- 6/6/2025
Remember when we all thought the world would end in 2012? Take a nostalgic trip back to the 2010s as we explore the trends, tech, and social media phenomena that defined the decade but didn't survive. From defunct gadgets to embarrassing selfie poses, these are the things we've definitely left behind.
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00:00I mean, I still have mine, Stephen, but I've still got vinyl too, so I'm not sure what that says about me.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 things that we left behind in this century's second decade.
00:10So it's still a Blackberry, it's our Blackberry, so you, except for where we have keys here, um, screen, the whole thing's a screen.
00:21Number 20, Facebook poking.
00:23Now you can literally, with one click, sort of make these major life announcements to everybody you care about.
00:28This feature has existed since the social media giant's inception in 2004, back when it was called The Facebook.
00:35Drop the the, just Facebook. It's clear.
00:39But what did it mean? Nobody knew it seemed like, but everyone was doing it.
00:43As the website grew into a cultural phenomenon, so did poking.
00:46The magic behind poking was truly its ambiguity.
00:49Poking someone could mean anything from an inside joke to serious flirtatious innuendo.
00:53Having a new way to interact with your friends was part of the fun of early social media, and poking embodied this idea.
00:58Poking is still a feature on Facebook, but it's just not what it once was.
01:02Number 19, using a Windows phone.
01:04The way I have made the Windows phone wonderfully mine.
01:09With my pictures, with my email, with my friends, with my son, the lacrosse player.
01:18When long-time Apple competitor Microsoft decided to get into the smartphone game, we got the Windows phone.
01:23Launched in 2010, the Windows phone soon became the operating system for Nokia smartphones.
01:28With the backing of a long-trusted cell phone brand, and user praise for the system's smooth interface.
01:34It starts with being very personal.
01:36We have devices of various shapes and forms.
01:40Keyboards, no keyboards.
01:42AMOLED screen, very durable devices.
01:45Some market specialists predicted the Windows phone might surpass the iPhone by the middle of the decade.
01:49Unsurprising to most, however, the iPhone sustained its place at the top of the market.
01:54As a result of dwindling popularity, Windows phone was discontinued in 2020.
01:58It's time for a phone to save us from our phones.
02:03New Windows phone.
02:05Designed to get you in and out and back to life.
02:09Number 18, carry a personal GPS unit.
02:11With this baby, we'll never be lost.
02:14Although these devices are still occasionally used by outdoor enthusiasts frequently out of cell phone range,
02:25for the most part, daily driving requires little more than your smartphone GPS app of choice.
02:30Advancements in satellite navigation were a Cold War-era effort to improve military navigation during heightened political tensions.
02:37These advancements led to handheld and car-mounted GPS units entering the market,
02:41which became a popular alternative to paper maps.
02:44Though we still often rely on the turn-by-turn navigation instructions delivered by this technology,
02:49the ubiquity of smartphones and built-in navigation systems in modern cars has made this tech product obsolete.
02:54Manually working a navigation device while driving is not a good idea.
02:58As this simulation shows, it's dangerous for the driver and those around him.
03:03Number 17, duckfacing.
03:04As social media became increasingly popular in the 2010s, so did the humble selfie.
03:16Pressure to align with beauty standards in selfies led to some unconventional poses.
03:21You gotta mess it up a little bit.
03:22There we go.
03:25The big lip trend pioneered by celebs like Angelina Jolie and Kylie Jenner inspired what became known as duckfacing.
03:32By pushing out one's lips in an exaggerated pout, it was thought to make the lips look bigger and sexier.
03:37In reality, it just made one's face look anitine, or duck-like if you will.
03:42Selfie takers, particularly young women, were relentlessly ridiculed for this commonplace pose.
03:47As a result, duckfacing became significantly less popular towards the end of the decade, and is rarely seen today.
03:52So, I'm trying not to do the duck lip.
03:54This whole thing is stupid, right?
03:57But you can kind of do a semi-duck lip and get away with it.
