With 2020 unfolding, it's time we look back at the trends we encountered in the last decade. From the ones we hated to the ones we love, they all contributed to our lives in some way. Hopefully, we will be lucky enough to leave these trends behind as we start a new year.
Killer Clowns
This has to have been the craziest trend of the entire decade. Running around towns day or night, people dressed up in clown costumes to terrify their community in 2016. The horrific trend set fear throughout the United States and other countries, with no clear reason as to why it suddenly evolved. Thankfully, this trend died down after nearly a year and the reports of clown sightings on social media dwindled.
Cinnamon Challenge
What seems like an easy challenge with friends turned into a viral internet food challenge. The cinnamon challenge meant an individual attempting to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon in under 60 seconds without drinking anything to help it go down smoothly. While some were successful, most utterly failed and the attempts were uploaded to social media until the challenge halted around 2013. Trying to swallow the powder left most of us spitting out the cinnamon in one large breath and desperate for water.
Bottle Flipping
One of the less harmful but pointless trends was the bottle flip challenge. Holding a water bottle from the cap and trying to flip it 360 degrees, the goal is to have the bottle land upright. Using a partially filled water bottle, the challenge quickly became a party trick in 2016.
Harlem Shake
The popular hip hop dance trend from 2013 began with one individual dancing alone to the song, "Harlem Shake". The challenge would then suddenly cut to multiple dancers joining in, creating an abundance of individuals dancing to the song altogether. With creative costumes and crazy dance moves, the trend was one of the more harmless and enjoyable ones of the decade.
Mannequin Challenge
Beginning in 2016, the trend starts with one or more individuals remaining motionless while being recorded on camera. As the camera films, the individuals are frozen in a mannequin-like state and the song "Black Beatles" by Rae Sremmurd is played. This trend became one of the more entertaining ones as it allowed people to put their own spin of creativity onto it when taking on the challenge.
Silly Bands
Extremely popular in the 2010s, these silicone rubber bracelets formed into different shapes and worn or traded amongst friends. With different shapes and colors, the bracelets formed animals, fashion accessories, and more. When worn on your wrist, it took the form of a bracelet and when taken off, it took the form of its intended shape. Even though the trend died down, I guarantee most of us may have some of these silly bands lying around at the bottom of our drawers today.
Feather Extension
One of the fun but odd trends was getting a feather extension put in your hair at your local hair salon. What seemingly was chic during 2011 looks questionable today as we wonder why so many individuals desperately wanted to put a rooster's feather in their hair as an accessory. You could choose your own color or style of feather and where you wanted it placed, but thankfully, we've chosen to stop this trend altogether.
Blue And Black / Gold And Yellow Dress
One of the most debated topics on social media was the infamous black/blue or gold/white dress. In 2015, this controversy went viral throughout social media platforms as to which color the dress truly was: black and blue or gold and white. With more than 10 million tweets posted on the discussion of the dress, you can easily find someone willing to debate the dress color with you today.
Fidget Spinner
What started as an attempt to help people relieve stress evolved into a distracting toy in 2017. The fidget spinner was meant to help ease stress for individuals suffering from anxiety, ADHD, autism, and other neurological disorders. Instead of fulfilling its purpose, it became an easily accessible and enjoyable toy for young individuals and quickly became a nuisance that was often banned from schools due to its cause of distraction.
Baby Shark
Since 2016, this children's song about a family of sharks became a well-known song and dance throughout social media. If you've heard someone sing, "Baby Shark, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo" and clapping their arms together to resemble a shark's mouth, then you've witnessed this trend. Beginning as a baby, the song has participants evolve into the elder members of the family, reaching all the way to Grandpa Shark. While it still somehow gets stuck in our heads, it has, thankfully, dwindled down since 2016 and, hopefully, will stay in the 2010s once and for all.
Eating Tide Pods
One of the most dangerous and pointless trends of the decade was eating tide pods. Ingesting laundry detergent Tide pods began as a challenge in 2016 and evolved by 2018 with the attempt of putting tide pod detergent into a Juul pod to inhale it. People intentionally ingested laundry detergent and expected they wouldn't be harmed in the process. Even though Tide never advertised their products as edible, individuals in the 2010s decided to take their chances. Of the many trends during the 2010s, it's best we leave this one behind and never look back- our health depends on it.
Planking
If there's ever a silly trend to look back at and say to yourself, "Why did we ever do that?" this would be the one. In 2011, people across social media participated in the planking challenge by lying flat in a facedown position, as if they were a wooden plank. While there's no physical benefit of this challenge, it was certainly an entertaining one as it allowed people to one-up the location of previous planks uploaded to the internet. Even though the challenge has come to a halt, it was definitely an unusual and interesting one to watch.
Kyler Jenner Lip Challenge
In an effort to plump your lips, individuals in 2015 began using shot glasses to create lips that look like Kylie Jenner's. Using a shot glass, people would hold it to their lips, suck the air out of it, and end up with large, puffy lips after removing the shot glass from their face. The suction techniques, unfortunately, left many with red, swollen, bruised lips and put them at risk for permanent scarring. Since many attempts resulted in painful lips, the trend quickly ended.
Crackle Nail Polish
In 2011, crackle nail polish became the new, must-have nail polish design. Applying your normal nail polish coat, one would apply a coat or two of the crackle nail polish prior to the final, clear coat. Although black was the most commonly used crackle nail polish color, there were multiple colors available and they left each of your nails looking uniquely crackled. Luckily, this crackled-nail effect died off and resulted in people returning to solid color nails or a higher, more challenging level of nail design.
Condom Challenge
The condom challenge began in 2015 and had participants filling a condom up with water, tying it shut, and dropping it over someone's head. The water-filled condom then enveloped over the individual's head and contained the water securely inside. This challenged whether the condom used would break, even when filled up with water and dropped on a person's head. While it did question the strength of condoms, it, unfortunately, put people at risk for the water-filled condom to suffocate them or break and strangle them. Luckily, this trend has stayed behind in the 2010s.
With numerous trends coming and going throughout the 2010s, hopefully, our generation has learned a thing or two on what's lethal and what's simple fun. As we enter a new decade, let's hope the 2020s provide us with bigger laughs and less dangerous trends. Have a great 2020!
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