[larnmar]

I feel like decades stopped having distinctive identities somewhere round 2000.

Previous decade-by-decade changes from the 50s to the 60s to the 70s to the 80s to the 90s were, it must be admitted, mostly aesthetic rather than being the “fundamental changes in society” that people like to pretend — people in general didn’t become greedier in 1980 and less greedy again in 1990. But there were huge changes in the aesthetics of everything — clothes, interiors, graphic design, music, cars etc.

What has changed since 2004, in the actual physical world?

[bambataa]

I think it’s just that we don’t have enough distance yet. Plenty of things only seem iconic in reverse. I’m thinking primarily about music, where often the best-selling music of an era isn’t what it’s remembered for. Plenty of very forgettable chart toppers.

In terms of physical space, technology has become much more pervasive. I’m 2004 did you see everyone in a bar/cafe day reading a device? Internet dating was for losers and now Tinder is huge.

[tracer4201]

We’re constantly on the internet or somehow connected, wherever we go. Smartphones are ubiquitous, as are more laptops and tablets as opposed to large, yellowy desktops. We don’t really watch TV cable anymore in the traditional sense afaik.

There have been fashion changes. Boot cut jeans came and went. Malls aren’t as popular as they once were. Victoria’s Secret Fashion show isn’t a thing anymore. We’ve begun doing away with the image of the skinny, magazine model as solely defining “beauty”.

If you compare even something like vehicles from 2004, there’s certainly a shift in aesthetic. More recent models have a more aggressive look.

But maybe your point had something to do with changes in behaviors. The younger generations aren’t consuming the same kinds of products as their parents.

[jdnenej]

Meme culture has been massive this decade and it's not just online. I regularly see memes in street art or stickers on light posts. I also think it's just that we haven't had enough time to judge yet. In another 20 years when things have changed you can reflect on them instead of it being the current reality.

[buboard]

Memes are last decade. It s old technology nowadays tbh , i wonder how come kids still use it

[ericd]

The iPhone was introduced in 2007. I’d say that had some pretty large effects. Reusable rockets. The explosion of social media. Electric cars. A number of other things.

[buboard]

Facebook stopped growing around 2013. I think that trend is if anything dwindling. electric cars and rockets are niche- the big change there is the digitisation of work which makes cars obsolete.

[ericd]

Well, the question was what had changed since 2004. FB gained more than a billion users since then.

Electric cars and reusable rockets are niche now, but picking up steam quickly. Seems pretty safe to say that those were watershed moments.

Remote work might be taking off, but I haven't seen the evidence of it accelerating. Seems like most companies like it more in theory than in practice. I'd love to be wrong about that, though.

[pjc50]

I feel that the 00s didn't have a well-defined "youth culture", in the sense that people used for 50s onwards where a culture and visual and musical style all combine. But the end of the 2010s definitely does have this, at least for women - Youtube/instagram have evolved a distinctive makeup style!

To me the 00s is the "war decade" and the 2010s the "financial crisis decade", despite the defining events being in 2001 and 2008 respectively. Post-2015 is the "chaos decade", where politics stopped attempting to make sense.

[Nasrudith]

I think the youtu culture thing is a result of MP3s "balkanizing" things as their music exposure is less decided by the record store.

A sock hopper in the 70s would look out of place and like lazy and out of touch writers. Now a teenage fan of Nirvana or 80s metal is normal essentially.

In comparison wit music tastes it is like a bunch of time travelers into the same high school for a bunch of anchronistic cliques together.

[buboard]

The tyranny of rounded corners still bugs me - and these were not even novel , its a modernist aesthetic! Architecture is still ‘contemporary’ since 2000, no impressive progress there, but probably huge horizontal expansion in china.

As for music and even film - maybe they re going through a long winter? Youtube travelogues are more interesting , to me. I think gaming , and virtual socializing has lots of unexplored potential too.

I m not even sure if someone is studying this seemingly quiet cultural period. I think we need someone to record this zeitgeist . Who are the eminent intellectuals that will be remembered in 2 decades?

[alexanderchr]

Almost ten years old article on this, but still (more?) relevant

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/01/prisoners-of-style-...

[tingletech]

besides people walking around looking at little pieces of glass and these stupid scooters littered around everywhere?