Nothing defines the 2010s

^ The guy who made that video is a moron and is out of touch

Things that define the 2010s


- Hipster culture
- Trap
- ps4/xbox one
-SJW culture
- Obama
- Electropop
- Instagram
- Tinder/Okcupid
- Minimalism
- Marvel cinematic universe
- Imax
- Facebook
- Tablets
- Smart phones
- Game of Thrones
- Walking Dead
- Edm
- Edm culture
- Call of duty

I can appreciate the topic of this video, but it really was way too ambitious to take on in ten minutes. Especially regarding the first half of the twentieth century, where he made a lot of generalizations that were bordering on inaccurate. To act like the forties didn't have their own culture, come on. And while he's right about a healthy economy spurring consumerism and thusly putting a lot of goods out there tied to the era, it's far from the only thing providing a vivid appearance to a decade. To say the 70's was a continuation of the 60's due to bad economics severely misses the point of the era, while also ignores that hippie culture didn't actually dominate until the tail end of the decade. That would be like calling Facebook a 00's fad. However, I don't think he's entirely wrong in assessment of the twenty-first century not transforming stylistically at the same pace it used to. And I have made the same point before about technology not allowing past media to fade, as it always remains accessible, even it doesn't necessarily stay popular. Having such an enormous archive does make it so our focus can be much less narrow, allowing for a wider breadth in sounds, styles, designs, etc. That doesn't mean though that we don't and won't still continue to have markers to specific eras. But have they and will they be more subtle, and perhaps based more around what technology we are using? Probably. Brief trends that come and go are what we've been experiencing for ages now anyway, I don't see why they would have that much less of a punch now. Maybe even more so now that our steady everyday surroundings have otherwise settled into modernity. And hipsters are still around dude, come on.

I’m not trying to sound ageist or anything, but people my age, or around my age, are arguably better at defining the 2010’s because we literally were in school for all or almost all the decade. We spent elementary, middle, and high school in the 2010’s and were the target audience for a lot of things. If you were born in say, the early 90’s, it’s going to be a bit harder unless you actually still pay attention to the pop culture.

I'll be honest, I can actually understand the argument that he is trying to make and I think there is some truth to it. Some of the examples that many people use to define the 2010s are not really applicable, IMO, as they are simply way too vague in their nature to define a decade from a cultural/social point of view. For instance, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat may have defined the social media world of the 2010s, however they will still be around in the 2020s and will likely be just as influential as they were during this decade. People are not going to suddenly stop using them on the 1st January 2020 and that's something people need to get their head around.

I mean, think of it from this perspective. It would sound ridiculous if someone were to define the 1950s based simply on the fact that television was around. Yes, it was hugely influential to the pop culture of the time, but there are so many other trends that were actually unique to the 1950s themselves. Websites that experience longevity (10+ years) in the mainstream really shouldn't be used to define a decade. These websites are not fads; they've become an integral part of day-to-day life. People use Facebook to stay in contact with family and friends, basically like a phone book of the internet. It's not going to go a way anytime soon. Also, I think people are forgetting that Facebook itself isn't exclusive to the 2010s; it actually became popular towards the end of the 2000s and it has existed since 2004. Yet, I don't see people using Facebook to define the 2000s...

To me, the fact that people have to resort to using website brands and streaming services to define a decade emphasises how shallow the 2010s pop culture scene really is. What looks 2010s? What is the typical 2010s sound? There's very little depth to most of the fads/trends that have went on to "define" this decade and I blame that on the ubiquitous nature of social media and smartphones. Pop culture isn't leaving an impression on people as it did in the past as we are no longer engaging with pop culture in the manner that we once did. It's like we're all just going through the motions. Perhaps if we had all turned off our devices and allowed ourselves to take in what was going on around us, the pop culture of the 2010s would have been so much more substantial. 

Yeah, but the hipster look was more mainstream and widespread than say greasers in the 50s.
For the 60s, the equivalent of that would be the mod subculture as the decade's defining aesthetic since hippies were only ever relevant from the late 60s to the early 70s.
Plus even in the late 60s you had far higher chance to find people dressed in mod fashion rather than being a hippie (which has sadly become more of a stereotype):

Yeah, I see what you mean. The successes of Tamagotchi and Pokemon definitely weren't confined to just the 1990s. Tamagotchi's remained popular until as late as 2006 (at least here anyway), while Pokemon' is still hugely popular to this day, like you suggested.

Just on that last point, I do generally agree with what you're saying. I think the 2010s could be referred to as being the "golden age" for smartphones. I'm only opposed to the idea of defining the culture of this decade based solely on the device itself, as smartphones will likely be just as influential to the pop culture of the 2020s.