I have very idealized memories of the early 10s, good indie music, energetic EDM and good ol’ social media with hilarious virals and without so much toxic content. All good so far, but when it comes to living it is much worse than remembering it, I had to endure pretentious hipsters, cheesy forgettable pop songs and some social issues like homophobia or misogyny were still accepted, at least where I live.
I lived the prime of my life in those years, I wouldn’t trade my memories for anything, but I’d rather living in the 2020’s now than going back to the early 10s... well maybe for just one day ;D

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Well, as a kid who experienced the early teens, I have an idyllic version of the era as well. I just appreciated most of the pop culture trends as it helped shape what my cultural interests were. I liked playing Angry Birds, I watched numerous cartoons as they became good again, I enjoyed dancing to viral dance moves, and so on.

There were so many annoying things about the early 2010s but the good about it is still better than today imo.

But the 2020s are just getting started, we'll see how we it goes.

I certainly lived the early 2010s but struggle to remember those years...

;D

We're getting to the point where "10 years ago" doesn't necessarily mean a primitive or backwards culture. I don't know about Chile but in Canada homophobia was already pretty low in 2010 (the shift happened 2007-2009) and there was less racism/far-right politics back then compared to today (although in Canada we haven't any of a far-right backlash thankfully... for now).

In terms of high school, the cliquey conformist 2000s mall culture was firmly in the rear-view mirror and the 2010s were in full force. It was cool to be a weirdo or a geek, comic book sales were up, shows like My Little Pony got popular. Everyone was a hipster in their own way. The weirder you were the cooler you got. I miss that ultra-progressive culture, it was less conformist and more liberal than the previous decade, and still before social media turned into a follower count war like today. I miss the early 2010s!

The only thing I liked about the early 2010s is that people were not obsessed with politics back then so there was less division, I hate politics. Other than that, the early 2010s were horrible.

Party rock is in the house tonight
Everybody just have a good time

We're getting to the point where "10 years ago" doesn't necessarily mean a primitive or backwards culture. I don't know about Chile but in Canada homophobia was already pretty low in 2010 (the shift happened 2007-2009) and there was less racism/far-right politics back then compared to today (although in Canada we haven't any of a far-right backlash thankfully... for now).

In terms of high school, the cliquey conformist 2000s mall culture was firmly in the rear-view mirror and the 2010s were in full force. It was cool to be a weirdo or a geek, comic book sales were up, shows like My Little Pony got popular. Everyone was a hipster in their own way. The weirder you were the cooler you got. I miss that ultra-progressive culture, it was less conformist and more liberal than the previous decade, and still before social media turned into a follower count war like today. I miss the early 2010s!

2010 still looked modern when I saw the year's trends, music, and games. It's really freaky, yet cool at the same time.

2010 still looked modern when I saw the year's trends, music, and games. It's really freaky, yet cool at the same time.

Exactly! And the weird part about it is we can't completely tell whether it's just because we are getting older, or that's really the reality of it now.

We're getting to the point where "10 years ago" doesn't necessarily mean a primitive or backwards culture. I don't know about Chile but in Canada homophobia was already pretty low in 2010 (the shift happened 2007-2009) and there was less racism/far-right politics back then compared to today (although in Canada we haven't any of a far-right backlash thankfully... for now).

In terms of high school, the cliquey conformist 2000s mall culture was firmly in the rear-view mirror and the 2010s were in full force. It was cool to be a weirdo or a geek, comic book sales were up, shows like My Little Pony got popular. Everyone was a hipster in their own way. The weirder you were the cooler you got. I miss that ultra-progressive culture, it was less conformist and more liberal than the previous decade, and still before social media turned into a follower count war like today. I miss the early 2010s!


The shift started in Chile around 2012-14 after the murder of a young homosexual man by some neo-nazis

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24722180

I just missed the 2000s aesthetic (look and sound) and just saw it die instantly right before my own eyes and ears. My ears a little sooner than my eyes because I saw pockets of the aesthetic later than I heard it fade into obscurity and die off for good.