04:00Number 16, using Google Glass.
04:04So, let's put it through its paces.
04:06To turn it on, you lift your head up, and I get a purple screen just in the top right of my field of vision.
04:13This short-lived tech product carried some serious hype when it was first announced in 2012.
04:17These augmented reality glasses were intended to display helpful information, take pictures and videos, and generally make the user's life easier and more streamlined.
04:25The product did not live up to its initial hype when it was released to the public in 2014.
04:30The camera function raised privacy concerns, and early adopters found the glasses difficult to use.
04:35Right now I'm recording a video of you, or this Canon 5D anyway, and you'll have no way of knowing it.
04:40There's no LED on the front that's blinking or anything like that to give any indication that I'm capturing footage.
04:45Although two further iterations of the Google Glass were released in 2017 and 2019, the product never took off in the consumer market.
04:52As a result, Google Glass was officially discontinued in 2023.
04:56This is Google's attempt at bringing maybe a little bit of a sci-fi, head-mounted future to you.
05:02Number 15, play Xbox Kinect.
05:04You know, the people in my house never really like to play games, at least this will hopefully bridge the gap from the people that don't really know anything about games to people like me, who come to conventions like this.
05:15In 2010, Microsoft released their own competitor to the Wii, Nintendo's popular motion sensor gaming console.
05:21The Kinect stood out because it had no physical controller.
05:24Players used the console purely with their own body movements.
05:27This was an exciting concept for gamers, but in practice, the technology was less than impressive.
05:31The console was slow to recognize some hand gestures, and the voice recognition software worked poorly for people with accents.
05:43Few games were released for the Kinect, and those that were did not receive many positive reviews.
05:48Perhaps the Kinect was ahead of its time and will make a comeback someday, but for now, the device has been discontinued since 2017.
05:54It recognizes you. It responds to your gestures, and it listens to your voice.
06:00Number 14, Share Hashtag Stop Kinect.
06:03Over the past nine years, I have fought to fulfill it, and the fight has led me here, to this movie you're watching.
06:11Kinect 2012 was a viral documentary short intended to raise awareness of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kinect, and encourage people to take action against him.
06:19Within days, the video received tens of millions of views, and soon became the first YouTube video ever to reach one million likes.
06:26We've seen these kids. We've heard their crimes. This war must end.
06:37The video succeeded in its effort to raise awareness on a topic virtually unheard of in the United States, but some criticized the video's approach to explaining the topic.
06:45Critics 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.
06:54The video did contribute to the African Union sending troops to catch Kinect, but as of 2022, he is still in hiding.
07:00Your mind is so, so powerful, you know this, it's so strong, and if you feed it, you know, if you feed it with this chaotic noise and everything else, you lose who you are.
07:14Number 13, Buy a Nintendo 3DS.
07:17Okay, so which of the launch games are you picking up tonight? Obviously Street Fighter.
07:20That's pretty much it, because of that exchange rate.
07:22This handheld gaming device was the successor to the popular Nintendo DS, NDSi, but introduced a new, trendy feature.
07:30As the name implies, the 3DS was able to display games in 3D, without requiring glasses.
07:35Upon the device's release in 2011, users and critics praised the device's surprisingly sharp 3D effect, considering the 3DS an improvement on an already popular line of products.
07:44The success of the 3DS was only hammered by the launch of another Nintendo product in 2017, the Nintendo Switch.
07:57As demand increased for the Switch, it dwindled significantly for the 3DS, and the product was officially discontinued in 2020.
08:03The Nintendo 3DS. Take a look inside. The Nintendo 3DS will be available in aqua blue and Cosmo black.
08:11Number 12, Have a 3D Television.
08:13You know, when you look at TVs as much as we do, you can get a little bit jaded about the products, but 3D TV is generating a lot of excitement within our company.
08:21In fact, the last couple of times that I've come into the labs here, it's been backed up with people waiting to get a chance to take a look at it.
