Inspired by SpyroKev's thread: http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=53548.0

IMO, the 2010s went downhill since short hair on guys started being trendy (e.g. Justin Bieber in his mid-late teens and most of 1D) which makes me think that society has become less liberal and much to my disappointment since I really hate having short hair, and since music became bland, such as with "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons (dunno the artist exactly), "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic, "Wake Me Up" by Avicii and "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift. I could also say the same thing for TV with Doctor Who since Matt Smith and the Teen Titans remake, but then again, I've been way too obsessed with the Internet since we had laptops and smartphones in the late 00s. Video games have become way too simplified as well.

Other than in culture, politics has gone down as well. Russia, and some people or some parts of Europe have become more fascist, and politics has become much more polarised. Daesh are unstoppable and have been committing acts of terrorism more often than before. Aviation is no longer something I can fully enjoy or take for granted, at least for flights going over Asia, in particular, the Russia-Ukraine border.

Unlike the start of the 2000s, there has not really been any significant "if only if..." turning point this decade. I think the foundations for pop culture's sterilization were already set in stone by the late 2000s; it's just that those negative effects only started to become truly apparent as we entered the mid-2010s. 2016 is The biggest low for popular culture in a long time, for the most part.

The things I hate most about our current times are as follows:

* Pointless social media dominating everything.
* Absurd political correctness far less open-minded than the vision of previous major movements.
* Good gaming genres like simulation and rhythm perishing just to make way for even more FPS's and so-called interactive movies.
* Tatted-up, pierced fashion, especially with lesbians in particular.
* Orange Is the New Black.
* A general lack of variety in music, plus the return of rap as horrible as mid-late 2000s.
* Extreme political polarization.
* Selfie culture.
* People generally acting off of impulse rather than evaluation.
* Millennials claiming that they have created a world more diverse and accepting than ever before, when in reality people like me feel like even greater misfits than in the 00s, just for being ourselves.

I may be a die-hard fan of the 2000s, where everybody had to fear about what George W. Bush did for eight years until Obama was inaugurated. However, I don't really think that '43 Bush is that bad. Sure, he ruined the economy, and had the United States go to war with the Middle East because of 9/11 and terrorist paranoia. However, I truly think that the 2000s weren't politically godawful. I mean, I lived during Hillary Clinton's actions as a senator of my home state (New York) from 2001 to 2009. That doesn't mean I hate the 2000s politically, it's just that I think this hate over the decade is a little too farfetched.

But with everything from the 2010s, it just seems like people are just taking sh*t way too far. Everywhere on the Internet, people are saying that Donald Trump is a terrible person just because he said that he wanted to build a wall over the Mexican border. While I do agree that it's really offensive to say something like that, I think maybe he just wants to have some more stability towards the illegal immigrants. Although, his desire of a maximum security wall is really expensive for the government of his country. I mean, that sh*t would take like billions of dollars to make, just so that he would make America of what he promised. He has been saying that for over a year, and I could feel that maybe the government wouldn't stand a chance on him. He's not very popular with people, except for white nationalists and extremely dumb people.

Same with political correctness, where it makes no sense on why does it have to be so extreme. I know that most people don't like having racism, sexism, homophobia, nor xenophobia in any community. But those people who say those kind of things are protected under freedom of speech. So, it doesn't really matter so much. I don't even know why people are getting so upset about it, even when they should take stuff less seriously.

As for pop culture in this decade, anybody could know that I just don't like it so much. For the fact that pretty much anything that I could listen nowadays is either modern electropop or hip-hop. All of the sh*t that keeps going through the mainstream is just none of my time. I just wish rock music (more likely, heavy metal IMO) should have a revival (with new bands) in the late 2010s, since most of the rock we keep having is either revivals from early 2000s bands or mediocre stuff. Overall, I could enjoy some of the stuff that this decade produced. But it's just not that good compared to the last decade.

Unlike the start of the 2000s, there has not really been any significant "if only if..." turning point this decade. I think the foundations for pop culture's sterilization were already set in stone by the late 2000s; it's just that those negative effects only started to become truly apparent as we entered the mid-2010s. 2016 is The biggest low for popular culture in a long time, for the most part.

