Did social trends have longer lifespans back then than now? - ITT: zoomer complaining about other zoomers.

[ToroidalBoat]

Before industrialization, trends could last a lifetime. Preindustrial fashion and architecture can be identified by the century. In the modern world, such things are measured by the decade at most.

 

[Fish Fudge]

I think it's more that there doesn't seem to be any over-arching, general, long-lasting trends anymore. Probably haven't been any since 2009 or so.

Old cunt, looking at zoomers, I just don't know what there is to define that generation - beyond them having less sex and obsessing about gender I guess.

If you're talking about memes or whatever, they last as long as they always have.

 

[Solar Eclipse Paradox]

The shortness of defining eras seems to corollate with either the advancements in evolution or the advancements in technology. For such a cell with very limited features, it wouldn't be surprising if it takes billions of years for them to innovate, whenever multicellular life becomes a thing, the more eventful it seems to become given the wide variety of species were eras sliced into shorter intervals. Eventually it took them an additional hundreds of millions of years until "intelligent" life appeared. It took Humans nearly 200,000 years to develop the first civilization with proto civilizations like the Ancient City of Jericho predating Mesopotamia by Thousands of Years. When the first civilizations were a thing, they come into a lifecycle of it's birth, it's peak and the fall and then another civilization devours it and continues to do so for thousands of years. Eventually events were defined by centuries and it wasn't until after the 19th century where each decade feels different enough to be defined as decades, Because social media was a thing, trends just come and go lacking the staying power to get past over 2 years at most. Then these events get cut short by months and soon weeks, and then soon days. This is due to the fact that defining eras and trends will only be a fad with less and less staying power, the reasoning behind this is because advancements in technology seem to suck out every last sanity, patience and it's roots leading to desperation on trying to make things fly like it used to be back in the day.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

hey @Solar Eclipse Paradox (can't quote post because bug)

I think "social" media wasn't inevitable, and it was invented by the tyrants that run this dystopia to further demoralize the "little people" to gain more power over them. I hear the elite don't let the children they have use "social" media, nor do they use it much themselves. I also heard it was designed to be addictive on purpouse, with techniques copied from gambling.

 

[Fish Fudge]

I think "social" media wasn't inevitable, and it was invented by the tyrants that run this dystopia to further demoralize the "little people" to gain more power over them. I hear the elite don't let the children they have use "social" media, nor do they use it much themselves. I also heard it was designed to be addictive on purpouse, with techniques copied from gambling.

The phrase used by the executives in charge of developing these social media applications is "Architected for Addiction". I've heard it used a lot.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

it depends, viral marketing campaigns make it seem like things come and go quickly and that there is simply too much stuff, but is just today's meme , end of the day is always the same repackaged crap. Wojak and pepe has been meme for 10 years or something and wojak itself has become the same as the old ragefaces, the music is the same rap and reggaeton music that is so inbred it has degenerated into trap, videogames are virtually indistinguishable from videogames from 10 years ago except for better textures, Lol and minecraft are still popular games, capeshit, star wars and pokemon are still going strong, the same social media sites dominate everything. There's really nothing in 2021 thats not exactly the same bullshit than 2010 except even more love for fagotry and troons, so its really just one trend, on a downwards curve.

 

[CiaphasCain]

Tamagotchi - these dumb things were hugely popular in the school grounds, and then were forgotten because they did absolutely nothing.

Now that brings back memories, those things were popular in my school for like a week.

 

[jje100010001]

Consider this, algorithms have taken over twitter, YouTube, and social media in general. You can thank algorithms for making the lifespan of almost anything much shorter than it used to, before it comes back as 'ironic', like Big Chungus. It used to feel natural whenever something like a new meme came about. Look at rage comics and advice animals, they lasted for years before dying out from over exposure and just becoming stale and irrelevant.

This too, and to add to that the point that the algorithms today are truly controlled by Big Tech, limiting even their potential for randomness and spontaneity.

While a pure algorithm has no filter for quality, at least you could encounter unique things by chance, like wandering onto a street performance or finding a gallery. Once big $$$ and politics began noticing the potential of these algorithms and/or demanding control over them, it was all over.

They want your incorrect trend gone? Done in an instance. They want to push a narrative or shill a product? Then a trend will be stuck on your homepage forever like a stubborn STD.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I blame, more than anything, institutionalized, universal child education for speeding up the rate of cultural change. If you segregate different segments of the population they'll diverge from each other in habits. If you do that based on age - not just of children from adults, but also children from children of other ages - you'll cut down on cross-age cultural exchange and wind up with faster change.

I say "blame" because I think it results in feelings of alienation and undermines social cohesion.

 

[Ghost of Wesley Willis]

This too, and to add to that the point that the algorithms today are truly controlled by Big Tech, limiting even their potential for randomness and spontaneity.

While a pure algorithm has no filter for quality, at least you could encounter unique things by chance, like wandering onto a street performance or finding a gallery. Once big $$$ and politics began noticing the potential of these algorithms and/or demanding control over them, it was all over.

They want your incorrect trend gone? Done in an instance. They want to push a narrative or shill a product? Then a trend will be stuck on your homepage forever like a stubborn STD.

It will be the inevitable death of YouTube. I actually remember once watching a pewdiepie video and the next 6 months I was getting nothing but hbomberguy, contrapoints, and Quinton Reviews in my recommended section of YouTube. I tested this again by watching videos criticizing the lockdowns and it was a week worth of Dr. Fauci's face being plastered on my homepage.

 

[Dr. Barry Nyle]

Pretty Terence McKenna's novelty theory in here. When was the eschaton?

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

I think the main thing is that current social trends are far more degenerative than prior trends. Zoomers are being forced into a consoomer lifestyle where all they want to do is sit on their ass, buy the latest thing, and scroll through the same social media that tells them being straight, white, cisgendered, and religious is basically the equivalent of being the Antichrist. When I was 12 years old, I was playing on my Wii in the living room instead of being groomed to wear thigh highs and chokers on Discord.

When I was 12, I was posting on forums on my Wii and forgetting it was a game console. Kind of surprised I didn't get groomed.

No. The 90s were chock full of stupid fads that cost parents hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars only for the item to be shelved forever. The 90s and 2000s fads really seemed more materialistic though. People clamor onto dumb memes nowadays and I honestly don’t know which is worse.

Three come to mind:

Furby - holy shit. The most annoying, and probably one of the most profitable and shortest lasting fads ever. People were literally forming mobs to acquire these unintelligent talking bird things. They were impossible for find for weeks, and like the dot com bubble, they became over produced and unwanted.

Tamagotchi - these dumb things were hugely popular in the school grounds, and then were forgotten because they did absolutely nothing.

Pogs - about as long-lasting as the Simpsons episode where Milhouse trades Bart’s soul for some pogs depicting characters from Alf. You could find these things everywhere for purchase and they seemed to show up, and subsequently disappear, overnight.

Crazy Bones died as fast as they popped up because of schools really not wanting kids getting into them. Trading Pokemon cards was less against the rules than bringing even one Crazy Bone into school.