I kind of miss how much of a novelty smartphones and apps were at the time. We were still so naive about the potential impacts of these new technologies and there was still a lot of optimism for the future. That I miss. The Early 2010s as an overall era weren't really for me, not to say that they were necessarily bad, but I don't see them as being an idelic time. Then again, I was 11-14 during those years, so maybe I just didn't experience them at the right age. Too old to have perceived them as a kid, but not old enough to strongly identify with them as a teen.

In terms of high school, the cliquey conformist 2000s mall culture was firmly in the rear-view mirror and the 2010s were in full force. It was cool to be a weirdo or a geek, comic book sales were up, shows like My Little Pony got popular. Everyone was a hipster in their own way. The weirder you were the cooler you got. I miss that ultra-progressive culture, it was less conformist and more liberal than the previous decade, and still before social media turned into a follower count war like today. I miss the early 2010s!

You've clearly a very colored idea of the early 2010s :p Being weird was cool to the extent that the internet became increasingly communities-driven, but same didn't hold true to the irl. Homophobia was very much still in the air back then, especially when slurs like "Gaaayyyy" were pretty much meme-level (not to mention trans people were still a huge taboo, unthinkable in 2020). Admitting you were brownie in high school, and you were immediately laughed off the building.

I think all of the things you mentioned applied much more so to the mid-2010s, particularly since hipsters were still a novelty and a minority in the early 10s versus basically what drives the entire culture in the mid-10s.

And to be honest, in the current Tik Tok culture I think weirdness and non-conformism is far more embraced than it was 10 years ago.
My little sister can be a huge otaku and she still is admired for her Death Note drawings by her classmates, versus the "weaboos" pushed to the side as their own kind in my high school days :/.

Yeah, when I was living through the early 10's (particularly 2011) it seemed like I was having a lot of bad luck and one thing going wrong after another, but looking back I feel nostalgic and remember mostly the good times.

Yeah, when I was living through the early 10's (particularly 2011) it seemed like I was having a lot of bad luck and one thing going wrong after another, but looking back I feel nostalgic and remember mostly the good times.

Same. I bet young kids living today will find something positive for the late 2010s in the future no matter what.

Same. I bet young kids living today will find something positive for the late 2010s in the future no matter what.


They might be nostalgic about playing Pokémon Go in 2016 despite it being a rather dark time.

They might be nostalgic about playing Pokémon Go in 2016 despite it being a rather dark time.
I think children will love the quirky culture of the 2010s regardless of political BS. It's likely all they'll have ever known even with improved access to the web compared to previous decades. One can find out how people in the 80s lived like but I came across someone who kind of regretted not being able to experience it (I think he was either only a very young child in the 80s or was born in the 90s or something).

They might be nostalgic about playing Pokémon Go in 2016 despite it being a rather dark time.

Let's not forget fidget spinners from 2017.

Let's not forget fidget spinners from 2017.

Or Fortnite in 2018.

I think children will love the quirky culture of the 2010s regardless of political BS. It's likely all they'll have ever known even with improved access to the web compared to previous decades. One can find out how people in the 80s lived like but I came across someone who kind of regretted not being able to experience it (I think he was either only a very young child in the 80s or was born in the 90s or something).

I'm definitely gonna predict 2010s meme nostalgia with us Zoomers in the near future.  :o

We're getting to the point where "10 years ago" doesn't necessarily mean a primitive or backwards culture. I don't know about Chile but in Canada homophobia was already pretty low in 2010 (the shift happened 2007-2009) and there was less racism/far-right politics back then compared to today (although in Canada we haven't any of a far-right backlash thankfully... for now).

In terms of high school, the cliquey conformist 2000s mall culture was firmly in the rear-view mirror and the 2010s were in full force. It was cool to be a weirdo or a geek, comic book sales were up, shows like My Little Pony got popular. Everyone was a hipster in their own way. The weirder you were the cooler you got. I miss that ultra-progressive culture, it was less conformist and more liberal than the previous decade, and still before social media turned into a follower count war like today. I miss the early 2010s!

That must be a Canadian thing, because here in New Jersey homophobia was big in 2010. It’s a lot more rare now in 2020. Race relations I feel like have gotten worse thanks to the far left.

That must be a Canadian thing, because here in New Jersey homophobia was big in 2010. It’s a lot more rare now in 2020. Race relations I feel like have gotten worse thanks to the far left.

