Mid 2010s: Culturally closer to early 2010's or late 2010s?

Early 2010. The moment Trump became the president is the moment everything went downhill.

I would say the mid and late 2010s are almost the same. The only difference is trump and the rise of alt-right politics but most things haven't changed

Honestly, I think people's responses to this are going to largely depend on how old they were at the time and what they were doing with their lives during the era. That isn't to sound patronizing by any means. It is a fact that the age you experience a year can have an influence on your perception of concurrent trends and the extent to which you choose to engage with them. For instance, I was personally in high school between 2012-2017 and the bulk of my teens were during the Mid 2010s, so the Mid 2010s to me feel as though they have more ties with the Early 2010s as a result. However, I was only in high school for one year of the Late 2010s, and I would be lying if I said that I am just as much engaged with current pop culture trends as I was prior to graduating from high school. Someone could very well make the point that they were more similar to the Late 2010s due to Snapchat, artists such as Shawn Mendes, The Weeknd etc., being popular and they wouldn't be wrong on that.

I do feel as though they have more cultural similarities with the Early 2010s though, bias aside. Not only was the overall zeitgeist of the Mid 2010s still sleek and upbeat like the years that proceeded it, but the hipster sub-culture arguably reached its peak around 2014/15 (at least in terms of mainstream popularity) and the world hadn't yet entered the divisive, right-wing-orientated phase that it still finds itself in today. EDM and indie-pop were the two biggest genres of the Mid 2010s, while mumble-rap defined the music scene of the Late 2010s. Barack Obama was the US President during the entire first-half of the decade. Also, when it comes to teen culture, the target audience of the social media and pop culture trends of the Late 2010s wasn't the same as the ones for the two eras prior. Pop culture was still targeted towards Millennials during the Mid 2010s. The Late 2010s, on the other hand, were unquestionably the first Gen Z era in pop culture.

Very interesting take, it should be noted that the early 2010s also have a very clear dividing line with the mid-2010s culturally: December 21st 2012. The buildup to the day of the Mayan apocalypse was such an influential event, and profoundly impacted the culture of the early part of the decade, and when that was gone, the "party before doomsday arrives" vibe was also gone. There's no wonder 2013 was such a weird and transitional year, because something culturally defining was lost.

Therefore I voted for the late 2010s for this thread. Sure the late 2010s were defined by Trump and Brexit and everything politically divisive under the sun, but the mid-2010s already clearly set the tone for that. But the huge cultural divide between the early 2010s and the mid-2010s is so strong in comparison that I can't vote in good conscience with that. And that's coming from a someone who experienced both the early and the mid-2010s in the exact same way: high school.

It depends on what year of the mid 2010s. Late 2013 and 2014 were culturally closer to the early 2010s. 2015 can go either way depending on what you’re looking at. 2016 is definitely closer to the late 2010s and it is certainly not very connected to the early 10s. I do agree with the sentiment that the mid 2010s is its own separate era of the 2010s.

Late 2013 - Mid 2015: Early 10s

Mid 2015 - Feb 2017: Late 10s

Overall i'd say Early 10s but it doesn't feel like neither.