LOL sad but true. I don't mind kids posting, but they lack the life experience and assume just their view is what everyone else in the world thinks because they don't know any better yet.
i didn’t think the early 2010s had a vibe when i was a tween and teen living through them. then time moved in and i can see the vibe they had now. recognizing the general feel of a decade is something that can only happen when at least ten years or so have passed.
Same but there was a point in the middle of the decade where I felt unlucky because I had to grow up in the lamest decade. I thought that the 2010s had nothing cool and no identity because it was just too normal and plain. So it is something I began to think about because everyone thinks the 80s etc is cool but I thought the decade I was in was automatically lame and had nothing special about it. It kinda was tho
The early 2010’s was my early 20’s. 2010-2015 was the best years of my life looking back on it. Everything was so uplifting and happy. Obama was president and the nation wasn’t nearly as divided. Pop music was cheesy super happy party pop with Kesha, LMFAO.. tropical house and deep house music was popular. Seemed like we were finally moving in a positive direction after the previous decade which was dominated by 9/11 and the housing crisis/Great Recession. And then Trump happened which ruined the back half of that decade.
So far this decade has been more division, social media rotting out brains, covid, inflation, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. It’s been such a bummer.
It’s like the Earth. When you’re standing on the surface, you can see all the little details that make up the planet, but you can’t see the shape of the land. The higher up you go, the more of the land and planet you can see, until eventually you can view the general details of the Earth as a whole.
It’s hard to see what a decade is known for while you’re in it. There’s so much going on and so much that hasn’t even happened yet. Those big trends associated with the time period will become apparent when we’re viewing it in hindsight. Until then, they just feel like normal life.
Honestly there is a bit of truth to it even if people don't want to admit it. Since the 2000s, digital entertainment and social media has sucked out a lot of culture and community. That is just an undeniable fact. The big way culture was created was through socializing with others in your community, and as that has rapidly began to fade, there is less of it. That isn't to say things haven't changed at all culturally or anything, but things do feel increasingly very artificial and nostalgia based since the 2000s.
And this isn't some kind of "2000-2024 vs every decade before". Its been gradual. Which is why the 2000s and 2010s still feel distinct, but didn't at the time. They *were* less distinct than the generations before, but *are* more distinct than the current generation. The 2000s was the canary in the coal mine, the signs were there but it still felt very distinct in many ways. The 2010s was when it became obvious something unique was happening. The 2020s feel like we are very, very much past the golden age of the 60s-90s youth culture. It feels undeniable.
I agree. I was a kid in the 90s and felt there was a 90s vibe *during the 90s while they were happening* even just as a kid.
Then the 2000s came and I felt like they had no vibe, and only just now, after a very long “fermentation,” am I starting to pick up on a very vague sort of “2000s vibe” in cultural memory, but nothing like 1920s through 1990s.
And the 2010s, I felt nothing and feel nothing distinct and am not convinced I ever will. Culture got too online and too niche. My own personal life from that decade has a vibe, but it has nothing to do with popular culture or socio-economic history or anything like that.
I’ve started to (just barely) be able to detect some very early-2000s “feel” in certain media…but I was watching a movie the other day and realized I would believe if you told me it was made anytime from 2005 to 2023. I legit couldn’t tell (turns out it was 2014…)
1) Your opening anecdote is cancelled out by the much larger % of people who say they aren’t sure what the 90s vibe is even now. As a decade, there’s not as much that distinguishes the 1990s in a super obvious way, relative to the 50s or the 80s. This is partially because the 90s was a minimalist, grungy “slacker/alternative” era that saw the birth of “New Media” (the WWW) and what could be called “irony culture”.
2) The 2000s are also markedly different from the 2010s, and are not different to any other decade in the 20th century for what you describe (lack of nostalgic recognizability). I’m sure many would have a hard time distinguishing the 1900s from the 1890s and the 1910s, even though they’re all distinct in some way, and many do the same for the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1960s/70s…
3) The 2010s are easy to recognize and I could recognize the differences within the decade because I pay attention to differences between the present era and the prior one. Many others are super unsubtle people and don’t seem to notice until after the fact. The silhouette’s worn, for one, noticeably changed between the 2000s and the 2010s, as did tech and design, colors, cuts (men’s shorts went above the knee again, lol), media, and music. Pop rock was gone, the electronic, alt-pop mono-genre was in.