08:27With the release of James Cameron's alien epic Avatar in 2019, 3D films exploded in popularity.
08:33Some television manufacturers decided to jump on this trend and bring 3D to the home viewing experience with 3D TVs.
08:40These TVs required glasses for the effect to work, and could only really be viewed from specific angles.
08:45The new 3D glasses lens opened and closed rapidly, melding the two images together, giving the image depth and the feeling that it's right in front of our face.
08:54This 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.
09:02Within just a few years, it was clear 3D TVs were just a fad.
09:06By 2017, all major television manufacturers had stopped their production.
09:10So if the multi-million pound advertising campaigns didn't work on you,
09:15and you didn't fork out for a 3D TV, you can feel smug now.
09:22Number 11. Play Flappy Bird.
09:24You can elevate a bird, essentially, by tapping your, making it flap,
09:28and then you have to navigate the bird through a series of pipes. It's pretty impossible.
09:33This deceptively simple-looking game was easy to learn and impossible to master.
09:37The app went viral for its challenging gameplay and addictive nature,
09:41until it became the most popular free app in the world by January of 2014.
09:45The game spread primarily through word of mouth, typically people complaining about the difficulty of the game.
09:50Users spent hours trying desperately to fit the little 8-bit bird through Mario-esque green pipes,
09:55always in pursuit of a new high score.
09:57The game became so notoriously addicting that the game's programmer, Dong Nguyen,
10:01took the game down from app stores due to his own guilt.
10:04Today, I would like to announce that I would be shutting down Flappy Birds for good.
10:09Today, you can download an unofficial version of the game from another developer,
10:13but the original is still unavailable.
10:14On eBay, right now, people are selling their smartphones or tablets that have Flappy Bird installed on them,
10:21hoping to cash out.
10:22Number 10, Play PlayStation Vita.
10:32Initially released in Japan in 2011,
10:35this handheld gaming console was the successor to the PlayStation Portable,
10:38and an aspiring competitor to Nintendo DS's line.
10:41Despite generally positive reviews of the device,
10:43consumers seemed to favor Nintendo products and mobile phone games over the less popular Vita.
10:48That's our potential audience, the audience who values a high-end experience,
10:52and I think a lot of those will want to take that same experience on the move.
10:56The device was considered successful in Japan,
10:58and had a small but dedicated fan base in the United States.
11:01With the release of the immensely popular Nintendo Switch in 2017,
11:05the writing was on the wall for the PlayStation Vita.
11:07Sony discontinued the Vita in 2019,
11:09in favor of focusing on their far more popular game consoles.
11:12To be one of the first people in the UK to have a PlayStation Vita is absolutely amazing.
11:17I'm so thrilled that I stayed up until midnight to get it.
11:20The sleep deprivation was worth it.
11:22Number 9, Contour a New Face.
11:25Then I will take the darker side of the medium,
11:28and just kind of go down my cheek.
11:31In the 2010s, Kim Kardashian and YouTube beauty gurus taught us all
11:35what drag queens have known for decades,
11:37Contouring.
11:38This makeup technique used darker and lighter shades of cosmetics
11:41to sculpt one's face into a chiseled masterpiece,
11:44if you knew what you were doing.
11:45I want it to look like it's an extension of my natural face shape,
11:50so I always blend from the hairline inwards,
11:53that way you can't see where it begins and where it ends.
11:56Alongside excessive highlighter use and thick, bold brows,
12:00Contouring created a makeup look that is now very distinctively 2010s.
12:04Today, though contouring is still a popular technique,
12:07makeup trends have definitely changed.
12:09Daily Full Glam has given way to a more casual,
12:12everyday makeup look that emphasizes natural beauty.
12:19Number 8, Use a Dedicated MP3 Player.
12:23But dedicated MP3 players had also upped their game,
12:26and by Series 4, many manufacturers started to offer more than just music.
12:30Whether it was an iPad or your trusty Zune,
12:33for those of us without smartphones,
12:35an MP3 player was a daily essential.
