2010s: The Highlights of the Decade

Ahh, the 2010s. It’s been a rollercoaster of a decade and one that will truly never be forgotten. It may be difficult to wrap your head around everything that’s happened in this last decade and how much the world has changed from just 10 years ago! But here are some of the highlights that have made the 2010s one of a kind:

The iPhone Era: Technically the iPhone came out in 2007, but it was truly this past decade where this little phone changed everything about our lives. No longer was a phone something to just call someone with or text or even take a bad picture. Now our entire lives revolve around our phone and it’s mostly in thanks to the iPhone which essentially made the smart phone trend popular.

Apps: And with the iPhone came apps! Remember the saying, “There’s an app for that”? Yes, now there is literally an app for everything. Safe to say for many of us, our lives are run by smart phone apps, whether it’s checking the weather, your bank account, playing music, using social media, getting news, dating, etc.

Social Media: Yes, social media did exist before 2010 (remember MySpace and the beginnings of Facebook and Twitter?), however, not in the way it does now. Platforms used to be a way to just connect with one another, but now they’re how we get our news, run our businesses, look for jobs and for a lot of us, start our day. How many of you start your day by checking out some form of social media? Raise your hand!

From Blogging to Influencers & Instagram: There’s no doubt that the social media app of the decade has been Instagram. It’s not only changed our lives and how we share, but it’s also changed how we look at our lives. Enter the Instagram influencer. Move over companies, the individual has now become the brand! You could say this started with blogging going mainstream in the beginning of the decade, becoming less of an online diary and more of a business. It’s hard to say where Instagram will go from here, but in the 2010s it’s safe to say it ruled the lives of most people between the ages of 20 and 40.

Millennials: You can’t talk about the 2010s without mentioning the generation of the decade, Millennials. They’ve been the talk of the town. Born approximately between 1981 and 1997, the generation has demanded cultural change to the status quo. From the way we work to how we spend our money to how we relate to one another, no doubt Millennials will forever be intertwined with the 2010s.

Streaming…Everything: From Netflix to Spotify, forget buying anything digital, now it’s all about streaming it. The rise of the monthly streaming packages with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon allowed people to have access to way more content for a cheaper price than cable. And music? Spotify came onto the scene in the late 2000s and made streaming music legit. For most of us, we said goodbye to the iTunes model of purchasing and downloading music, and instead decided to pay a monthly fee for access to a huge selection of music at our fingertips.

Concern for the Environment: Thanks to the internet, issues that used to be behind the scenes have come forward. Our eyes were opened more than ever to environmental concerns mostly due to word getting around via social media, You Tube and documentaries. Millennials also changed how we look at how we spend our money and supporting companies that care about the environment.

The Health & Wellness Decade: You could say the 2010s were round two of the “Me Decade” of the 1970s. Although community was a huge part of the 2010s, so was the rise of self-care, health and wellness in the individual sense. Thanks to the popularity of wellness blogs in the beginning of the decade and then Instagram, wellness has become mainstream and continues to do so. Everything from how you eat to meditation & yoga to crystals.

There’s so much more that can be said about this decade, but these were some of the major highlights worth mentioning. The 2010s challenged the way we think and look at the world mainly in part to the rise of technology. It’s hard to say what the 2020s will bring after such an iconic decade like this!