Top 20 Things From the 2010s We Will Never Do Again

This feature has existed since the social media giants inception in 2004 back when it was called Thefacebook. But what did it mean? Nobody knew, it seemed like, but everyone was doing it. As the website grew into a cultural phenomenon, so did poking. The magic behind poking was truly its ambiguity. Poking someone could mean anything from an inside joke to serious flirtatious innuendo. Having a new way to interact with your friends was part of the fun of early social media, and poking embodied this idea. Poking is still a feature on Facebook, but its just not what it once was.

When longtime Apple competitor Microsoft decided to get into the smartphone game, we got the Windows Phone. Launched in 2010, the Windows Phone soon became the operating system for Nokia smartphones. With the backing of a long-trusted cell phone brand and user praise for the systems smooth interface, some market specialists predicted the Windows Phone might surpass the iPhone by the middle of the decade. Unsurprising to most, however, the iPhone sustained its place at the top of the market. As a result of dwindling popularity, Windows Phone was discontinued in 2020.

Although these devices are still occasionally used by outdoor enthusiasts frequently out of cell phone range, for the most part daily driving requires little more than your smartphone GPS app of choice. Advancements in satellite navigation were a Cold War-era effort to improve military navigation during heightened political tensions. These advancements led to handheld and car-mounted GPS units entering the market, which became a popular alternative to paper maps. Though we still often rely on the turn-by-turn navigation instructions delivered by this technology, the ubiquity of smartphones and built-in navigation systems in modern cars has made this tech product obsolete.

As social media became increasingly popular in the 2010s, so did the humble selfie. Pressure to align with beauty standards in selfies led to someunconventional poses. The big lip trend pioneered by celebs like Angelina Jolie and Kylie Jenner inspired what became known as duck facing. By pushing out ones lips in an exaggerated pout, it was thought to make the lips look bigger and sexier. In reality, it just made ones face look anatine or ducklike, if you will. Selfie-takers, particularly young women, were relentlessly ridiculed for this commonplace pose. As a result, duck facing became significantly less popular towards the end of the decade, and is rarely seen today.

This short-lived tech product carried some serious hype when it was first announced in 2012. These augmented reality glasses were intended to display helpful information, take pictures and videos, and generally make the users life easier and more streamlined. The product did not live up to its initial hype when it was released to the public in 2014. The camera function raised privacy concerns, and early adopters found the glasses difficult to use. Although two further iterations of the Google Glass were released in 2017 and 2019, the product never took off in the consumer market. As a result, Google Glass was officially discontinued in 2023.

In 2010, Microsoft released their own competitor to the Wii, Nintendos popular motion-sensor gaming console. The Kinect stood out because it had no physical controller; players used the console purely with their own body movements. This was an exciting concept for gamers, but in practice the technology was less than impressive. The console was slow to recognize some hand gestures, and the voice recognition software worked poorly for people with accents. Few games were released for the Kinect, and those that were did not receive many positive reviews. Perhaps the Kinect was ahead of its time and will make a comeback someday, but for now the device has been discontinued since 2017.

Kony 2012 was a viral documentary short intended to raise awareness of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and encourage people to take action against him. Within days, the video received tens of millions of views, and soon became the first YouTube video ever to reach one million likes. The video succeeded in its effort to raise awareness on a topic virtually unheard of in the United States, but some criticized the videos approach to explaining the topic. Critics alleged the video oversimplified the conflict and argued that sharing the video and raising awareness did little to actually change the circumstances around the events. The video did contribute to the African Union sending troops to catch Kony, but as of 2022 he is still in hiding.

This handheld gaming device was the successor to the popular Nintendo DS and DSi, but introduced a new, trendy feature. As the name implies, the 3DS was able to display games in 3D, without requiring glasses. Upon the devices release in 2011, users and critics praised the devices surprisingly sharp 3D effect, considering the 3DS an improvement on an already popular line of products. The success of the 3DS was only hampered by the launch of another Nintendo product in 2017, the Nintendo Switch. As demand increased for the Switch, it dwindled significantly for the 3DS, and the product was officially discontinued in 2020.

With the release of James Camerons alien epic Avatar in 2009, 3D films exploded in popularity. Some television manufacturers decided to jump on this trend and bring 3D to the home viewing experience with 3D TVs. These TVs required glasses for the effect to work, and could only really be viewed from specific angles. This made it cumbersome for larger groups to watch together, especially compared to the high quality, high definition standard TVs that were already on the market. Within just a few years, it was clear 3D TVs were just a fad. By 2017, all major television manufacturers had stopped their production.

This deceptively simple-looking game was easy to learn and impossible to master. The app went viral for its challenging gameplay and addictive nature, until it became the most popular free app in the world by January of 2014. The game spread primarily through word of mouth, typically people complaining about the difficulty of the game. Users spent hours trying desperately to fit the little 8-bit bird through Mario-esque green pipes, always in pursuit of a new high score. The game became so notoriously addicting that the games programmer, Dong Nguyen, took the game down from app stores due to his own guilt. Today, you can download an unofficial version of the game from another developer, but the original is still unavailable.