The far left and far right are both tiresome. It's also very annoying to keep hearing people say race relations "got worse." People bringing these issues to the forefront and not taking their foot off of its neck, doesn't mean race relations got worse lmao. These things are just out there for everyone to see thanks to social media and people aren't afraid to speak on it. Social media memorializes everything and it's in our faces 24/7. It makes it hard to escape the issues. But the riots, protests, black empowerment, etc had a similar run in the 90s and race relations been messed up.

Well, that would be wrong. It's also very annoying to keep hearing people say race relations "got worse." People bringing these issues to the forefront and not taking their foot off of its neck, doesn't mean race relations got worse lmao. These things are just out there for everyone to see thanks to social media and people aren't afraid to speak on it. Social media memorializes everything and it's in our faces 24/7. It makes it hard to escape the issues. But the riots, protests, black empowerment, etc had a similar run in the 90s and race relations been messed up.

That's true. But I still think race relations have gotten worse, especially around the summer of 2016 with the Alton Sterling/Philando Castile shootings and the Dallas police shooting afterwards. Then you have the SJWs blaming white people for the sins of their ancestors, amongst other things.

The far left and far right are both tiresome. It's also very annoying to keep hearing people say race relations "got worse." People bringing these issues to the forefront and not taking their foot off of its neck, doesn't mean race relations got worse lmao. These things are just out there for everyone to see thanks to social media and people aren't afraid to speak on it. Social media memorializes everything and it's in our faces 24/7. It makes it hard to escape the issues. But the riots, protests, black empowerment, etc had a similar run in the 90s and race relations been messed up.

One of the biggest reasons why Trump won in 2016 was because people were getting exhausted of the SJWness that peaked in the mid-2010’s. Trump was the candidate that spoke against political correctness, something that has also risen once SJWness gained popularity. I’ve said this before, but the rise in white supremacy that were seeing didn’t just come out of nowhere. When you have one extreme of the political spectrum spreading anti-white posts and advocating for “POC spaces”, you’re going to get backlash from actual white supremacists who feel like they’re being attacked. The far left and the far right literally feed off each other. We’re hearing terms like “white privilege” and “of color” being used more than it has before. We’ve become so focused on race that we unintentionally made race relations worse.

This country has always been obsessed with race. However, a lot of people were able to ignore it for a while.

Like I stated before, our obsession with social media puts these issues in our faces more frequently than before. This made a lot of people who were able to live in their little bubble most of their lives uncomfortable at the thought of racism still existing. I remember in the early 2010s, people being shocked that police brutality and racism still existed. I remember before then people claiming no racism existed at all. All of these folks were all in for a rude awakening when people started protesting and recording interactions with the police or racist people. All I could do was be in awe that they really thought the world was all peaches and cream just because they're used to seeing politicans talk about helping minorities. Many Americans have been trying to live in either a "color-blind" or multicultural world but that has never worked or really even been implemented, it was all smoke and mirrors.

The decision to protest and put it on social media disrupted their equilibrium. Some people wanted to be down for the cause, others chose to become offended. But the issues have always been here and they have always been a problem, they haven't gotten any worse because of SJWs. 

Trump did have a following but I'm sure you know that Trump lost the popular vote, which is the vote is that more citizen oriented.

Race relations has always been bad from day one, racism and race relations has gotten worser under Obama then any other president before him.

The 2010s won't really be remember in a good light.

You've clearly a very colored idea of the early 2010s :p Being weird was cool to the extent that the internet became increasingly communities-driven, but same didn't hold true to the irl. Homophobia was very much still in the air back then, especially when slurs like "Gaaayyyy" were pretty much meme-level (not to mention trans people were still a huge taboo, unthinkable in 2020). Admitting you were brownie in high school, and you were immediately laughed off the building.

I think all of the things you mentioned applied much more so to the mid-2010s, particularly since hipsters were still a novelty and a minority in the early 10s versus basically what drives the entire culture in the mid-10s.

And to be honest, in the current Tik Tok culture I think weirdness and non-conformism is far more embraced than it was 10 years ago.
My little sister can be a huge otaku and she still is admired for her Death Note drawings by her classmates, versus the "weaboos" pushed to the side as their own kind in my high school days :/.


I don't think it had much to do with the Internet. Television was still the dominant entertainment medium in 2010.

