Things are changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep up! As the world becomes more and more interconnected, we become aware of all the ways that the rest of the world lives. Trends that might have been fated to stay local a few decades ago now go viral and spread around the globe, powered by social media and the news.
However, much of what we take for granted these days might not stand the test of time. The future might be radically different, and people living years from now might look back at 2022 with a lot of confusion (and probably judgment) about how we did things.
Internet users shared their thoughts about what trends will be the most regrettable in 20 years’ time in an interesting r/AskReddit thread, and we’re bringing you their best insights to get your noggins jogging. From gender reveal parties to denying climate change, some trends are pretty darn bad. As you’re reading, have a think about what fads and ideas you think will go the way of the dodo (i.e. extinct) in the near future, Pandas, and share your thoughts in the comments.
Pop culture and lifestyle expert Mike Sington, from LA, was kind enough to share his thoughts on current trends, what’s here to stay, what will (hopefully!) go away, and how the people of the future might react to the fads of 2022. Check out Bored Panda’s full interview with him.
#1
Taking away women’s body autonomy. We will all pay for this.
Image source: hyperfocused, Karolina Grabowska
#2
Hopefully school shootings.
Image source: jerseybert, Katie Godowski
#3
Electing people to public office who have zero qualifications because they’re famous for some bullshit.
Image source: formerNPC, Jorge Maya
#4
Gender reveal parties and promposals
Good lord it seems they get more ridiculous every week. This s**t needs to go.
Image source: G-Unit11111, Melvin Thambi
#5
I hope: mommy bloggers who post constant pics and details of their children. Robbing children of privacy for likes and money is sickening.
Don’t even get me started on ones with sick kids…
Image source: nikki_therese, Rebecca Harris
#6
Cruel pranks on strangers for views
Image source: bigpugpapa, RODNAE Productions
#7
Mommy needs a drink and mommy wine culture — I hate this BS of normalizing alcoholism and these ‘Poor me, my suburbia life is so rough, I can’t make it without wine o’clock.’ Huge eye roll.
Image source: mrsbraid, Meritt Thomas
#8
Climate change denial.
Global warming is one of those problems that we won’t truly recognise until the damage has already been done. We are reaching that point.
In twenty years there will no longer be a façade.
Image source: Clbull, Li-An Lim
#9
Social Media.
It has negatively affected mental health, caused irreparable damage to grammar and the English language as a whole, produced multiple generations of narcissists.
Image source: Imhere4theinsurance, Sara Kurfeß
#10
Eyelashes so fake they look like spiders.
Image source: njcatgirl29, Sharon McCutcheon
#11
Single use plastics
Image source: Tom_Brokaw_is_a_Punk, Brian Yurasits
#12
Filming everything you do. I was born in the late 1980s and this is just so weird to me since I grew up in an era of film cameras where every shot counted. It’s so bizarre seeing some of my coworkers in their twenties film an average workday at the office like it’s some sort of tourist attraction. Why would you do this?
Image source: adragonthatsgay, Harry Cunningham
#13
Subscription-based everything. You can’t own SHIT these days. Everything is a matter of ‘You can have access to this thing, but only so long as you give us some money per month.’
Image source: GeebusNZ, freestocks
#14
The amount of people that drive full size trucks around is ridiculous. At least 90% of them could live just fine with a little 4 door hatchback. It’s sad to think about all of the millions of gallons of fuel that has been wasted by those idiots.
Image source: Minmach-123, Joshua Koblin
#15
Not sure why but I reckon vaping will prove to be a major health problem in a couple decades.
Image source: bdogski, Elsa Olofsson
#16
Political polarization in America. I see either civil war or an authoritarian government taking over in the next 20 years.
Image source: Rooroor324, Clay Banks
#17
Too much plastic surgery, fillers and Botox on young people.
Image source: factchecker8515, philippe spitalier
#18
Not taking COVID seriously. I think the number of long-term health issues that will result from COVID is going to be huge.
Image source: awhq, Isaac Quesada
#19
Minimalist everything. Every house, closet, and restaurant looks the same now. In 20 years, it’s all going to change because we’ll all be bored.
Image source: turtledovefarts, Bench Accounting
#20
Facebook has explicitly encouraged its users to break down privacy barriers between different aspects of their life, e.g. work, school, and family. This is not a theoretical effect but an intentional one; Zuck has explicitly said that in his view, people who maintain boundaries between different parts of their life “lack integrity” and that it’s Facebook’s goal to promote “integrity” in this specific sense.
This is deeply dysfunctional.