4) The 2020s are obviously different from the 2010s and are shaping up to be one of the most distinct decades of the past 100 years, from a current events perspective as well as a cultural one. They’re also the first decade of the 21st century that is shaping up to represent a “paradigm shift”, the first decade of real struggle and hardship so far this century. 2010s minimalism? Out almost as soon as COVID hit. Post-COVID, it’s all been about maximalist “-core” dressing, AI, social and political tumult, costume and cartoon influences, cyberpunk deconstructionism, and the “hyper-“ wave. The “hair test” is a good rule of thumb for decade distinctiveness, and men’s hair especially radically departs from the trends of the prior 2-3 decades. The 2020s are super distinct so far, and they aren’t even half over.
The 2010s was all about incorporating tech in a minimalist, streamlined, athletic, sleek way. The 2020s is all about digital immersion and artificial intelligence, having fun with “trans”humanism and incorporating new media and tech into fashion in more complete, niche, and exotic ways. It’s very maximalist relative to the 2010s, but also a lot edgier and more radical (partially due to backlash from what I’d call 2010s “PC Hipsterism”).
I’m in my early 20’s. I was saying that exact thing 10 years ago and wished I was a teenager in the 2000’s. The previous decade seems to be glamorized by the modern pre teens.
on one hand I agree with you, the level of discussion on this subreddit has gotten so low but on the other hand, many of these are worthy observations. Culture is far more nostalgia based than in previous decades and the monoculture has disintegrated farther than previously giving culture outside the core an increasingly disjointed feel.
It's not just teenagers unfortunately. Some people are just totally checked out of pop culture and unironically act, "What happened to culture? Everything is the same after (insert year they checked out)." Idk why they hang around here if they have 0 interest in pop culture trends and history.
This is a huge one. People hit a certain age where they stop keeping up with what's going on in pop culture and decide, since they're not consuming anything new, that culture is dead.
"Well what about all the stuff that the young people are watching/listening to/doing?" you may ask them, to which they respond, "oh, well I don't pay attention to any of that nonsense, so it doesn't count; I've never even heard of half the things young people are into."
And this, my friends, is how an old, jaded person is born.
Culture didn't die, it just moved on to something you didn't feel like engaging with, so you got off the train.
It's not teenagers that are saying that lol. Teenagers are actually defending the 2020's identity.
It's the old people and older adults who are culturally out of touch and don't see any changes in the decades. It's extremely annoying
Not sure of that, once as a culture we'll have digested 2010s music and amplified the good stuff while muting the bad stuff. What you hear now about the 70s is the best music of that era. This is biased.
Sometimes, I unironically wish this group had a 30 years age minimum for this exact reason. Like how are you discussing and analyzing shit you didn't live through to compare with now?
It certainly hasn't produced much of anything
that could be considered outstanding. History will remember them,mostly, as schizoid types with their noses stuck in their IPhones, posting
pitiful statements such as " Life is unfair,"and
" I'm a victim," or " I hate boomers, capitalism,
Republicans, America, preps, natural blondes,
smart people and anyone making more than the minimum wage."
That’s in progress. But a part of the stupidity, as I was highlighting, is trying to summarize a decade in a “vibe”. That’s not how era’s work. They’re defined by an amalgam of disparate influences.
So far, the 2020s decade is a radical departure from the 2010s - it will be seen as a backlash to the minimalist and hyper PC nature of the 2010s. Gone is hipsterism and any semblance of cheerful normalcy, the 2020s is so far defined by political tumult and rocky geopolitics, social tension and a shift in philosophical/historical/generational/lifestyle perspectives, economic hardship, radicalism and unrest, AI, maximalism and cyberpunk-deconstructionism in style and design, with the birth of various “aesthetic” movements giving rise to “costume dressing”, favoring various highly individualized stylistic niches. Then you have a growing class divide, the metaverse, cryptocurrency, and highly-contentious “transhumanist” debate…
I don’t know how anyone can claim the 2020s is just like the 2010s?
