How Will You Remember This Decade?
Posted by: Wendy Atterberry
Filed in:
news
9:30AM, Tuesday November 3rd 2009
Perhaps you youngsters don’t remember it as well, but for the 30-somethings like me, doesn’t it seem like yesterday we were freaking out (or watching other people freak out) over the whole Y2K thing, the computer bug that was to end life as we knew it at the dawn of the new millennium? That was almost ten years ago! We’ve got less than two months left in this decade, which, incidentally never seemed to develop a name of its own, did it? I mean, what do we call this decade? The “2000s” doesn’t seem quite right since it sort of applies to the whole millennium. The “aughts” never really caught on. Maybe future generations will refer to this decade as “that era when so much went down.” A new website called You AUGHT To Remember reflects back on some of that stuff — the 100 top trends of the decade — from social networking to presidential elections, the resurgence of vampires, and probably the panty-less trend among young Hollywood pop tarts. Even without the distance of much time, it’s a fascinating walk down memory lane. What have been some of the most memorable trends for you?
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koshka
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 09:49 am: [report]
call me nit-picky, but doesn’t this decade end at the end of 2010? ...or not?
joyy
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:00 am: [report]
I’m 24 and I vividly recall the y2k thing - my parents were dumb enough to believe the talk radio bs. They were stockpiling toliet paper, keeping lots of cash around - hell, my mother even canned venison (I shti you not).
As for the decade overall: turbulent change. High school > college > moving > working, etc. I could be taking myself too seriously though - it’s entirely possible that 24-34 will feel just as evolving as 14-24 did *shrug*.
Emi
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:08 am: [report]
I remember Y2K, too! I was a kid living in NC at the time, tucked up in the mountains. While I was sitting on the front porch just watching the sky I start hearing all kinds of explosions, and I swear for a moment I thought the world was ending. Then I realized it was just a whooole lot of firecrackers from the town.
joyy
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:16 am: [report]
Though if you think about it, y2k was technically a 90s thing ...
moonblossom
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:21 am: [report]
This decade has taught me not to change my last name. Ever. Again. Even if my next future-ex-husband is sweet and wonderful. I’m keeping my name.
Tommy from Boston
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:24 am: [report]
Not to be an ass, but we actually have fourteen months left in the decade, since Jesus wasn’t born in the year zero, therefore this decades has to end in 2011.
Riley
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:24 am: [report]
Wait, isn’t it 2010 already? I’ve been signing things incorrectly…
qnzmami718
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:29 am: [report]
what does “aughts” stand for or mean?
for real can someone tell me its buggin me & i just dnt kno?
C.Munro
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:37 am: [report]
I will always remember the last decade as the time when the basest whims of greedy and evil men became our governing policy.
equnsuocha
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:39 am: [report]
9/11
Bush Doctrine
Religious Right gone wild
Iraq War
Torture
Hope
Freedom
Truth
Turbulence
CHANGE
That’s how I remember this decade. Oh and married and divorced
retro chic
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:46 am: [report]
Maybe some of you remember the raging debate in 1999 about which year the millennium (Y2K) really changed: 2000 vs 2001. Even tho technically 1/1/2001 was cited, the overwhelming emotional bias for 2000 won out in daily use.
I made no such preparations for Y2K, ignoring all “warnings.”
For me, this decade was tumultuous on all fronts, to say the least. Among other things, I found this decade to be a big rewind on creativity, esp for film-making clones, and the deflated promise of technology freeing up your time for more leisure.
Riley
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:55 am: [report]
@C.Munro - How is that different from any other time in any other nation?
That is like saying you’ll remember a certain period in time because men (and women now) died in a pointless war over ideas/beliefs that they likely didn’t endorse.
EastCoastMale
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 11:01 am: [report]
I will remember it as the time when THE worst public speaker on the planet became our president and dragged us into two battlefronts for reasons that were false from the start. He was reelected in some cruel cosmic joke and we are still pouring billions into causes that, only people who are kidding themselves believe are making the difference that is needed.
retro chic
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 11:16 am: [report]
@ECM:
Yes! The worst! However, there has been a pall over late-night comedy since his “passing.” and…
Yes, we got real-world exposure to the real multi-agenda’d motivations and machinations of our gov’t so that any semblance of innocence and trust is totally lost – the axis shifted – unless folks choose to walk around with buckets on their heads.
C.Munro
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 11:20 am: [report]
The key is the word basest.
The previous greedy and evil men thought out their evil deeds with a bit more care and more than rudimentary efforts at subterfuge.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 11:24 am: [report]
Fraught with morons.
TinaLish
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 11:30 am: [report]
Well to wrap up the past 10 years in regards to fashion, there have been so many trends. When I was in highschool in SC at the start of the millenium, the thing to wear was jeans and graphic tees accompanied with your boyfriend’s jacket/hoodie. Once I moved to Hawaii though, things were drastically different. Girls waltzed around in practically nothing as if it was the norm and it was a major culture shock for me. But my senior year, I too became one of those girls, walking around school in halter tops and mini skirts.
I do like how the leggings are back in style, and skinny jeans. I remember seeing my mother wear both leggings and skinny jeans in the 90’s and I used to say that it wasn’t stylish enough, but I’ve thus come to bite my tongue.
Lip gloss I think will always be a staple in a woman’s life. Who can live without lip gloss? Not I.
Also, as the millenium comes to a close, with the wave of Vampiric Euphoria, everyone wants to be a Vampire. Why? I don’t know. To me a Vampire lives a very lonely existance, not every Vampire in the history of Vampire stories is lucky enough as Edward to find a girl like Bella. And seriously, don’t get me wrong, I love the Twilight novels, and am eagerly awaiting all the movies, but why is everyone obsessed with it’s story so much? It’s like borderline creepy. All of a sudden guys want to sparkle in the sun, and girls want to be Bella.
