Ever scroll around on your phone and see something new that you don’t quite get the hype for? It might be a joke or new slang word, or maybe a weird piece of clothing or furniture that people can’t stop talking about.
Over the span of a week, you keep seeing this new thing and keep getting the hype and eventually you’re convinced! This new thing is cool and interesting and you just gotta get it, so you can be like everyone else.
But after a while, maybe you keep repeating this phrase too much or maybe this clothing piece just sits in your closet, gathering dust. Soon everyone stops talking about it or even attacking it — calling it cringy or outdated. So you move on, just like everyone else.
But with the rise of social media, everything has seemed to speed up. Trends have become trendy, lasting for months or weeks even, instead of years like in the past.
When we think of decades like in the past, like the 70s, 80s, or 90s, there is a certain culture and style associated with all of these eras. But as you look past recent years, trends blur together and distinctions between the fashion and tastes of the past 20 years get fuzzy.
At the start of the 21st century, styles were more permanent, since people had little to no means of quickly spreading what was “in” and what wasn’t. Clothes and other items were also less disposable, since many could not afford to just throw things out simply because they weren’t cool.
With the rise of mass production and consumerism, people are becoming more and more inclined to think of things as disposable. Who cares if your neighbor threw out their new rug because it isn’t cool anymore! They can always get a new one!
In the past, trends spread mainly through magazines, radio or television, or a cool older cousin. But with people becoming more and more interconnected, ideas and trends can spread—and die out—much quicker. Tide pods, funny dances, vintage clothes: people can share their interests in these things online just as easily as they can share their distaste for it.
Even movies are becoming trendy. In the past, films would sometimes stay in theaters for up to a year and circulate in and out a theater’s movie rotation. Now, however, a movie will stay in theaters for maybe two months, before leaving to go on a streaming service, never to return to cinemas.
Even with more dangerous trends, the rate was slower, like a gold-fish swallowing craze from 1939 that you still see resurfacing today. Compared to the amount of dangerous trends we have had recently, like the cinnamon challenge, sunburn art, or the “NyQuil Chicken” challenge, the internet has even sped up our stupidity.
People have always used trends as a way to fit in with others, but as fast fashion and social media become ever more popular, people have started to cycle through trends at a faster rate simply because they can; no one wants to be the loser without baggy jeans.
It is easy to get lost in the speed of the internet. But with this in mind, it is essential to be conscious of your “FOMO.” Do you really like those big boxy red shoes or are you just afraid of not fitting in?