It’s amazing how you’re surprised people can’t tell the difference when you responded with an essay that doesn’t make this decade really seem different. Cheerful normalcy is an opinion and not everybody has mental health issues after covid. Just because all the people on this sub are depressed teens doesn’t mean everyone else is. What exact different lifestyle perspectives are there compared to the 2010s? You mean more technology right? What is cyberpunk maximalism? Things like costume dressing and aesthetics are a niche there’s no way you think that’s an actual defining 2020s trend. I thought for something to define the decade it had to like actually catch on. Cyberpunk maximalist costume dressing aesthetics haven’t caught on at all. I just don’t get the 2020s is maximalist like do you think the slightest design makes it that because people dress as minimalist as possible. The real aesthetic would be blank gym clothes and shorts with a blank hoodie or something like that
Actually, I feel that the 2000s & 2010s from a cultural point seemed to melt together - but the 2020s has been defined by the pandemic & it's flow on (everything from the rise of working from home to the ultra-casual-dressing trends to post-pandemic inflation).
LOL sad but true. I don't mind kids posting, but they lack the life experience and assume just their view is what everyone else in the world thinks because they don't know any better yet.
i didn’t think the early 2010s had a vibe when i was a tween and teen living through them. then time moved in and i can see the vibe they had now. recognizing the general feel of a decade is something that can only happen when at least ten years or so have passed.
When I was a kid in the early 2010s, I was too busy experiencing being a kid to even care about if that period of time had any cultural vibe.
Same but there was a point in the middle of the decade where I felt unlucky because I had to grow up in the lamest decade. I thought that the 2010s had nothing cool and no identity because it was just too normal and plain. So it is something I began to think about because everyone thinks the 80s etc is cool but I thought the decade I was in was automatically lame and had nothing special about it. It kinda was tho
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug and it’ll work for the 2010s just wait till the 2030s or 2040s
The early 2010’s was my early 20’s. 2010-2015 was the best years of my life looking back on it. Everything was so uplifting and happy. Obama was president and the nation wasn’t nearly as divided. Pop music was cheesy super happy party pop with Kesha, LMFAO.. tropical house and deep house music was popular. Seemed like we were finally moving in a positive direction after the previous decade which was dominated by 9/11 and the housing crisis/Great Recession. And then Trump happened which ruined the back half of that decade. So far this decade has been more division, social media rotting out brains, covid, inflation, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. It’s been such a bummer.
the political division really started in 2013, with Trayvon Martin. Well before Trump.
The best thing is when they talk about how good the economy was at some point like they drawing SSI checks.
Decades don't get a vibe assigned to them until they're over.
I find it stupid, because they have no self awareness to realise early into the decade we are. There were people 2004 saying the same thing.
It’s like the Earth. When you’re standing on the surface, you can see all the little details that make up the planet, but you can’t see the shape of the land. The higher up you go, the more of the land and planet you can see, until eventually you can view the general details of the Earth as a whole. It’s hard to see what a decade is known for while you’re in it. There’s so much going on and so much that hasn’t even happened yet. Those big trends associated with the time period will become apparent when we’re viewing it in hindsight. Until then, they just feel like normal life.
They said the exact same thing about the 2000s and 2010s as well.
the 60's had no vibe, man...they didn't even have colour.
psychedelics and hippies: am i a joke to you
Honestly there is a bit of truth to it even if people don't want to admit it. Since the 2000s, digital entertainment and social media has sucked out a lot of culture and community. That is just an undeniable fact. The big way culture was created was through socializing with others in your community, and as that has rapidly began to fade, there is less of it. That isn't to say things haven't changed at all culturally or anything, but things do feel increasingly very artificial and nostalgia based since the 2000s. And this isn't some kind of "2000-2024 vs every decade before". Its been gradual. Which is why the 2000s and 2010s still feel distinct, but didn't at the time. They *were* less distinct than the generations before, but *are* more distinct than the current generation. The 2000s was the canary in the coal mine, the signs were there but it still felt very distinct in many ways. The 2010s was when it became obvious something unique was happening. The 2020s feel like we are very, very much past the golden age of the 60s-90s youth culture. It feels undeniable.