Thank you Apple for the iPhone, although I wasn’t happy when I learned early on that it couldn’t send and recieve picture messages/video messages. Not happy at all, but now that you’ve revamped the newer models, I can’t wait to share in the uproar of awesomeness. So thank you Apple for the best touch screen phone out there. All hail the iPhone!
With that being said, I can’t wait to see what the next decade has in store for us. Maybe they’ll have a zombie love triangle or something crazy weird like that. Hmm…
Riley
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 11:34 am: [report]
@C.Munro - You mean like previous government and corporation scandals and recessions? Yeah, those were all results of good intentions and careful planning. The motivation is always the base instincts of greed and power; no matter the era.
Only difference between now and then is the accessibility of information. What happened and why can be easily disseminated. People have not changed, the degree to which we can trace their actions has.
I don’t get why everyone is clamoring about this complete distrust in corporations and government failings like it is a modern problem. The distrust has always been there because those on the outside are always paying for the actions of the inside.
Aida
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 12:09 pm: [report]
Here’s my issue with the ‘00s. Musicwise, The 90s were known for grunge rock and gangsta rap, the 80s were known for hair bands and metal, the 70s were disco and punk, the 60s were hippie music, the 50s rock n roll and so on and so forth. what is this decade going to be known for??? emo? bad meaningless hip hop? high school musical/teen pop? (god help us all) seriously, though. music is just not what it used to be.
retro chic
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 12:18 pm: [report]
@Riley:
“Everyone” and “complete?”
You’re right, tho, it’s not a modern problem. Just the real-time exposure and analysis of it is, as you said the access to info (as opposed to dependence on deconstruction or stale, skewed history books). However, now the world stage is smaller, shared and power diminished/fragmented.
Personally, I don’t get worked up ‘cause it all comes down to money (as you said, greed) – every last seemingly disparate issue and “evil” or smiling face behind it. My marketing background and sociology major cured me quick and permanently. It’s all business for the mighty and few.
Coral
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 12:31 pm: [report]
I’m 19, and I too, definitely remember the Y2K panicking. I feel like the decade should be called the ‘Os’.
Riley
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 12:33 pm: [report]
@Retro - Yes, everyone is and complete; I’ll concede to “many are” and “great” just so I’m not implicating the entirety of the world.
retro chic
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 12:44 pm: [report]
I wondered about that for now and future year references… The Os, the 2000s? And for the rest of our lifetimes, 20-xx or 2-thousand-xx?”
@Riley: heehee
Coral
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 12:49 pm: [report]
Even though we called the 1990s 19-98 and 19-94, I prefer 2000-8 and 2000-16, but I think once it reaches the twenties, it might just be 2020.
I Go To 11
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 02:18 pm: [report]
@ aida: I’m with you there. There’s been a lot of crap music this decade, so who knows.
I graduated high school in ‘01, so it annoyed me that all this attention went to the class of ‘00. I was always like, “Um, EXCUSE me, but we’re the first true class of the new millennium; you’re just finishing the old one!”
I never bought into the Y2K crap. I knew it was ridiculous to think that the world would come to a screeching halt just because the date changed.
Jillybean
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 03:12 pm: [report]
In the UK I’ve heard it called the noughties - which is what I’ve been calling it. Next decade I’ll be struggling. The teens? The teenies? Seems a bit off.
Anyway, Koshka - it’s a decade because we count 2000 as the first of the ‘noughties’. Regardless of religious dates, the calendar we use officially starts a decade from 00-09, 10-19, 20-29 etc. The idea being that the tens column dictates it. The hundreds column (so for example if I say the twenty first century you know I’m not talking about 21xx date, I’m talking about any date from 2000-2099) dictates century and the millenium works in the same way, though using the thousandth column (2000-2999 is the third millenium)
This stems back from a philosophical versus mathematical discussion about what ‘zero’ actually is. You cannot define a time as a zeroeth so for here, it’s actually substituted as a number, but that is way beyond the discussion of a Frisky forum!
Y2k was a reasonable concern, which was averted because people were so concerned they were careful to take the precautions (though if I remember correctly, Canada had a scare with one of it’s mod systems?). In saying that, for years I was eating up my grandparents stock of emergency food *eyeroll*.
Wendy Atterberry
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 07:19 pm: [report]
For everyone who wants to debate this, the new decade starts on January 1, 2010, not January 1, 2011. By definition, a decade is ten years. When a person turns 10, he or she has lived for ten years, right? An entire decade. Therefore, his of her tenth birthday is the start of a new decade. It’s the same with years. It’s common sense, but if you still don’t get it, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s
Meg
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 09:21 pm: [report]
It’s been a crazy decade, for sure. I noticed lots more post-apocalypse or world’s end type movies in the last ten years. We’ve had tons of scandals and political shenanigans. One thing that stands out is Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl. I remember it being such a big issue, people were angry. And I just thought it was so sad how a female breast caused such an uproar.
In fashion there haven’t been any new trends, for the most part things keep coming back from decades before. The snuggie is a hilarious new concept tho.
And music really hasn’t changed much either, unless you count how it keeps getting worse this decade.
Most of all it’s hard to forget all the crazy celebrity publicity stunts, pop culture inundation and internet saturation of stupid stars, etc. I hope all that superficial crap isn’t all we remember from this decade, and hopefully it won’t be as insane in the ones to come.