OPINION: 2011 was the LAST truly good year

I love/cherish 2011 with the bottom of my heart. 2011 has to be the happiest year of my life thus far. It was a lot more optimistic than today. I agree with 2011. When 2012 came, it went downhill with Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman fiasco. That IMO kicked started the nastiness of today's society

Well, anything before 2011 wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Every year has it's ups and downs. 2008-09 wasn't a happy time if you are an adult struggling with the economy around you. 2011 literally had a terrorist attack that killed 77 people in Norway.

No, of course no year is perfect but things were still better, and IMO the 2000s and early 2010s still felt more like my world than this current world. It's not just that bad shit happens, it ALWAYS will, but rather that culture in the 2000s was more fit to my liking: offensive jokes, skeuomorphic design, American/Canadian pop stars, Japanese rather than Korean culture being obsessed over, Flash games, techno-optimism, etc.

The only K-pop stuff I heard in 2012 was Gangnam Style and even that song has heavy electropop elements. Kpop got out of control when BTS wants worldwide stardom in 2017. Kesha literally almost hit #1 in late 2012 with Die Young. The iPhone still kept its skeuomorphic look in 2012. I feel like you should also include 2012 as another good year since SO many people are nostalgic about that year.

Sopa was introduced in late 2011. Don't forget the Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring in 2011 which gave birth to hashtag activism. 

It's the last year to have 2000s influences (despite being mostly 2010s of course).

Its still feels recent except for a number of things, but it's not an overwhelming number of things. I guess the best thing was less saturation of video and online content and collective phone attachment, rental stores and dvds (physical movie media in mainstream sense) in their last gasp, minor late 2000s vibes in general, and less of strict adherence to political correctness and woke culture even though it still is around, video game retro nostalgia starting to get more mainstream than 06-10, closer to 2014 levels, and slightly better more authentic music/film than latter years, but that isn't saying too much. It was a decent/quite good year compared to other 2010s years but not iconic.

Things like angry birds merch, slightly chunkier Iphones, proto mid 2010s hipster fashion or similar fashion barely feel old even after a decade, as we are barely cut off from them. Also the same H&M clothing still available today as it was then (flannel shirts, 90s inspired clothing, striped t-shirts etc), design/food (food trucks, hipster hamburgers, vintage brand identity) and many many aesthetic trends are identical and still relevant today.

All this just makes the year a bit dated instead of old.