Top 10 Cringiest Things About the 2010s

There’s nothing wrong per se with fun camera filters. But let’s be honest, it can get a little out of hand. Giving yourself cat whiskers or dog ears is all good fun, but for some people it really seems to become an obsession! Of course, it also runs deeper than that, and much has been written and debated regarding the dangers of photo filters. Body dysmorphia is on the rise in adolescents, and in 2018, 55% of cosmetic surgeons were visited by people who wished to alter their appearance for selfies. Popular plastic surgeon Paul Nassif claims, “More people are embracing fillers and botox to recreate the effect of filters and other photo editing apps. It’s becoming very normal.”

There’s something very annoying about grown adults talking like babies, and it needs to stay behind in the 2010s. Doggo Lingo is a cute-ish manner of speaking attributed to dogs and other animals. Examples include “bork” for bite, “hooman” for humans, and of course, “doggo” for dogs themselves. This style of speaking was popularized through the WeRateDogs Twitter account, peaking in usage around 2016 and 2017. Like photo filters, Doggo Lingo is fine in small doses, and it can be pretty cute. But it does get a little annoying after a while, and it makes the speaker sound really silly. Intentionally silly and annoying is still silly and annoying.

We tried making chunky shoes a thing. We really did. But it just didn’t work. These things were quite popular in the late 2010s, particularly 2018 when they were spotted on various red carpets. Unfortunately, they tend to make the wearer look like an out-of-touch dad who just hasn’t changed his footwear since the 90s. Hence the name for training shoes like the Nike Air Monarch: dad shoes: Popular brands of the late 2010s include the Balenciaga Triple S, Yeezy Boost 700, and Eytys Halo, which, suitable for its name, looks like something out of a science fiction video game. Like Ryan Gosling said in “Crazy, Stupid, Love”: “You got no right to wear New Balance sneakers, ever.”)

It’s no secret that we have an obsession with selfies. If you didn’t take a pic with that grizzly bear, did you even really see it? We use that example because taking selfies has actually proven quite dangerous. People looking for a great selfie opportunity often put themselves in precarious and often downright dangerous situations. Whether it’s posing with a wild animal or sitting on the edge of a cliff, numerous people have perished while attempting to capture a good pic. According to the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, an estimated 259 people died while taking selfies between 2011 and 2017, including 100 in 2017 alone. That killer picture is not worth your life.

So, crocs are still a thing. These foam clogs were enormously popular in the mid 2000s. Even high profile celebrities like George Bush, Michelle Obama, and Prince George were spotted wearing the recognizable shoes. Of course, Crocs were also a source of ridicule, the target of countless late night jokes and “worst items of the year” lists. Crocs are unflattering enough as is, but they get infinitely worse when paired with socks. Unfortunately, this bizarre look became a trend in the late 2010s. This motivated Crocs and Alife to create a Croc-sock hybrid in 2018. The white, blue, and red color combo evokes memories of 1970s basketball players, and the hybrids came with a hefty price tag of $140.

A Pew Research survey released in 2015 said that 71% of Americans held a positive view of technology. But in 2019, only 50% of Americans said that technology is having a positive impact; that’s quite a drastic drop. Some of it may be due to smart homes. They sound like good ideas on paper, but end up being super creepy and failing to fulfill their sci-fi potential. Rather than having Jarvis opening our blinds and making us breakfast, most of us just use Alexa Home to play music and tell us the weather. In 2020, a PCMag survey showed that 68% of respondents were worried about these devices listening to them. Which makes sense, given revelations in 2019 about human reviewers at Amazon and Google listening to recordings.

Looking back, 2010s film will be remembered for two things - shared cinematic universes, and endless reboots and remakes. Some of these reboots provoked fierce public backlash, including the 2016 “Ghostbusters” remake. Most have been met with complete critical indifference, like some of the live action Disney reboots. In fact, a study done by Rotten Tomatoes revealed that only 10% of remakes have outscored the originals on the site. Only 33% of these reboots even have a fresh rating. If done well, remakes can allow classics to reach a new generation, as evident by 2018’s “A Star Is Born”. But most are just lazy rehashes coasting on the goodwill of the original, and it needs to stop.

Honestly, maybe it’s time to log out of Twitter for good. On the site, we’re flooded with practically everyone’s opinions. The President, popular celebrities, political commentators, everyday people, scientists, politicians, journalists, executives, CEOs - well, you get the point. This overabundance of voices can be chaotic. It also seems like no one is really that happy to use Twitter, likely due to the endless arguments and constant stream of misinformation and bad news. Studies performed by the National Library of Medicine showed that heavy social media use in young adults is linked to both increased rates of depression and sleep disturbance. Twitter might actually be unhealthy for us.

The latter half of the 2010s saw an enormous boom in at-home DNA tests, with over 25 million Americans having paid for the likes of Ancestry and 23andMe. It certainly seems like a fun idea, but they’ve been marred by controversy. Anthropologist Jonathan Marks of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, has called them a “scam”, based on the limited data they draw geographic conclusions from. Others have criticized the companies for selling information to private third parties. For example, pharma company GlaxoSmithKline signed a $300 million deal with “23andMe” for access to their DNA databases. These tests are so cheap because you are the product. The business has also drawn the attention of the FTC, which is investigating the handling of personal and genetic information.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Viral Tourism
When Locations Go Viral, Crowds of Tourists Flock to an Area, Often Ruining It

Sock Sneakers
Shoes in the Style of...Socks?

Hoverboards
It’s a Segway Without the Handle & a Potential Fire Hazard

Twerking
We’ve Been Oversaturated with This Dance Move for a Decade

The ALS Ice Bucket challenge was a huge success, there’s no denying that. However, many internet challenges are silly, inane, and even dangerous. There was a “choking challenge” that resulted in the death of an Indiana teen. The “fire challenge” put numerous teenagers in the hospital with serious burns. And of course, there’s the infamous Tide Pod challenge. This started as a meme before teens actually started doing it. In January 2018, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that around 20 teens intentionally ingested laundry detergent in that month alone. Let’s leave these “challenges” in the 2010s!