In the 2000s, "geek" was used a slur. That changed in 2009/2010 when it got its modern positive connotation. Comic book sales went up, movies like Toy Story 3 and the "change your Facebook pic to a cartoon character" trend made it a lot more acceptable for adults to watch cartoons, and being a weeaboo/Koreaboo actually became more acceptable around this time (I went to a school with a lot of Asians so maybe my experiences are different).

Not many people were using gay as a slur by 2010. Maybe among schoolchildren it was, according to @Rainbowz they still do that even in 2020, and I can confirm kids using that IRL too. But among adults, it was not common anymore in 2010 compared to even 2007. In 2007 everyone was a "gay retard", in 2010 people and the general humour style largely moved on from that. I agree though that transphobia was worse back then. But I will say, I would rather be trans around 2014/2015 than today; nowadays there is a strong backlash against transgender people that didn't exist even in 2010.

I don't know about other places, but in Toronto hipsters were already very much a thing by 2008/2009, and by 2010 they were everywhere. According to Google Trends, the search term spiked around July 2008 before another big spike around May 2009 and went up from there. I agree hipsters were more a counterculture/slur in the early 2010s while in the mid-2010s they permeated everything, but they were still very much a huge force in 2010. You just don't see any counterculture like that in 2020.

I don't think it had much to do with the Internet. Television was still the dominant entertainment medium in 2010.

In the 2000s, "geek" was used a slur. That changed in 2009/2010 when it got its modern positive connotation. Comic book sales went up, movies like Toy Story 3 and the "change your Facebook pic to a cartoon character" trend made it a lot more acceptable for adults to watch cartoons, and being a weeaboo/Koreaboo actually became more acceptable around this time (I went to a school with a lot of Asians so maybe my experiences are different).

Not many people were using gay as a slur by 2010. Maybe among schoolchildren it was, according to @Rainbowz they still do that even in 2020, and I can confirm kids using that IRL too. But among adults, it was not common anymore in 2010 compared to even 2007. In 2007 everyone was a "gay retard", in 2010 people and the general humour style largely moved on from that. I agree though that transphobia was worse back then. But I will say, I would rather be trans around 2014/2015 than today; nowadays there is a strong backlash against transgender people that didn't exist even in 2010.

I don't know about other places, but in Toronto hipsters were already very much a thing by 2008/2009, and by 2010 they were everywhere. According to Google Trends, the search term spiked around July 2008 before another big spike around May 2009 and went up from there. I agree hipsters were more a counterculture/slur in the early 2010s while in the mid-2010s they permeated everything, but they were still very much a huge force in 2010. You just don't see any counterculture like that in 2020.


I also don't hear people say "retard" as an insult, thanks to the culture being tolerant (albeit sometimes too PC).

I also don't hear people say "retard" as an insult, thanks to the culture bring tolerant (albeit sometimes too PC).


It has been replaced by "autist" since 2015 or so. It's a lot meaner than retard but thankfully it's not as popular as that insult was.

Not many people were using gay as a slur by 2010. Maybe among schoolchildren it was, according to @Rainbowz they still do that even in 2020, and I can confirm kids using that IRL too.


"Eww, that's gay" and "that's so gay" were still commonly said when I was in Year 5 back in 2010, though I remember it seemed to die down by the following year. It's interesting that Rainbowz has heard schoolkids still doing it though. I honestly haven't heard the word "gay" used as an insult in over a decade; no one said it at my high school.

The early 2010s were dry if you weren’t a Gen Zer. I didn’t really like the end of the 2000s either.

The early 2010s were dry if you weren’t a Gen Zer. I didn’t really like the end of the 2000s either.


By Gen Zer do you mean kids? I was a teen in the early 2010s and had the time of my life.

By Gen Zer do you mean kids? I was a teen in the early 2010s and had the time of my life.


Kids and teens.

Kids and teens.


True. Pop culture suited to us in the early 10s (kids' cartoons and teenage culture) was personally great to me.

I remember pop culture being sheeshty but it at least felt a lot more optimistic and brighter than today

By Gen Zer do you mean kids? I was a teen in the early 2010s and had the time of my life.


Is early 2010s teen culture even Gen Z ? I thought it was millennial