By: Emma Wilson

The decade ends in less than a month, which means your childhood is ending in a matter of days.

We had Disney Channel classics such as Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana end. We no longer see Alex and Justin’s sibling fights, all the misuse with magic, or Harper Finkle’s stylish outfits. Extra brownie points if you remember Harper and Alex’s “Crazy Funky Hat” song. I’m sure we all remember when Hannah Montana performed on Jay Leno and revealed to the whole world that she was actually an ordinary girl named Miley Stewart. Or the time she had to choose between Jake Ryan, zombie slayer by day, jerk 24/7, or Jesse, the so-called “bad boy” who actually treated her so well and is 10x hotter than Jake in every aspect but hey, I’m not biased. Promise. 

Aside from Disney ships that I am glad became canon, this decade had some real disappointing trends such as Musical.ly or when Silly Bandz cut off our circulation. Dabbing was everywhere. Rebecca Black’s “Friday” also was a top tier cringe-worthy moment of this decade. The new Disney Channel was equally off putting in that it just does not have the same finesse or interest the old shows had. Maybe that’s just my bias kicking in but still, am I wrong? Danielle Cohn teaching people how to “throw it back” when she’s only 13 is ridiculous. I know some people also thought the song and music video “What Does the Fox Say?” was funny, but really that was only for all the closeted furries. Though I am not an expert on fashion, can we all collectively agree that the clear bags, pants, shoes, etc. were dumb? No one actually wears those clear pants in their everyday life, I pray, and the bags that are clear— let’s be real you cleaned that bag before you brought it out into public. When you realize that in just a few years we went from “It’s not a phase mom,” to “sksksksksk, and I oop, sksksksksk,” it’s devastating. I wonder if you know that the viral video of Nyan Cat was also in this decade with Flappy Bird, or how it started on May 24, 2013 and was removed from the App (iOS) Store and Google Play on February 10, 2014 due to the complaints of the internet and the guilt of a Vietnamese man.

We cut the rope for the little green monster to eat the candy. We subway surfed and ran from the cops. Similar to Temple Run, but we stole an idol in that game. Remember when we all found math fun and turned it into a game? We have evolved throughout the years to Minecraft then Fortnite and now even Mario Kart. 

Now that we’ve discussed the phases of our decade, let’s do some honorable mentions for the tragedies in pop culture. Let’s never forget Harambe or when everyone believed #KanyeWest2020 was real. Whether or not you care about Brangelina, that also died in 2016. The most tragic event to happen this decade in pop culture had to be when Vine™ died. Tragically, on December 16, 2016 the app Vine™ was shut down. No more funny 6 second videos that teach us how entertaining humans can be when bored. I mean, our society might not be that stellar, but at least we have one thing, stupid comedy that keep us entertained for hours and isn’t that what matters? Well, maybe not to you, but the majority of us love mind-numbing media to keep us occupied.

A lot of iconic music and dances have come out of this decade. Starting from the infamous Harlem Shake, to “the whip and nae nae,” to the dab, and now the “woah.” We gained (arguably) bops such as Justin Bieber’s “Baby”, Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” and Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road” and Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts”. 

Trends are occurring constantly but this decade held some of the dumbest challenges, in my opinion, aside from the ones that actually promoted good for society, such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. In 2012 there was the Cinnamon Challenge. In 2015 there was the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge. In 2018 there was the Tide Pod Challenge and throughout the years there have been several comebacks and variations to the Hot Pepper Challenge. All these challenges time and time again prove to show how the internet really does function on only two brain cells.

All jokes aside, this decade has left me with some really good and bad memories; but, in the end, time has passed, and as it continues to go on, you learn to appreciate and cherish all the moments you have. Although I sound quite cheesy, continue to make every day worth it because life is short, and let’s be real, #YOLO.