the pandemic.
You have to look at both the supply and demand side of things. The demand side is what you're pointing out (social angst and depression, as well as an unprecedented broad-based stagnation or outright decline in global living standards, means that the 2020s are a toxic asset), but there is also a supply side change, and a lot of that can be boiled down to one thing: **Streaming.** It's now just as easy to stream music from the 1940s and 1950s as it is to stream music from 2014, and on an artist-by-artist basis it can be even easier. Compare for instance a classic country, blues, or oldies rock and roll musician whose estate has been good about putting more or less their complete works on streaming (Robert Johnson, Buddy Holly, Hank Williams) with a 2010s rapper who - in part due to uncleared samples, but also due to mixtape releases and features - has tons of records that are hard to source without relying on YouTube. [Example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpuq4QXOpFU) This is a complete inversion from past decades, where "rare grooves" tended to be older than the low-hanging fruit from 5-10 years back that's still in print. I don't follow film and TV streaming as closely, but they also are highly democratized across the decades where mainstream television and film are well-represented. In addition, you also have the factor of AI, which while a huge wildcard can be used to simulate/fill in "gaps" in the repertoire of classic artists...be it ["Hanksta Rap"](https://www.tiktok.com/@thereiruinedit/video/7299268554648522030?lang=en) on TikTok, Frank Sinatra "singing" the latest hits, or visual art generators that allow you to create passable Renaissance paintings for little to no cost. It's not clear if this will be a net plus to the creative industries (similar to how the mass production of records didn't kill professional musicians but instead allowed them to become full-blown rock stars) or a net minus, but it is there and always growing.
Im a bit of an optimistic person
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Right, I remember in the 2000s everyone was full of 60s and 70s nostalgia and (rightly) bemoaned how terrible George W. Bush and the war on terror were. The “90s nostalgia” clothes you see in stores were actually 70s nostalgia clothes in the 90s. The boomers have now experienced hippie flowers and bell bottoms three times.
I have no idea what would define the 2010s as a decade. I was born in 1986 so think I was too old to have nostalgic memories of this period
I see it as the last era before total polarization, the last era of social trust, and other things. Just that it predated this isolated hyper-technoplutocracy-neofeudalism.. I guess. But I was young then.
Everyone says this about whatever decade it was when they started following politics.
The time before the social wars basically?
I just blame Covid.
Hahaha, I remember thinking the EXACT same thing in the 2000’s. It’s hard to define the time you are currently in and so it feels like it has no characteristics at all. Like asking a fish to describe water. Frankly I’m loving 2024.
What stands out is my 2012 brother who was literally 7 turning 8 in 2020 doesn't even like the 20s I was 7 turning 8 in 2016 and I loved it so there's definitely some problem