There Are Other Things I Should Be Doing RN!
February 19th, 2026
I have an essay on ethnic identity and culture due tomorrow at midnight, and I really should start working on it. However, instead, I am making bad decisions and writing a blog entry because I feel like it.
Lately, I've been lurking on r/decadeology lately, and while I don't think decades truly signal a different era, I do think it can help us catagorize different eras in human history.I find it really hard to talk about decadeology because it depends so much on the individual person. For example, if I asked someone when the 90s ended, I’d get a bunch of different answers. Some people might say 9/11, but others would say it started ending around 2004 or 2005. I think the reason for this difference is that everyone’s childhood was different. If you grew up in a more well-off environment, your home, school, or even your local mall would be quicker to adopt new technology. But if you grew up somewhere less well-off, you’d still see remnants of the 90s hanging around in places like your school or home.
Take my best friend, for example. They’re two years younger than me, born around 2002, and weren’t as well off. Their childhood was shaped by the N64, which is basically a relic of the late 90s. Meanwhile, I grew up with the PS2 and GameCube, so my childhood was more influenced by early 2000s tech. In my school, specifically, we were still using typing software like Mavis Beacon from the 90s. Even my local mall in the early to late 2000s had a lot of Memphis style architecture and signage straight from the 90s. That’s why I say it’s so hard to pin down exactly when a decade ends—because people’s experiences overlap so much.
Now, about the 2020s—I don’t think it’s just one cultural era. I actually think it can be split into two. The pandemic era, from about 2020 to 2023, was a totally different culture in human history and doesn’t really fit with the 2010s or the current 2020s. If you think about the pandemic era, one big symbol for me is the celebrity “Imagine” video that no one liked—it kind of summed up the Covid era. During that time as well, there was a rapid rise in technology use. Online and virtual appointments, schooling, and telehealth became mainstream. Sure, some of this existed before, but during the pandemic, these things became much more common and culturally accepted. The 2020s still carry a lot of leftovers from the pandemic—like many businesses shutting down for good, which caused a domino effect on culture. And while the US was already politically divided since the late 2010s, I think the pandemic era marked a point of no return.
The current 2020s, as I see it, really started in 2023 when the immediate impacts of the pandemic began fading and normal life started to come back. Flat design trends started to fade too, as people got tired of minimalism.
Also, a lot of Gen Z folks started reaching the age where they have kids of their own. This decade also marks a shift in how people use social media. Correct me if I’m wrong or living in a bubble, but compared to the 2010s, I see fewer people active on social media overall. Even though platforms have more users than ever, fewer people seem actively engaged. Lots of people are leaving or shutting down their Twitter and TikTok accounts. There’s also a big backlash against Discord’s new age verification rules. Back then, social media was simpler—you mostly had Twitter, Facebook, Skype, and Instagram. Now it’s all fragmented and harder to keep up with people. I wouldn't say this is 100% a bad thing, as I welcome an internet seperated from big tech.
I’m curious how this cultural shift will shape the rest of the 2020s and beyond. Will a new social media site come along and unite everyone? Or are we stuck in this fragmented state, having to follow people across tons of platforms just like we did in the 90s?