19 Current Trends The 2020s Will Be Remembered For

I would bet good money that back in the day, people would never have expected hippies (literal counterculture) and disco, would be some of the things that came to mark the 60s and 70s. They might have been popular cultural movements, but I doubt anyone foresaw them being the snapshots of defining moments.

Similarly, it's wild to think what we take for granted today (or wish would disappear forever... I'm looking at you, wolf cuts. Why are we trying to revive the mullet??) might be the things our time on this earth is remembered for.

Reddit user Dangerous_Wishbone asked the internet, "What aspects of the 2020s do you think will be retroactively glorified/make people nostalgic in the future, and what aspects will people look back and cringe or laugh at?" Here are some of the best responses:

1."TikTok-style dancing (and most TikTok trends) will be viewed with confusion and embarrassment the same way 2000s fashion is now."

2."Early A.I art will be nostalgic to people and will probably become a niche internet aesthetic in 20 years."

3."Some people will definitely be nostalgic for the pandemic. It was nice to get to take a break from the hustle and bustle for a while and have time to enjoy the simple things in life."

—u/StarWolf478 

4."People in the future will cringe and mock the whole Red Pill Andrew Tate wave."

5."Many media companies will go out of business or merge over time (similar to the Disney+ mergers). We will look back with nostalgia at old companies/services that are gone like we do with Blockbuster."

6."The shoes! Clunky giant sole 'fashion' sneakers will be an early 2020s retro 'look.'"

7."Nintendo Switches."

8."People will be nostalgic for the whole E-girl/E-boy subculture of the early 2020s but they will also cringe at it like how people look at pictures from the 80s."

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images, Steven Simione / FilmMagic

—u/Dramatic_Sandwich500

9."The streaming wars were great, actually. We got most things available on various services, and originals weren't frivolously removed. We complained about $7/month. What was wrong with us?"

10."The modern trend in building renovation to make interiors white/gray, sleek, and overly minimalistic (think modern renovated mall) will be looked back on the way brutalism is."

11."I think broccoli haircuts and the super baggy look will get dogged on!"

12."People will look back at Trump's presidency and MAGA and wonder how that happened."

—u/Current-Ad6521

13."I’ve always felt, for some reason, that one day in the 2040s wearing a mask will become a 'fashion statement' after 2020s nostalgia has begun."

14."Early Teslas will be a retro collector's item."

15."The giant lash lift lashes are going to be one of the 'what a weird look!' nostalgic ways to dress from the 2020s."

16."The rise in conspiracy theories, wild speculation, and ideological-social media figures (Ben Shapiro-types) that arose with MAGA and Trump will be looked back on as cringe and silly."

—u/Current-Ad6521

17."The vaseline filter in photos."

18."More types of lifestyle will be considered standard in the future, so the 2020s will be looked at as the move away from one default lifestyle in the same way we look at the 50s as the move away from the traditional family-housewife model."

19.And finally, "I feel like 2020's alternative culture is gonna be WORSHIPPED 15-20 years from now. I can see people making video retrospectives on how Olivia Rodrigo and MGK revived rock music."

Which modern things do you think future generations will be nostalgic for? Let us know in the comments!

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.