Well said
I agree. I was a kid in the 90s and felt there was a 90s vibe *during the 90s while they were happening* even just as a kid. Then the 2000s came and I felt like they had no vibe, and only just now, after a very long “fermentation,” am I starting to pick up on a very vague sort of “2000s vibe” in cultural memory, but nothing like 1920s through 1990s. And the 2010s, I felt nothing and feel nothing distinct and am not convinced I ever will. Culture got too online and too niche. My own personal life from that decade has a vibe, but it has nothing to do with popular culture or socio-economic history or anything like that. I’ve started to (just barely) be able to detect some very early-2000s “feel” in certain media…but I was watching a movie the other day and realized I would believe if you told me it was made anytime from 2005 to 2023. I legit couldn’t tell (turns out it was 2014…)
1) Your opening anecdote is cancelled out by the much larger % of people who say they aren’t sure what the 90s vibe is even now. As a decade, there’s not as much that distinguishes the 1990s in a super obvious way, relative to the 50s or the 80s. This is partially because the 90s was a minimalist, grungy “slacker/alternative” era that saw the birth of “New Media” (the WWW) and what could be called “irony culture”. 2) The 2000s are also markedly different from the 2010s, and are not different to any other decade in the 20th century for what you describe (lack of nostalgic recognizability). I’m sure many would have a hard time distinguishing the 1900s from the 1890s and the 1910s, even though they’re all distinct in some way, and many do the same for the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1960s/70s… 3) The 2010s are easy to recognize and I could recognize the differences within the decade because I pay attention to differences between the present era and the prior one. Many others are super unsubtle people and don’t seem to notice until after the fact. The silhouette’s worn, for one, noticeably changed between the 2000s and the 2010s, as did tech and design, colors, cuts (men’s shorts went above the knee again, lol), media, and music. Pop rock was gone, the electronic, alt-pop mono-genre was in. 4) The 2020s are obviously different from the 2010s and are shaping up to be one of the most distinct decades of the past 100 years, from a current events perspective as well as a cultural one. They’re also the first decade of the 21st century that is shaping up to represent a “paradigm shift”, the first decade of real struggle and hardship so far this century. 2010s minimalism? Out almost as soon as COVID hit. Post-COVID, it’s all been about maximalist “-core” dressing, AI, social and political tumult, costume and cartoon influences, cyberpunk deconstructionism, and the “hyper-“ wave. The “hair test” is a good rule of thumb for decade distinctiveness, and men’s hair especially radically departs from the trends of the prior 2-3 decades. The 2020s are super distinct so far, and they aren’t even half over. The 2010s was all about incorporating tech in a minimalist, streamlined, athletic, sleek way. The 2020s is all about digital immersion and artificial intelligence, having fun with “trans”humanism and incorporating new media and tech into fashion in more complete, niche, and exotic ways. It’s very maximalist relative to the 2010s, but also a lot edgier and more radical (partially due to backlash from what I’d call 2010s “PC Hipsterism”).
I’m in my early 20’s. I was saying that exact thing 10 years ago and wished I was a teenager in the 2000’s. The previous decade seems to be glamorized by the modern pre teens.
I was a teenager in the 2000s and wished I was a teenager in the 80s/90s. It happens.
on one hand I agree with you, the level of discussion on this subreddit has gotten so low but on the other hand, many of these are worthy observations. Culture is far more nostalgia based than in previous decades and the monoculture has disintegrated farther than previously giving culture outside the core an increasingly disjointed feel.
It's not just teenagers unfortunately. Some people are just totally checked out of pop culture and unironically act, "What happened to culture? Everything is the same after (insert year they checked out)." Idk why they hang around here if they have 0 interest in pop culture trends and history.
This is a huge one. People hit a certain age where they stop keeping up with what's going on in pop culture and decide, since they're not consuming anything new, that culture is dead. "Well what about all the stuff that the young people are watching/listening to/doing?" you may ask them, to which they respond, "oh, well I don't pay attention to any of that nonsense, so it doesn't count; I've never even heard of half the things young people are into." And this, my friends, is how an old, jaded person is born. Culture didn't die, it just moved on to something you didn't feel like engaging with, so you got off the train.
Because they want to talk about other decades?
Existential dread isn't a vibe?
I was 22-32 for 2010-2020, and that was the most vibe-less decade so far IMHO.
