Decade Trends: 5 Things That Are Making The 2010 To 2020 Years Memorable
Remember sitting in your boring high school U.S. History course learning about the Roaring Twenties or the introduction of TV in the 50s? Everyday history is made. If asked 80 years from now what this decade (2010-2020) would be known for, what would you say? This is how we'd characterize it.
The Social Media Boom
Today's generation couldn't imagine life without social media. This may allude to the fact that by middle school, about all kids carry a cell phone. Kaiser Family Foundation reports that "The transformation of the cell phone into a media content delivery platform... [has] facilitated an explosion in [recreationally-based] media consumption among American youth."
Social media got its start with BBS (Bulletin Board System), an online meeting place where people downloaded games and files and would post messages to users. Quickly following BBS, was AOL, credited as the true precursor for social networking sites with its unprecedented member created communities along with searchable member profiles. From Classmates.com to SixDegrees.com to BlackPlanet in the late 90s, social media has evolved "towards becoming the omnipresent cultural phenomenon we know and love in 2015."
Body Enhancement Craze
Society is obsessed with beauty more than ever. So obsessed they'll buy into any quick fix -- whether harmful, dangerous or toxic. Among the body enhancement craze includes waist trainers, butt injections -- which happen to be illegal -- and even laser procedures to change eye color being the most extreme. Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian have flaunted her use of waist trainers, which are designed to reduce the width of the waist. Drawing in women from across the world, waist trainers have gained popularity. But do they really live up their name? "Medically, it doesn't make sense that cinching your waist tightly will make it permanently smaller," says Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., clinical professor of ob-gyn at Yale School of Medicine. "Once you take the garment off, your body will return to its usual shape. It's also uncomfortable, restricts your movements, and if you wear it really tight, it can even make it difficult to breathe and theoretically could cause rib damage."
Transgender Acceptance
GLAAD, the communications epi-center for the LGBT community cites the transgender movement starting in the early 1950s, with Christine Jorgensen creating awareness of trans issues. The first sex change operation was performed at German sexologist Magnus Hirschfield's infamous clinic in 1926 by Dr. Felix Abraham. However, the LGBT community has made strides in recent history with the changes added to the Defense of Marriage Act. Furthermore, society has been more accepting of the transgender experience which we have Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner to thank for that.
New Civil Rights Era
With the increase of openly interracial dating and mating and the strides that African American people have made in recent decades, many believe we live in a post racial society. However, the intense police brutality (Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, etc) proves many wrong. Sadly, injustice in law enforcement punctures the already open wound. Fortunately, a movement of intolerance and accountability has started and as history shows, the youth yet again is at the center of it. According to the Washington Post "...Youth-led organizations now populates the political domain. Using an array of tools - from protests to memes to agitprop - they seek to change the public agenda, mobilize the marginalized and advocate policy reforms." For instance the three black women behind the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, who have since Trayvon Martin's death in 2012 built an organization with the same name.
Natural Revolution or Awakening
Women everywhere have been embracing their natural beauty. The natural hair movement has encouraged women of color to embrace their curls, coils and kinks. In fact, sales of relaxers have dropped tremendously. Even, white women have joined in the movement. Most recently, the arm pit movement have arised where celebrities such as Miley Cyrus have sported hairy arm pits, a trend that's normally frowned upon.