The Tens decade

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What do you think the 2010s will be remembered for culturally? The 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s even the 00s have strong identities. Maybe it's because I'm older but the tens were a bit of a blur

My opinion (USA, born 2001):

2010-2014 were really just an extension of the 2000s, with a very similar culture to the 2000s, especially the late 2000s. In terms of American politics, the post-9/11 vibe was still there, and Obama's campaign and first term (2008-12) was entirely 2000s. The Great Recession and Obama's run--both 2008 events--were major 2000s touchstones, thus setting the early 2010s up to follow in their footsteps.

2015 and 2016, especially 2016, however, is when things really started shifting, with the rise of Trump and his counterparts in other western countries. Politically, on the right, Bush-style neocon-ism rapidly falls out of style in favor of the alt-right. On the left, we start to see a bit of a countercultural revival, for the first time really since the '90s; the 2001-2014 left seemed more like a USA-style "Official Opposition" (look it up) than a true protest movement. Trump, on the other hand, was able to galvanize: (1) liberals, (2) leftists, (3) centrists, (4) neocons who hadn't defected to Trump, and (5) actually competent fascists, into a massive (but loose) anti-Trump coalition, which revitalized the old-school, pre-9/11, truly "f**k the USA" left.

2017-2019 (more specifically, January 2017-March 2020), will always be remembered as the "Pre-COVID Trump Years." Having been followed as they were by the absolute shitfire that was 2020, we'll likely look back on them with an ironic fondness for thinking, "Surely this is the worst things can get..." Little did we know of the impending pandemic (and its multifaceted-ly sh***y aftermath) in store, which would have been bad enough even if it hadn't been coupled with the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing racial justice movement, the latter of which really set the aforementioned countercultural revival on absolute fire (in some cases literally). This is when, IMO, the 2020s started, and of course they've been going on to this day.

Kinda the above.

The post 9-11 era didnt end until the election year of 2016- and we went from fearing Muslim terrorists to fearing each other when the Trump campaign started. And fearing covid and fearing Russia and China etc, and fearing AI. Different set of issues.

There were some strange trends, such as the moustache craze in 2012. Moustaches were everywhere, for seemingly no reason.





What on Earth was that about?

Anyway, there was a lot of 'LOL I'm so random!' humour at the time on the internet. As for memes, here's a brief summary (with brief flashing lights towards the end):



There were dance trends, such as Gangnam Style, the Harlem Shake and Shufflin' (Party Rock Anthem).



1:29 for the start of the song.

In terms of design, minimalism was fairly popular. Logos were often simplified and made flat. Here's an excellent article comparing popular colours from the 1920's to 2010's: https://juiceboxinteractive.com/blog/color/

I think the two most important political events of the decade occurred at the beginning of the decade. They were Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. They greatly enhanced the idea that America is fundamentally flawed and restarted mainstreaming taking to the streets. That said it hard to imagine both Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party occurring without the resentments of the Great Recession and ensuing bailouts.

It is hard to to imagine the current acceptance of massive invasion of privacy without 9/11. Social Media starting at around 2005 made it seem beneficial not threatening.

It was the age of super hero movies.