The things I hate most about our current times are as follows:

* Pointless social media dominating everything.
* Absurd political correctness far less open-minded than the vision of previous major movements.
* Good gaming genres like simulation and rhythm perishing just to make way for even more FPS's and so-called interactive movies.
* Tatted-up, pierced fashion, especially with lesbians in particular.
* Orange Is the New Black.
* A general lack of variety in music, plus the return of rap as horrible as mid-late 2000s.
* Extreme political polarization.
* Selfie culture.
* People generally acting off of impulse rather than evaluation.
* Millennials claiming that they have created a world more diverse and accepting than ever before, when in reality people like me feel like even greater misfits than in the 00s, just for being ourselves.


The music, I guess people got tired of the "emo" and rock sound that permeated semi-mainstream 2000s music.

Feminism and the like became widely accepted in the 2000s compared to previous decades, but kinda went rabid so as to declare anything as sexist in the following decade. Admittedly, I kinda hold these views as well, viewing everything from writing to law as being male patriarchal constructs.

As for the increasing conformity, I can blame this on a distrust of feminism and "political correctness", and because people got tired of emo and "metrosexuality", so now fashion is heavily gendered and makes me hate being a guy again :( I got annoyed with several classmates when they decided to have their hair short.

Blame Apple for the smartphones and partly for the social networks, the latter which you could blame on Mark Zuckerberg. Even if it were not for him, forums and IM (both of which came shortly after the Internet became widely available) would naturally create social networks since people want something instantaneous and don't want to have to hit refresh all the time.

Blame graphics card companies for gitting gud. Seriously, games lack features (e.g. Saints Row 3 compared to Saints Row 2) these days because the graphics really make them sell; for instance, the new DOOM has great graphics, but lacked the horror element in the original 90s game and even in the 2000s reboot, partly because you don't get a lot of black in that game. Fortunately, people have wisened up with Infinite Warfare getting a lot of hate, which shows that people want a specific type of shooter (not some sci-fi crap).

If you want people to act less on impulse, they should make broadband and/or fast computers expensive again, which might come true when we begin to run out of energy and other resources.

Blame Apple for the smartphones and partly for the social networks, the latter which you could blame on Mark Zuckerberg. Even if it were not for him, forums and IM (both of which came shortly after the Internet became widely available) would naturally create social networks since people want something instantaneous and don't want to have to hit refresh all the time.


I wouldn't really blame Apple for inventing a multi-touch screen cellphone, where it became revolutionized within the phone industry at an instant rate. I would rather blame Tim Cook (yes, that bastard who took over Apple after Steve Jobs died) who pretty much made the iPhone looked like sheesh and ruined the meaning of it.

I wouldn't really blame Apple for inventing a multi-touch screen cellphone, where it became revolutionized within the phone industry at an instant rate. I would rather blame Tim Cook (yes, that bastard who took over Apple after Steve Jobs died) who pretty much made the iPhone looked like sheesh and ruined the meaning of it.


Before it came out, phones used to be a lot more unique. Well, at least we have Android, so everyone with a smartphone doesn't suddenly lose their computer literacy.

I would kinda like PDAs back though. Capacitive touch screens can get annoying sometimes.

Before it came out, phones used to be a lot more unique. Well, at least we have Android, so everyone with a smartphone doesn't suddenly lose their computer literacy.


Yeah, Androids are way better than iPhones. I wished I had one, so I could get faster processing speeds than my sh*tty iPhone 5C.


I would kinda like PDAs back though. Capacitive touch screens can get annoying sometimes.


PDAs were so cool back then. I could remember my dad owning one, and I remember playing on it. I think it ran on Windows Mobile or something like that, and it was so better than using my iPhone in retrospect.

Yeah, Androids are way better than iPhones. I wished I had one, so I could get faster processing speeds than my sh*tty iPhone 5C.

PDAs were so cool back then. I could remember my dad owning one, and I remember playing on it. I think it ran on Windows Mobile or something like that, and it was so better than using my iPhone in retrospect.