Initially released in Japan in 2011, this handheld gaming console was the successor to the PlayStation Portable and an aspiring competitor to Nintendos DS line. Despite generally positive reviews of the device, consumers seemed to favor Nintendo products and mobile phone games over the less popular Vita. The device was considered successful in Japan and had a small but dedicated fanbase in the United States. With the release of the immensely popular Nintendo Switch in 2017, the writing was on the wall for the PlayStation Vita. Sony discontinued the Vita in 2019, in favor of focusing on their far more popular game consoles.

In the 2010s, Kim Kardashian and YouTube beauty gurus taught us all what drag queens have known for decades: contouring. This makeup technique used darker and lighter shades of cosmetics to sculpt ones face into a chiseled masterpiece, if you knew what you were doing. Alongside excessive highlighter use and thick, bold brows, contouring created a makeup look that is now very distinctively 2010s. Today, though contouring is still a popular technique, makeup trends have definitely changed. Daily full glam has given way to a more casual, everyday makeup look that emphasizes natural beauty.

Whether it was an iPod or your trusty Zune, for those of us without smartphones, an MP3 player was a daily essential. By the 2010s, the once revolutionary technology that contained all your tunes in one pocket-sized device was an everyday essential. Thanks to Apples iconic ad campaign for the iPod, we rocked our wired headphones anywhere and everywhere. Today, smartphones have become the MP3 player of choice. A once stand alone device has become just another app on our multifunctional phones. With the rise of music streaming, we also have the ability to listen to nearly any song at any time, no longer limited to just the downloads in our music library.

Before the iPhone, there was another giant in the smartphone world: the BlackBerry. Everyone from Kim Kardashian to Barack Obama were loyal BlackBerry users in the 2010s, alongside tens of millions of others. The BlackBerrys iconic keyboard, plus its email and web browsing functions, made the device especially popular among corporate professionals. At its peak in 2012, there were 80 million BlackBerry users. As the iPhone and Android began gaining popularity, BlackBerry just couldnt keep up. Though the BlackBerry has since been discontinued, the company continues to provide communications software in both the public and private sector.

Founded in 2007, Tumblr is a microblogging website that yes, is still active, but its just not the same anymore! Combining the individual expression of a blog with the connectivity of social networking, Tumblr became a safe haven for all things counter-cultural in the 2010s. Blog topics ranged from fandom to social advocacy to aesthetically pleasing posts, and everything in between. Ownership of the site has changed hands several times over the years, typically to the disturbance of Tumblr users. Over the years, Tumblrs user base has steadily declined, though some users remain stubbornly dedicated to the platform.

Before algorithms carefully curated our feeds to match our unique interests, before streaming services freed us from the constraints of channel surfing whatever was on, popular culture looked a lot different. The media we consumed was limited to what was made available to us. Beyond popular television shows like Lost that everyone was watching, viral videos and memes felt bigger too. A video with millions of views felt like a cultural phenomenon, while today most videos go unnoticed by anyone outside the videos target audience. While finding a niche in entertainment that appeals to you can be satisfying, some say our lack of monoculture has only made us more isolated.

There are social media trends, and then there are challenges. In the 2010s, viral challenges included the cinnamon challenge, the ice bucket challenge, and the mannequin challenge, among others. While some challenges were honestly quite dangerous, like the Tide Pod challenge, others were harmless and some even raised awareness about important causes like ALS and pollution. With TikTok becoming the primary video sharing social media, it seems trends have replaced challenges. Rather than being challenged by friends to participate, TikTok users prefer to join in on the current video trend to give their own spin on a popular topic in the hopes of going viral.

In the early years of social media, it was anything goes. After a wild night with friends, you could expect to see everything, including the most embarrassing moments, documented the following day in a Facebook album. While it wasnt great having an unflattering photo of yourself posted onto the internet for all to see, Facebook albums were genuine and far from curated. Some say that kind of authenticity is missing in todays social media, where most people carefully select only the best photos from an event to post. Still, there was nothing worse than waking up to see youve been tagged in the worst photo of yourself youve ever seen.

Paving the way for social media behemoths like TikTok, Vine pioneered short form video content with their trademark six-second looping videos. The app was incredibly popular and helped give rise to many social media stars, including celebs like Shawn Mendes and Bo Burnham. Despite its popularity, Vine was remarkably short-lived. Launched in 2012, the app was discontinued in 2016. Too many competitors like Instagram introduced their own video features after seeing the success of Vine. After mourning the loss of Vine, many users switched to Musical.ly and ultimately TikTok, satisfying their need for short, scrollable videos.

According to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, December 21, 2012 marked the end of a 5,126-year-long cycle that some said would bring about the apocalypse. Leading up to the date, pseudo-documentaries and even a blockbuster film further spread this doomsday prediction. Although many were prepared for the worst, no apocalyptic events actually occurred. Festivities were held throughout Mexico and Central America to celebrate new beginnings at the end of the ancient cycle. Today, climate scientists have replaced Mayan calendars by providing us with equally frightening but far more trustworthy end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it predictions.

Do you still do any of these extremely 2010s things? Let us know in the comments!