12:37By the 2010s, the once revolutionary technology
12:40that contained all your tunes in one pocket-sized device
12:43was an everyday essential.
12:45Thanks to Apple's iconic ad campaign for the iPod,
12:48we rocked our wired headphones anywhere and everywhere.
12:51Apple's iPod made it fashionable to walk down the street
12:54with little white wires coming out of your ears.
12:57They've sold nearly 30 million of them.
12:59Today, smartphones have become the MP3 player of choice.
13:03A once standalone device has become just another app
13:05on our multifunctional phones.
13:07With the rise of music streaming,
13:08we also have the ability to listen to nearly any song at any time,
13:12no longer limited to just the downloads in our music library.
13:15In the old days, we used to take an extra suitcase with us
13:17or a bag full of like cassettes or CDs or whatever
13:21just to spend a week on holiday.
13:24Whereas this one little white plastic box
13:26could take your whole collection anywhere in the world.
13:29Number seven, use a BlackBerry.
13:31It was really exciting time.
13:33I mean, we as a company had a really strong product.
13:38Before the iPhone, there was another giant in the smartphone world,
13:41the BlackBerry.
13:42Everyone from Kim Kardashian to Barack Obama
13:45were loyal BlackBerry users in the 2010s,
13:47alongside tens of millions of others.
13:49The BlackBerry's iconic keyboard,
13:51plus its email and web browsing functions,
13:54made the device especially popular among corporate professionals.
13:57The BlackBerry has been reinvented.
14:00It has an all-new multi-touch operating system
14:03and all-new hardware that looks a lot more like an iPhone or an Android phone.
14:09At its peak in 2012, there were 80 million BlackBerry users.
14:13As the iPhone and Android began gaining popularity,
14:15BlackBerry just couldn't keep up.
14:17Though the BlackBerry has since been discontinued,
14:19the company continues to provide communication software
14:21in both the public and private sector.
14:24I created this entire product class.
14:27So listen to me.
14:28The trackpad, it's a mouse pad,
14:31built into the phone.
14:35Number six, browse Tumblr.
14:37Tumblr was the first one to say,
14:39no, they're really all great,
14:40and there's a lot of value in being able to post
14:42everything that you come across
14:44or everything that you create in one place.
14:46Founded in 2007,
14:47Tumblr is a micro-blogging website that,
14:50yes, is still active,
14:51but it's just not the same anymore.
14:53Combining the individual expression of a blog
14:54with the connectivity of social networking,
14:57Tumblr became a safe haven for all things counter-cultural in the 2010s.
15:00Blog topics range from fandom,
15:02to social advocacy,
15:04to aesthetically pleasing posts,
15:05and everything in between.
15:06Ownership of the site has changed hands several times over the years,
15:10typically to the disturbance of Tumblr users.
15:12Over the years, Tumblr's user base has steadily declined,
15:15though some users remain stubbornly dedicated to the platform.
15:19And again, you know, the user stats are pretty big.
15:21You know, looking at it,
15:22there's probably around about 184 million users.
15:24It had something around 12 billion page views just last month.
15:29Number five, experience the monoculture.
15:32Before algorithms carefully curated our feeds to match our unique interests,
15:36before streaming services freed us from the constraints of channel surfing whatever was on,
15:40popular culture looked a lot different.
15:42The media we consumed was limited to what was made available to us.
15:46All right, let's go talk to him.
15:47No, he must continue to believe he's in control.
15:50Why the hell would we want to do that?
15:52So we can create an advantage.
15:54Beyond popular television shows like Lost that everyone was watching,
15:57viral videos and memes felt bigger too.
16:00A video with millions of views felt like a cultural phenomenon,
16:03while today, most videos go unnoticed by anyone outside the video's target audience.
16:08Is this it?
16:08Yes.
16:11It has one view and it says it was uploaded at 6 a.m. this morning.