I wonder how iSheep will react to being able to use a file manager. Even 2000s mobile operating systems like Series 40 had those!

Radioactive is a terrible song but the album is 🔥🔥🔥 HOT.

And anything OneRepublic does is gold! >:( Counting Stars was a fun sing along ;D


Before it came out, phones used to be a lot more unique. Well, at least we have Android, so everyone with a smartphone doesn't suddenly lose their computer literacy.

I would kinda like PDAs back though. Capacitive touch screens can get annoying sometimes.


I gave a presentation predicting that PDAs will replace regular cellphones circa ~Spring 2007, when I was in high school ;D

* Millennials claiming that they have created a world more diverse and accepting than ever before, when in reality people like me feel like even greater misfits than in the 00s, just for being ourselves.


I agree.

As a closeted gay guy, I used to have this hope and expectation that things would get better eventually.  Today, I know that things will never get better.

This "acceptance" and "love is love" that Obama talked about in his speech the other night is nowhere to be found in small town America.

I agree.

As a closeted gay guy, I used to have this hope and expectation that things would get better eventually.  Today, I know that things will never get better.

This "acceptance" and "love is love" that Obama talked about in his speech the other night is nowhere to be found in small town America.


:( Is it that bad?

:( Is it that bad?


Small rural towns are like completely different universes from millennial suburban/urban communities. People living in the former are either hardly exposed to or choose to avoid diversity, and so fundamental Christianity is a more plausible unifying force to them than it is for city-goers. I know this is generalizing, but there's certainly something to say about the overall culture of rural Americana versus places that are much more in-touch with mainstream trends and values.

I agree.

As a closeted gay guy, I used to have this hope and expectation that things would get better eventually.  Today, I know that things will never get better.

This "acceptance" and "love is love" that Obama talked about in his speech the other night is nowhere to be found in small town America.


That's how I feel within the lesbian community in particular, not just with ignorant conservatives. It's far harder to be a straightforward, feminine lesbian without tats, piercings, a cynical worldview, an outright obsession with dogs, and no interest in Orange Is the New Black. I've tried hard to find lesbians who I can connect with, but the dating pool has been amazingly homogenous, even with the few exceptions, who are probably not interested in someone with my personal type of individualism, anyway.

That's how I feel within the lesbian community in particular, not just with ignorant conservatives. It's far harder to be a straightforward, feminine lesbian without tats, piercings, a cynical worldview, an outright obsession with dogs, and no interest in Orange Is the New Black. I've tried hard to find lesbians who I can connect with, but the dating pool has been amazingly homogenous, even with the few exceptions, who are probably not interested in someone with my personal type of individualism, anyway.


I know what you mean.

It's the same way in the gay community.  Sometimes communities that are marginalized because they don't fit in with the norm create their own sets of norms and marginalize those within their own community that don't fit into it.

That's how I feel within the lesbian community in particular, not just ignorant conservatives. It's far harder to be a straightforward, feminine lesbian without tats, piercings, a cynical worldview, an outright obsession with dogs, and no interest in Orange Is the New Black. I've tried hard to find lesbians who I can connect with, but the dating pool has been amazingly homogenous, even with the few exceptions, who are probably not interested in someone with my personal type of individualism.
I think I know what you mean by that. Because of the current atmosphere today, there really seems to be no individuality. Almost everywhere, most folks are smoking weed, have hundreds of tats/piercings, and find many things very offensive.

Small rural towns are like completely different universes from millennial suburban/urban communities. People living in the former are either hardly exposed to or choose to avoid diversity, and so fundamental Christianity is a more plausible unifying force to them than it is for city-goers. I know this is generalizing, but there's certainly something to say about the overall culture of rural Americana versus places that are much more in-touch with mainstream trends and values.


To the point that Chris says he's lost hope that things will ever get better though... that's another level of heart-breaking :(

I think I know what you mean by that. Because of the current atmosphere today, there really seems to be no individuality. Almost everywhere, most folks are smoking weed, have hundreds of tats/piercings, and find many things very offensive.


