Not only was the music fun, but back then I started living more by feelings/sensations rather than over-analyzing/judging.
I'm prone to experiencing the world too much trough my thinking, as a result I am moody (sorry for the woo woo).
I can almost consider 2013 the second coming of my childhood in a way.
I was just as happy and enjoyed life. Everything seemed new again. How I did all that?
It's hard to say but I tackled my analyzing/criticizing/Internet addictions.

I cut down on:
- News: especially political and current events (only followed cars and phones, but infrequently)
- Blocked all web forums or websites that have negative toxic effects like news ones, political, religious ones (yes, I'm a web addict and it's 4 a.m. here, I didn't sleep yet...)
- Avoided discussing and even thinking about topics I deem too unpleasant like social justice issues and the like. If it wasn't affecting me directly I didn't discuss/think about it as I get too worked up with them
- I temporarily let go from my workaholic ways, I was so burnout by 2013 by trying too hard to please my overly demanding parents that I was hyper cortisol. Too stressed to care about my job and yet work got done.
- Basically my life was mostly about taking walks in nature, sports, food, sleeping, 1-2 TV series at most at a time! I almost never used my home computer and phone for the web, only at work. Oh and also the radio - I enjoyed the 2013 pop songs. Songs were my life as when they broadcast the daily news I would put my to silence the news my colleague used to listen. :)
- Also didn't read any reviews about music online - I discovered new songs the old fashioned way - usually radio and occasionally YouTube.

Too bad that in 2014 I went back to uni and my Internet/news addiction and workaholic tendencies have come back full force. I had a breakdown at work last December by overworking myself and not asking for some help. :)

I don't know how to put it in a few words, but I practiced something like a minimalisitc, back-to-basics lifestyle in 2013 and it paid! I joke that it was almost like Amish-lite haha. It made me just as happy as I was in the 90s as a carefree child. Time to do it again I think, despite being judged as wanting to be naive or superficial or whatever. I'm too serious, hard-working and analyzing for my own good. What works for me might not be for everyone. But as an Internet/news junkie, I felt free from all that! While local news stations were all doom and gloom due to the national protests, I was really enjoying life in nature. Thanks to my slow-working Greek colleague that's the only person not on Xanax in my office recently I've started to think it's time to go back to that simple but happy lifestyle. Oh and I no longer write those emails ASAP like a robot for less than a min, I take my time with everything I do. Realistically, it's not reasonable to push yourself to tears like I did, my job is not that of a lifeguard, a doctor etc. where there are REAL emergencies. No one will get hurt if I do my job a bit slower. And I also do less mistakes.

tl;dr 2013 is my favorite year because I learned I can be just as happy as I was as a kid if I do the effort to rid myself from things that have a toxic/addicting/unpleasant effect on me or my life. I wasn't scared by TV news blabbing about some drama in faraway lands that really has no effect on my life, I was enjoying living my life and what is directly in my view.

I agree man, 2013 is my second favourite year of my life after 2007 and by far the best year of the decade. It was just such an amazing year. For both pop culture and my personal life.

I love 2013! I was 9 that year it really brings me alot of nostalgia.

Well, you don't have to throw away all your analytical abilities  ;D ,but yeah, it's nice to loosen up and party a bit.  8)  8)  8)  8)  8)

The irony is back then there were less political negativity and toxicity going on online and in the media. Yet I mostly avoided news. ;)
Now with all the SJW vs ultra-rightwingers online fights, name-calling articles and pieces where political agendas are pushed it's even wiser now to avoid many things online and on TV. I don't remember so much outcry back then for man-spreading, people shouting at each other, etc. Seems like a more peaceful era. Of course the conspiracy forums were just as full of bigots and hatred. I wonder why I stumble upon so much negativity online? Are the extremes in both right and left political spectrum the loudest online? Or most people online are online just to vent and offend others and call them names? Whatever the reason I will use K9 web protection again to block those websites. That's the best software of the early 2010s I discovered. :)

Another thing that made 2013 great was I was free to enjoy whatever songs on the radio I liked the most, not reading websites and forums of people telling me I shouldn't enjoy specific artists like One Direction because I'm an adult and a male. I was basically free from labels and bigotry by avoiding those of others. I just loved the songs, often not knowing who is really singing (in my mind I pictured Lorde as a duo of a black girl and a white girl with a pixie cut. :D) Radio makes you less likely to discriminate and listen to the "wrong" artists for your cohort and enjoy them! But also avoiding news and political/conspiracy forums and hateful racist/bigotry and male-bashing blogs and articles (ATS, GLP and Jezebel to name a few), life was free from the name-calling and insult-trowing very political people do. :)

To be honest I don't see so much hatred offline between males and females, right- and left-wingers and people in general. It's like online many people come just to vent their frustration. I do believe this is making us feel as life today is worse than it really is in the real offline world (well with Trump maybe we've really become divided offline as well, I am not political in any way, but I already miss the Obama era).

2013 was the best year for pop culture! You could feel a transition coming with all the new trends that would define the 2014-2016 era. It was a fantastic year for music and movies too!

2013 was honestly the best year of my life so far. I was 11 that year, just finishing middle school. It was the last full year that I felt like I was in childhood. The summer of 2013 was honestly the best summer I've ever had. I remember when the song "Get Lucky" was popular and it was a good song and it still is. ROBLOX was still amazing that year and 2013 was the year I found out about it. The whole period from late 2012 and all of 2013 was the best time of my life so far.

