32 Trends That Disappeared Too Soon, From The Silly Ones To The Far-Too-Real

We are sure we don’t have to explain to you what a trend is – if you opened this article, it’s likely that you are online enough to know what it is. 

Back in the day, whole decades were possible to be described by certain dominating trends. For example, the 1980s can be defined by big hairstyles, shoulder pads, leg warmers, and all things like that. You probably already have an image in mind. And that's just the fashion.

Then, the 2010s reek of street style, subcultures, inclusivity, and consumerism in fashion. Like you can get a pretty firm image in mind when asked about the decade's trends. 

Yet, when it comes to the 2020s, this task becomes a tad more difficult – there are so many trends everywhere that it’s hard to pin down which ones are the most influential. Granted, the decade is far from over, and maybe in the next couple of years this question will be solved, but as it is right now, it’s a plethora of microtrends. 

Why’s that, you might wonder? What’s so different about the current decade that it seemingly cannot hold down any trends for a longer time? Well, it has to do with the fact that the lifespan of trends decreased significantly.

There are a few trends from time to time that take months to completely fade out, but others, more commonly, last only about 3-5 days, especially if they’re most popular on fast-paced platforms like TikTok. 

Like 15 years ago or so, when a viral thing would happen on the internet, it was likely that the authors would end up on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a checkmark that would only increase their popularity to the point that they might be discussed for years to come. Now, when things of a similar kind happen online, people talk about it for a couple of days and then forget about it. 

One of the reasons behind these short-lived trends is that current media offers so much content that it’s natural for some of it to drown and not even reach its peak as others do. If it manages to go viral, pretty soon something new and more exciting will take away people’s attention, because with such a broad choice of content, there’s no way that something else won’t come up. 

Of course, the current average attention span is shorter than it's ever been (only 8 seconds!). That suggests that people simply cannot focus on one thing to keep it relevant for a longer time; they crave something new more and more often. 

This leads to a “landfill” of dead trends. The worst part about it – some of them were actually pretty good, worthy of more attention than they were given. That’s what we’re delving into with today’s list – dead trends people online would like to see back.

So, check it out, upvote if you agree with the provided takes, and suggest your options in the comments!