You're describing California every decade since the 1960s tbh :P

I may be a die-hard fan of the 2000s, where everybody had to fear about what George W. Bush did for eight years until Obama was inaugurated. However, I don't really think that '43 Bush is that bad. Sure, he ruined the economy, and had the United States go to war with the Middle East because of 9/11 and terrorist paranoia. However, I truly think that the 2000s weren't politically godawful. I mean, I lived during Hillary Clinton's actions as a senator of my home state (New York) from 2001 to 2009. That doesn't mean I hate the 2000s politically, it's just that I think this hate over the decade is a little too farfetched.

But with everything from the 2010s, it just seems like people are just taking sh*t way too far. Everywhere on the Internet, people are saying that Donald Trump is a terrible person just because he said that he wanted to build a wall over the Mexican border. While I do agree that it's really offensive to say something like that, I think maybe he just wants to have some more stability towards the illegal immigrants. Although, his desire of a maximum security wall is really expensive for the government of his country. I mean, that sh*t would take like billions of dollars to make, just so that he would make America of what he promised. He has been saying that for over a year, and I could feel that maybe the government wouldn't stand a chance on him. He's not very popular with people, except for white nationalists and extremely dumb people.

Same with political correctness, where it makes no sense on why does it have to be so extreme. I know that most people don't like having racism, sexism, homophobia, nor xenophobia in any community. But those people who say those kind of things are protected under freedom of speech. So, it doesn't really matter so much. I don't even know why people are getting so upset about it, even when they should take stuff less seriously.

As for pop culture in this decade, anybody could know that I just don't like it so much. For the fact that pretty much anything that I could listen nowadays is either modern electropop or hip-hop. All of the sh*t that keeps going through the mainstream is just none of my time. I just wish rock music (more likely, heavy metal IMO) should have a revival (with new bands) in the late 2010s, since most of the rock we keep having is either revivals from early 2000s bands or mediocre stuff. Overall, I could enjoy some of the stuff that this decade produced. But it's just not that good compared to the last decade.

I agree. Great post. Us 2000s kids had it good.

Well the violence and terrorism went wrong. If it wasn't for so many terrorist attacks and mass shootings this decade wouldn't be as horrible. But combine that with the awful pop culture, terrible music, tasteless fads and social media culture, political polarization, it's just one big mess.

Radioactive is a terrible song but the album is 🔥🔥🔥 HOT.

And anything OneRepublic does is gold! >:( Counting Stars was a fun sing along ;D


I imagined Imagine Dragons to be like MCR and Blink-182. I was hugely disappointed.

Counting Stars just lacks that emotion that previous songs had. It sounds like an average three year old wrote it.

Gonna go off topic here, but why has fashion become more conservative for guys now? It shouldn't be that only LGBT individuals and straight girls get to wear stuff like highlights in their hair and make-up, and even cross-dress! That was what I loved about emo culture in the 2000s, because the long hair on guys was effectively quite androgynous.

I wonder how iSheep will react to being able to use a file manager. Even 2000s mobile operating systems like Series 40 had those!


Yeah. Now that I think about it, PDAs had more interesting features than modern smartphones.

Unlike the start of the 2000s, there has not really been any significant "if only if..." turning point this decade. I think the foundations for pop culture's sterilization were already set in stone by the late 2000s; it's just that those negative effects only started to become truly apparent as we entered the mid-2010s. 2016 is The biggest low for popular culture in a long time, for the most part.

The things I hate most about our current times are as follows:

* Pointless social media dominating everything.
* Absurd political correctness far less open-minded than the vision of previous major movements.
* Good gaming genres like simulation and rhythm perishing just to make way for even more FPS's and so-called interactive movies.
* Tatted-up, pierced fashion, especially with lesbians in particular.
* Orange Is the New Black.
* A general lack of variety in music, plus the return of rap as horrible as mid-late 2000s.
* Extreme political polarization.
* Selfie culture.
* People generally acting off of impulse rather than evaluation.
* Millennials claiming that they have created a world more diverse and accepting than ever before, when in reality people like me feel like even greater misfits than in the 00s, just for being ourselves.