2013 was honestly the best year of my life so far. I was 11 that year, just finishing middle school. It was the last full year that I felt like I was in childhood. The summer of 2013 was honestly the best summer I've ever had. I remember when the song "Get Lucky" was popular and it was a good song and it still is. ROBLOX was still amazing that year and 2013 was the year I found out about it. The whole period from late 2012 and all of 2013 was the best time of my life so far.

Oh but if 2013 proved anything to me that is you can still feel like in childhood at any age. Don't despair, the teens are not good for many of us. I was 24/25 back in 2013 and I was just as happy as a kid. I consider it my second childhood in a way as I was just as happy and carefree as I was in the 90's. Much much better than most of the 2000s. Maybe it was a miracle, who knows. I was out of my depressive/anxious self I've been since my teens. For me fall of 2013 and winter 2013/2014 was the top level period (had some panic attacks in the first half of 2013 and in the summer). I do remember many of the hits - Get Lucky, Royals, Roar, etc. I am even searching for the scents of 2013 (we had a scent dispenser at the office). I know one was peach, the other most likely was lily of the valley. ;) I need to go back to that simple appreciation of small things in life. Sophistication and being too hip/trendy/whatever doesn't make you rich. I had a very low salary in 2013 yet I was one of the happiest people in the world. 25, but as happy and carefree as a 5 year old. :) Maybe the reason was because I actually lived as a kid in a very minimalist/old-fashioned way - no news, no media, or politics. I just didn't follow current events, only radio pop hits and a select few TV series. Today with Trump, SJW vs neonazis etc. toxicity it's time to go that route again. :)

2013 was like a year that didn't belong to this decade. It was so unique. A very amazing year in pop culture. You had the disco fad in songs like Get Lucky and Treasure. You had other great songs like Safe and Sound by Capital Cities, Thrift Shop, Suit and Tie, Mirrors, Started from the Bottom, Just Hold On, The Way, etc. Then you had catchy summer bangers like Blurred Lines and Cruise. It was an amazing year for music. Pop culture was great you had the Samsung Galaxy S4 get released that year and some great movies and shows. Memes like the Harlem Shake were pretty fun. Man I loved that year a lot.  :)

Sorry, but the best year of my life is no where in this decade. In fact, the period of the second half of 2013 and the first half of 2014 was one of the worst times of my list.

2013 would have to be the worst year in my personal life. Pop culture was good though.

I believe one of the only good things that happened from then was Gangnam Style. Aside from that, I didn't like how music and fashion changed for the worse, with music becoming bland and fashion becoming gender conforming, essentially how the hipster aesthetic took over. Everything pretty much sucked for me starting this year, especially since I was in secondary then. The pop culture did nothing in my opinion to change my feelings about this year.

I believe one of the only good things that happened from then was Gangnam Style. Aside from that, I didn't like how music and fashion changed for the worse, with music becoming bland and fashion becoming gender conforming, essentially how the hipster aesthetic took over. Everything pretty much sucked for me starting this year, especially since I was in secondary then. The pop culture did nothing in my opinion to change my feelings about this year.


Gangnam Style was 2013

Gangnam Style was 2013

I'm aware of that. I just like how something non-English has united the world since the Numa Numa song and parodies in this decade.

I believe one of the only good things that happened from then was Gangnam Style. Aside from that, I didn't like how music and fashion changed for the worse, with music becoming bland and fashion becoming gender conforming, essentially how the hipster aesthetic took over. Everything pretty much sucked for me starting this year, especially since I was in secondary then. The pop culture did nothing in my opinion to change my feelings about this year.


Gangnam Style was 2013

Gangnam Style was from 2012 though.

Gangnam Style was from 2012 though.


Yeah sorry, that's what I was trying to tell him ;D

I think the early 2010s were better than 2014-2017 for music and cars. I also like the old Android and iOS versions that had gradients and 3d elements. I HATE flat GUI and web design! I would put early 2014 there with the early 2010s. I think 2013 had less cheese than most other years.

I think the early 2010s were better than 2014-2017 for music and cars. I also like the old Android and iOS versions that had gradients and 3d elements. I HATE flat GUI and web design! I would put early 2014 there with the early 2010s. I think 2013 had less cheese than most other years.

I also dislike the flat GUI. I hope it goes out of fashion soon. I prefer more 3D designs a lot more on both websites and logos.

Gangnam Style was from 2012 though.


Wasn't it still really hot and popular in 2013, though?  ???

Wasn't it still really hot and popular in 2013, though?  ???

It faded away by the time the new year came. Harlem Shake was the next viral fad that replaced it in early 2013.

Gangnam style here was still big around new year's eve 2013.
Anyway, in 2013 I was working for what would be 310 $ per month, imagine that! And yes, this is a very low amount even here in South/Eastern Europe. Yet, I felt like the happiest person in the world. I also had 0 friends, yet I was soooo happy. ;) Now I have friends and a job that pays about 1000 $ / month but I'm less happy. Hopefully one day I'll be able to enjoy the little things in live again and be so happy, confident and upbeat.

I subscribed to a newspaper in late 2013. It was pretty bad, it was like a daily dose of stress in the morning with an otherwise calm breakfast. I liked the science/technology sections. Reading about Euromaidan/Crimea and stuff made me very angry though.

I think it was in 2015 that I subscribed to Audible and just listened to audiobooks in the morning instead. So much better. I think I'll start doing that again. I cancelled my subscription because there are a lot of free audiobooks at the library.