It’s *normal* to have different social contexts in which you present yourself differently. That’s how humans have always been, ever since we invented huts and can go inside a hut and be private with someone.
Boundaries between different parts of your life are healthy. You get to decide who’s allowed in your hut. Tearing down someone else’s boundaries is a hostile act, not a friendly one. (LGBT+ people know this regarding “outing” someone without their consent.)
It should be up to *you* to decide when you feel safe to bring down certain boundaries, e.g. to come out to your family as gay, to tell your coworker about your religious beliefs, or the like.
Facebook is an institution that sees its purpose as including tearing down people’s boundaries. That’s a problem.
Image source: fubo, Joshua Hoehne
#21
The scaremongering about trans people
Image source: Timeywimey91, Oriel Frankie Ashcroft
#22
Veneers. People are LITERALLY sawing down their teeth for pictures and likes.
Image source: Bonfi-Aurora, aida_azizii
#23
Letting companies freely track our online behaviors
Image source: -3055-, Mael BALLAND
#24
posting about almost every aspect of your life on social media. I posted some pretty cringe s**t as a kid that is still floating around somewhere, and that was before social media became big. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like now
Image source: video_2, John Schnobrich
#25
$1200 sneakers
Image source: Abrahamlinkenssphere, Mick Haupt
#26
A lot of parenting and schooling trends will change. Just look at now vs 20 years ago.
Gentle parenting is big right now. The idea is fine but it leads to permissive parenting in most of the cases I worked with in daycare and as a nanny.
Not telling children “no” like ever. Not letting them fail. It’s going to lead to a lot of anxiety and stress in future children when things don’t go great.
Although it’s been getting better I still think the amount of homework some kids get is ridiculous. Specially younger children. I nanny a 4 year old. She’s still in pull ups and learning how to wipe. She doesn’t need homework from preschool.
Image source: cleaning-meaning, August de Richelieu
#27
The destruction of public education (squeezing and outright sabotage of public schools, prohibitive costs for secondary education). The normalization of being undereducated either through apathy or because of forces outside your control. The idea that opinion is equal to fact and that sticking to your original viewpoint is heroic. “Yeah, your studies may say that, but this is how I FEEL about it” and similar arguments.
The reason we are no longer a minor species of omnivorous hunter-gatherers is our ability to pass along knowledge to others. Each generation building on the achievements of prior generations is the path to progress in health, quality of life, equality, production and so much more.
Worse yet, technology now is at a level where if the masses are uneducated, they are also powerless. Small groups of people with specific knowledge have become outrageously powerful and this gap in individual power will only get worse with advances in fields like AI and robotics. If we allow whole generations to grow up undereducated, it will be very difficult for them to understand and affect their world. I feel the exponential growth of wealth gaps across the world is a symptom of this deliberate enforced ignorance.
Image source: GrymEdm, Kenny Eliason
#28
I think people are just starting to regret naming their kids Danerys and Sansa.
Image source: Wazula42
#29
In the future, all of the trans hate laws that are passing right now are going to be viewed the way people of today view Jim Crow laws.
Image source: sue_girligami, Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona
#30
Letting people under the age of 18 use social media.
#31
Nearly all NFTs. Cash grab riding the hype of the ‘underlying technology.’
Image source: based-india, Andrey Metelev
#32
Cryptocurrency will be known as a 21st century gold rush
Image source: TheStol, Peio Bty
#33
Vaping at a young age. Studies are already coming out on the dangers of vaping in the short term. I can’t imagine what will be shown with long term studies.
Image source: Mona_Moans, Vaporesso
#34
House/furniture/thrift items being flipped for a profit.
1. The amount of failed flips I see online is ridiculous. Cut corners, trendy designs, and sub par work done by people who sometimes have no previous background. In 20 years flipped houses will be the new “why did they cover the wood floor in vynil, and why did they carpet the bathroom,” just on a much bigger scale.
2. Furniture and clothes from thrift stores or places like FB Marketplace are becoming ridiculously overpriced. Everyone assumes that you’re a reseller and you wanna take their $30 coffee table and slap some black paint on it and try to resell it for $300. Walking into a thrift store and trying to find some affordable cute clothes? Nice try, we know you’re just gonna sell it online so what used to be a $3 shirt is now $15!
Its ridiculous. It’s not sustainable when used or flipped items cost almost as much as new ones.
Image source: vertigirl127, Julien-Pier Belanger
#35
The men’s broccoli top haircut. I’ve heard it referred to as the “f**k boy” cut.
Image source: SinisterMeatball, Gustavo Fring
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