I can tell you one thing, social media is getting ridiculously out of hand and please for the love of god stop taking dumb pictures of yourself already. >:(

I can tell you one thing, social media is getting ridiculously out of hand and please for the love of god stop taking dumb pictures of yourself already. >:(
How else is there to take your photo if you are on your own?

I agree.

As a closeted gay guy, I used to have this hope and expectation that things would get better eventually.  Today, I know that things will never get better.

This "acceptance" and "love is love" that Obama talked about in his speech the other night is nowhere to be found in small town America.

Had no idea you were gay? It now makes sense. Since you talk about homoobia of the 00s and being bullied in the early 00s. I could see why you would prefer this decade over the last.

I imagined Imagine Dragons to be like MCR and Blink-182. I was hugely disappointed.

Counting Stars just lacks that emotion that previous songs had. It sounds like an average three year old wrote it.

Gonna go off topic here, but why has fashion become more conservative for guys now? It shouldn't be that only LGBT individuals and straight girls get to wear stuff like highlights in their hair and make-up, and even cross-dress! That was what I loved about emo culture in the 2000s, because the long hair on guys was effectively quite androgynous.


You can still wear long hair. Not sure about make up though. It should be said though, 2000s fashion was very macho, emo was just a subculture, and not exactly a socially acceptable one at that.  :(

I'll add the layout change of YouTube in 2012. Trap Rap dominance and obviously the overwhelming politics that's constantly spreading negative atmosphere in repeat.

I'll add the layout change of YouTube in 2012. Trap Rap dominance and obviously the overwhelming politics that's constantly spreading negative atmosphere in repeat.


I've been meaning to ask, what is an example of a trap rap song that's popular these days? I still don't know what trap rap is ;D

I'll add the layout change of YouTube in 2012. Trap Rap dominance and obviously the overwhelming politics that's constantly spreading negative atmosphere in repeat.


The layout from 2012 made what YouTube became ever since. A vile and horrendous website, filled with putrid people from all sorts of communities.

I've been meaning to ask, what is an example of a trap rap song that's popular these days? I still don't know what trap rap is ;D


Just YouTube search Fetty Wap or The Weekend. You will see how generic and tedious the hooks to their songs can be. I don't know specific names of the songs I heard from both, but I know their voices.
The layout from 2012 made what YouTube became ever since. A vile and horrendous website, filled with putrid people from all sorts of communities.


When the YouTube clubs were announced to be taken down. Aww, man. So much force.

When the YouTube clubs were announced to be taken down. Aww, man. So much force.


What's worse is that you were forced to use Google+ by then, since Google was annoying everybody with their dumb notifications saying that they should use it for better features. It seemed like we were offered a tumor with that kind of crap.

Honestly, mostly stuff in the news. Pop culture, I don't have much to complain about.

Just YouTube search Fetty Wap or The Weekend. You will see how generic and tedious the hooks to their songs can be. I don't know specific names of the songs I heard from both, but I know their voices.
When the YouTube clubs were announced to be taken down. Aww, man. So much force.


What? I love the Weeknd! The Hills and Can't Feel My Face were one of my favourite songs in 2015 and Might Not for 2016  ;D

Okay I might be biased, since he's Canadian and we share the same birthday  :-X

Is he really rap though? He sounds like EDM/Pop to me.

What? I love the Weeknd! The Hills and Can't Feel My Face were one of my favourite songs in 2015 and Might Not for 2016  ;D

Okay I might be biased, since he's Canadian and we share the same birthday  :-X

Is he really rap though? He sounds like EDM/Pop to me.


The Weeknd are awesome!!!

The Weeknd are awesome!!!


Remind me to give you karma when I get on a computer LOL  :-X

Remind me to give you karma when I get on a computer LOL  :-X


You're supposed to give me karma in my next life!  :D  :D  :D

You're supposed to give me karma in my next life!  :D  :D  :D


I believe in Ancient Egypt style resurrection.

I believe in Ancient Egypt style resurrection.


That's a lonely road, the realm of the dead.  :-[  :-\\

I prefer karate chops and overly aggressive fire spirits!! Yaaa!  >:(  >:(  8)  8)