Discussion What do you think the 2010's will be remembered for?

[SnowWhite]

The 2010's were a very eventful decade. There have been notable events early in the decade such as the Arab spring, the rapid growth of the internet and the rise of Smartphones. On top of this events later in the decade, of which their effects remain unclear carry us over to the 2020's such as Brexit, the rise and fall of ISIS and growing tensions between international superpowers. It is clear that this decade will have it's share of effects, both long-term and short-term.

So, my question is simple. In your opinion, what will the 2010's be remembered for?

 

[enjoy]

i don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but the second half of the 2010s was wildly different from the first half. from 2010 to the mid-2015, overproduced and saturated-sounding pop music reigned supreme (think kesha and lady gaga's older music, for instance). it was also a trend to be "random", wear the brightest clothes with the biggest logos on them, and dance to shit like gangnam style and the harlem shake without a shred of irony.

after 2015, the trends changed. i feel like newer-wave rap music and indie music have reigned supreme since the beginning of 2016. i used to listen to indie bands all the time in the early 2010s and they were completely obscure. now, groups like twenty one pilots have been playing at arenas since blurryface came out (i no longer listen to them, but i do keep up with them pretty well). clothes of today have drawn inspiration straight from decades past, primarily the 80s and early 90s. the memes have also changed drastically, with gen z's sense of humor confusing the shit out of grown adults.

i wonder what the 2020s will bring. i'm sure this whole wave of indie bands and mom jeans will last a little while longer, but i can't imagine things changing again and stuff like this going back out of style. i'm not gonna like that day... i only wear mom jeans now. i've gotten used to how comfy there are, lol.

 

[Shakespear's Brother]

I feel like this might be the decade where people reflect back and say it was the tipping point where technology went too far. Like, past the point of no return in a cost-benefit analysis: the 'cost' of technological advancement, which includes the harm it inflicts, now outweighs the benefit it renders unto society.

 

[Sayo]

Political upheaval/violence and growing awareness of inequality (social, economic); climate change and natural disasters; mass social technological integration, digital life, information privacy/mass surveillance, and the 'beginning' of automation. I think it'll be compared in some ways to the darker aspects of the Roaring Twenties and also remembered for the increasing conflicts between world powers (including coups).

I think no art was more interesting in its changes than music. In some ways, music felt like a cultural vanguard. I think the changes in music will actually be remembered because they exemplify the economic, political, and technological trends I discussed above (e.g. the 'democratisation' of music, YMMV on that though; the domination of streaming and subscription services; etc.). It's the stuff of textbooks. The nostalgia that dominated mass media consumption can also be seen here in the usual musical trends and things like vinyl revival (even if that had somewhat different roots than TV franchise reboots).

I think the darker social consciousness of the latter half of the decade will dominate its legacy, especially as it was growing in the (very bright and frolicsome) early half. Again, Roaring Twenties (although I really think it ought to be seen the other way around).

There are plenty of interesting things that I don't think will be remembered as particularly representative or even remembered, so I just covered some I thought will be talked about and will define the narrative.