18 Insane Moments That Encapsulate The 2010s

The decade from 2010 to 2020 flew by in a flash. It was absolutely bulldozed out of the way by 2020 and there are so many things we don’t think about that happened during that time. So many people forgot about the scary clown phase, and the cringy but cute duck face phase. There are so many other things that deserve to be remembered, and they’re right here. Here are 18 things from the 2010s that deserve to be remembered.

1. The terrifying yet hilarious clown epidemic.

“I actually got chased by some of these clowns. Very traumatizing.” – u/meggemmy

2. The rise of Amazon prime.

“And Amazon Web Services, which kind of make Amazon the internet. The only big name companies not hosted by AWS are their direct competitors for web hosting, like Google. But basically, if you do any transaction that involves anybody touching a screen that’s connected to the internet, you’ve sent some money into Bezos’ pocket. As far as I understand it, anyway.” – u/luhnkhead

3. The social media explosion that had everyone obsessed.

“And the ’20s will be the implosion. We’re already sick of ourselves.” – u/The_God_of_Abraham

4. The rise of touch screen smartphones giving everyone instant internet access.

“The iPhone came out in what, 2007? It was a solid year or two before you had traction there. Now, phones have pretty much replaced most people’s home computers for menial tasks.” – u/caverunner17

5. The meme renaissance.

“Memes were the quintessential millennial mode of expression, akin to the hieroglyphics of Egypt and the cuneiform tablets of Sumer. Early 21st century internet savants populated their Facebook feeds with fan favorites such as Lolcats and Philosoraptor. As the trend caught on, memes diversified and developed, getting adopted by such institutions as politics, academia, and post-modern avant-garde expressionism. As memes became more sophisticated, so too did their influence over society. The charged political landscape ignited a trend of weaponizing them for political use, culminating into the Meme Wars of 2028.” – u/mapleleafraggedy

6. Streaming became reliable and genuinely usable.

“Hollywood has become dominated by major franchises, following the growing trend in the 2000s, leaving smaller films to find new audiences on streaming like Netflix, Hulu, etc. 3D had a resurgence in 2010-2012 after Avatar’s success but shortly fizzled out after. Marvel movies dominated the decade, guaranteeing a degree of quality with each movie. Television, and binge watching shows on streaming, has led to more buzz on shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc.” – u/themanoftin

7. Swipe dating apps, and the subsequent destruction of real relationships.

“Dating apps for sure. In 2010 I was 22, newly single, and living in New York City. Everyone kind of instantaneously decided that OkCupid was suddenly acceptable and it was a huge game changer” – u/ventricles

8. The term influencer came to light.

“Presumably once centralized communications mechanisms broke down (people stopped watching the big TV channels) it becomes important for advertisers to identify people/organizations who are good at getting attention. Some of these people have disproportionately large reach/audiences relative to the cost of getting their patronage. It’s not really meant as a slight against them, but these people effectively made getting attention their job, and they’re statistically good at it.” – u/cbslinger

9. The death of traditional media.

“Printed newspapers and periodicals, broadcast television and radio are fading. And while digital music way predates the 2010s, it took until this decade for pop stars to stop “selling” albums. They aren’t tallying CD sales anymore, they’re counting unique streams.” – u/tylerss20

10. The classic 2010s commercials.

“Early 2010s ads are backed by upbeat music, or people breakdancing or doing “the worm” to obnoxious dubstep music. The late 2010s have vivid colors and imagery, vaporwave-style aesthetics, and loud over-the-top spokespeople talking fast in the middle of the screen (think “Captain Obvious” from the Hotels.com commercials or Terry Crews from the Old Spice commercials)” – u/Meetybeefy

11. Food trucks and portable restaurants became way more popular.

“A move away from chain restaurants and the rise of food trucks and locally-owned restaurants that all feature string lighting, outdoor tables with giant Jenga blocks, Edison bulbs, and a craft beer selection written on a chalkboard.” – u/meetybeefy

12. An extreme increase in superhero movies.

“From a cinematic standpoint, this is the age of superheroes. Comic book movies dominated in the last decade and they are not going anywhere anytime soon.” – u/itayfeder

13. An explosion in the world of gaming.

“From a video game standpoint, this is the decade of the indie explosion, esports, battle royales and micro transactions.” – u/itayfeder

14. The infamous is the dress blue or gold photo.

“About 10% of people saw it as blue and brown (the actual pixel colors). That was a fun victory as a colorblind person. For me the actual, measurable colors in the famous photo were dead obvious. The dress was blue and golden-brown. The one time I could be objectively right (to the degree color can be objective) and almost everyone else was wrong. It is pretty interesting that the dress in person is obviously blue and black. I don’t know whether the black vs brown part of that controversy was more about human perceptions or about poor cameras and the limitations of technology.” – via Reddit

15. Pokemon Go was a masterpiece.

“There was something surreal about that time. You could just walk up to strangers and talk, the whole street was filled with people all doing the exact same thing without any organised event. My brother, sister, a few friends and I would all drive around slowly in the back streets with pokestops and slow down with our windows down past any groups of people walking with their phones out blasting the Pokémon theme, trying to look all cool. We’d ask what team they were in and if they weren’t ours we’d speed off. Was always fun seeing people’s reactions.” – u/blewmeister

16. Fidget spinners single handedly ruined classrooms.

“I still have the one I stole from my 8 year old (she had like 10 of them things). Let me tell you, I’m never letting it go. I get it now. I spin it under my desk at work. Every time I get annoyed people hear a little whirring noise and nobody knows its me and my fidget spinner.” – u/scorpiolafuega

17. The party rock anthem.

“At my wedding, some friends created a dance routine to Party Rock as a surprise for us. What nobody at the wedding knew was, by complete coincidence, I had previously learned the dance break from the music video because I thought it was so cool. When the dance break came up during their performance, I jumped in with them, danced the dance break, and sat back down. I’ll never forget the look on everyone’s faces.” – u/banksy0726

18. The tide pod snack trend.

“These trends move so quickly now, I doubt the Tide Pod thing will stay in the collective conscience much longer, but I like to think it’ll become one of those fun facts our grandchildren will share at parties to exude “personality.” – u/kevinisaplaceonearth