How would you describe 2013?

Well musically 2013 was definitely more mid-10s than early-10s.
It was the year that the Dubstep/Brostep backlash was fully set on, that Trap started to be a major commercial force, that the Electro-House influence started to wane, that Indie sensibilities started to really dominate Pop music, that Funk and Disco were back on the map thanks to Daft Punk, that streaming and internet culture were now the go-to way of music consumption, and so on.

Non-musically, 2013 was also the year where Netflix started to release its own series originals and kick-started the "binge-watch" culture, a pretty big facet of mid-to-late 2010s culture IMO.

I'd say that 2013 had lots of cheese, it just so happened to be subdued cheese. However, you could tell it was still the early '10s after looking at late 2014 charts because by then, there were lots of songs which wouldn't be too out of place in 2015 or 2016. 

Christmas 2001 chart vs. Christmas 2013 chart. Which chart do you think had shed turn-of-the-decade elements faster?: www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2001-12-29
www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2013-12-28

Because these years are often considered the tail-ends of their eras, the waning days of cheese.

I was 20 in 2013. I turned 20 in April.

That was the first year I truly felt like the culture had changed. I feel like 2012 was sort of a transitional year between the 2000s and 2010s.

In fact, I think 2012 might lean towards the 2010s more. Whenever I listened to the radio then, the music sounded different from what was on the radio even in 2010. Just totally different.

I feel like the late 2000s culture spanned the years 2007-2011.

2013 is so distinctly different from the prior years. It was a new era from Jan 1, 2013.

2013 is the beginning of almost every 2010s cultural/societal element: listicles, BuzzFeed, selfies --> selfie sticks --> FaceID, emojis --> Emoji movie --> animojis, streaming television and binge-watching, new musical artists (Lorde, Ariana Grande etc.), brand rivalries: Apple vs Android, MCU vs DCEU (Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel), PS4 vs Xbox One, and YouTube completely changed this year (almost all the YTers I watched in 2009 and 2010 were overtaken by new creators. Heck even the term "creator" was coined around this time). And the APPS that define the 2010s became mainstream around this time (Uber, Tinder, AirBNB, Snapchat, Instagram).

How would I describe 2013? It's the start of modern culture and the year smartphones and internet became one. Or rather the year the internet permeated everything, including smartphones. Today, the internet is the backbone of society.

Yeah, you're right. I agree with you. I think 2010 can be considered the final year of the 2000s. But 2011 is sort of iffy. 

Maybe the duo of 2011 and 2012 sits on its own... the early 2010s, as you put it. They're strange years, because they aren't exactly like the 2000s, yet they aren't like the rest of the 2010s. 

And thanks! This forum is pretty cool.

2013 was probably the last year that was politically moderate. You never heard the term SJW or Alt-right. It was also the last year with that old IOS look. 2013 was the year when selfie starts to takeoff but it didn’t reach the huge amount of heights until that Oscars selfie and the Chainsmokers song. Dubstep and electropop was still popular in this year, especially the first half. Also, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears had their last big hits this year. Indie and Retro stuff was replacing the electro sound in 2013. Hipster fashion rose during 2013. Games like Minecraft was the king of games in that time. Despite the rise of Instagram and Snapchat, Facebook was still the top social media platform. IMO, 2013 is a mixture of mostly early 10s and mid 10s being in its infant stage.