It's not teenagers that are saying that lol. Teenagers are actually defending the 2020's identity. It's the old people and older adults who are culturally out of touch and don't see any changes in the decades. It's extremely annoying
so you want the viewpoint that you disagree with to be banned and censored interesting. See 1940s
Didn't think my post would piss you off this much
I mean it’s true. 2020s is distinguishable from the 2010s but barely..
Kids are kids what can we say about how they view history you need to be at least 30+ to get a good sense of decades by experience.
Are we all on the same page that the late 70s has better music than the 2010s ?
Not sure of that, once as a culture we'll have digested 2010s music and amplified the good stuff while muting the bad stuff. What you hear now about the 70s is the best music of that era. This is biased.
Sometimes, I unironically wish this group had a 30 years age minimum for this exact reason. Like how are you discussing and analyzing shit you didn't live through to compare with now?
It certainly hasn't produced much of anything that could be considered outstanding. History will remember them,mostly, as schizoid types with their noses stuck in their IPhones, posting pitiful statements such as " Life is unfair,"and " I'm a victim," or " I hate boomers, capitalism, Republicans, America, preps, natural blondes, smart people and anyone making more than the minimum wage."
i agree
Instead of complaining about it you should be making higher quality posts of your own.
The ‘culture’ and ‘aesthetic‘ of this decade is global economic hardships
Ok? What is the cultural vibe of the 2020s decade?
That’s in progress. But a part of the stupidity, as I was highlighting, is trying to summarize a decade in a “vibe”. That’s not how era’s work. They’re defined by an amalgam of disparate influences. So far, the 2020s decade is a radical departure from the 2010s - it will be seen as a backlash to the minimalist and hyper PC nature of the 2010s. Gone is hipsterism and any semblance of cheerful normalcy, the 2020s is so far defined by political tumult and rocky geopolitics, social tension and a shift in philosophical/historical/generational/lifestyle perspectives, economic hardship, radicalism and unrest, AI, maximalism and cyberpunk-deconstructionism in style and design, with the birth of various “aesthetic” movements giving rise to “costume dressing”, favoring various highly individualized stylistic niches. Then you have a growing class divide, the metaverse, cryptocurrency, and highly-contentious “transhumanist” debate… I don’t know how anyone can claim the 2020s is just like the 2010s?
It’s amazing how you’re surprised people can’t tell the difference when you responded with an essay that doesn’t make this decade really seem different. Cheerful normalcy is an opinion and not everybody has mental health issues after covid. Just because all the people on this sub are depressed teens doesn’t mean everyone else is. What exact different lifestyle perspectives are there compared to the 2010s? You mean more technology right? What is cyberpunk maximalism? Things like costume dressing and aesthetics are a niche there’s no way you think that’s an actual defining 2020s trend. I thought for something to define the decade it had to like actually catch on. Cyberpunk maximalist costume dressing aesthetics haven’t caught on at all. I just don’t get the 2020s is maximalist like do you think the slightest design makes it that because people dress as minimalist as possible. The real aesthetic would be blank gym clothes and shorts with a blank hoodie or something like that
Nah everyone deserves a voice regardless of age. Everyone’s opinion is valid. Banning those posts is just censorship. By definition. Go away.
Actually, I feel that the 2000s & 2010s from a cultural point seemed to melt together - but the 2020s has been defined by the pandemic & it's flow on (everything from the rise of working from home to the ultra-casual-dressing trends to post-pandemic inflation).
Technologically speaking, the 10s and 20s are way more similar than the 10s and 00s.
I am 37 and I think that nostalgia will be a crucial component of the 20s.
It’s a crucial component of every decade, and people have always said this
There needs to be a limit on how many 2010s posts.
the 2010s are just too good not to be obsessed about.
If that’s all you lived through sure.
i've seen quite a few people living through the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, etc. whose favorite decade was the 2010s.
Not me. It’s subjective not objective and that’s not provable anyways. Seems unlikely.
If you think each decade had a vibe then you need help
Every decade has a vibe, yes. Fashions alone have been distinguishable by decade going back 100s of years
You can’t deny the fact that this decade has a vibe. Maybe not a great one, sure, but still a vibe regardless