16:15Have you seen it?
16:16It's hilarious.
16:17While finding a niche in entertainment that appeals to you can be satisfying,
16:20some say our lack of monoculture has only made us more isolated.
16:24Number four, take part in social media challenges.
16:28There are social media trends and then there are challenges.
16:31In the 2010s, viral challenges included the cinnamon challenge,
16:34the ice bucket challenge, and the mannequin challenge, among others.
16:37I challenge Michelle Obama, Angeline Jolie, and Putin.
16:41While some challenges were honestly quite dangerous, like the Tide Pod challenge,
16:45others were harmless, and some even raised awareness about important causes like ALS and pollution.
16:50With TikTok becoming the primary video-sharing social media,
16:53it seems trends have replaced challenges.
16:55Rather than being challenged by friends to participate,
16:57TikTok 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.
17:04The office plank, the boat plank, the blue-collar plank, the clothesline plank.
17:10And for those who like to plank in numbers, there's the double plank, the synchronized plank, and even planking with pits.
17:19Number three, make Facebook albums.
17:21It is in the DNA now of the American culture, not to mention the world.
17:26In the early years of social media, it was anything goes.
17:29After a wild night with friends, you could expect to see everything,
17:32including the most embarrassing moments, documented the following day in a Facebook album.
17:36While it wasn't great having an unflattering photo of yourself posted onto the internet for all to see,
17:41Facebook albums were genuine and far from curated.
17:53Some say that kind of authenticity is missing in today's social media,
17:56where most people carefully select only the best photos from an event to post.
18:00Still, there was nothing worse than waking up to see you've been tagged in the worst photo of yourself you've ever seen.
18:05Maybe you want to share some of these albums, but keep others, like From a Party, private.
18:09Click on album privacy.
18:13And I didn't know this before, so some of my settings are different for each album, and I didn't even realize it.
18:18Number two, use Vine.
18:20When people watch content, it turns into thoughts in their head, so you need to make sure it's positive thoughts.
18:25That's why I tell my followers not to watch the news and stuff like that, because it's so negative all the time.
18:30Paving the way for social media behemoths like TikTok, Vine pioneered short-form video content,
18:35with her trademark six-second looping videos.
18:37The app was incredibly popular, and helped give rise to many social media stars, including celebs like Shawn Mendes and Bo Burnham.
18:48Let's get out of here.
18:49Despite its popularity, Vine was remarkably short-lived.
18:52Launched in 2012, the app was discontinued in 2016.
18:55Too many competitors like Instagram introduced their own video features after seeing the success of Vine.
19:00After mourning the loss of Vine, many users switched to Musical.ly, and ultimately, TikTok, satisfying their need for short, scrollable videos.
19:08Right now, it's a lot of babies, dogs, food, and stop-motion video.
19:13Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
19:19You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
19:23If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
19:27Number one, use the Mayan calendar for our end-of-the-world predictions.
19:33You should be very wary of what will happen in 2012.
19:37Their calendar runs for over 5,000 years, and then it abruptly stops on December 21st in 2012.
19:44According to the Mesoamerican long-count calendar, December 21st, 2012, marked the end of a 5,126-year-long life cycle that some said would bring about the apocalypse.
19:54Leading up to the date, pseudo-documentaries and even a blockbuster film further spread this doomsday prediction.
20:00We gotta get to the other side of the freeway!
20:08Although many were prepared for the worst, no apocalyptic events actually occurred.
20:12Festivities were held throughout Mexico and Central America to celebrate new beginnings at the end of the ancient cycle.
20:18Today, 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.
20:25There are 20-year and 400-year cycles, and then there is a huge cycle called the long count.
20:34It lasts 5,126 years.
20:37Do you still do any of these extremely 2010s things?
20:41Let us know in the comments.
20:43Such an extremely rapid pole shift on the timescale of hours would be a catastrophe like we've never even thought of.
20:50All right.
21:08I'm ready.
21:12I'm ready.
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