POP THE PERPETUAL

We all know that change is constant; we are constantly changing and so are the things around us. As we are reaching towards the end of a decade and beginning of a new one, we just wanted to acknowledge and list down all the changes we have been through in the last ten years. There are a lot of things that have evolved, from the fashion and beauty trends, to our preferences in entertainment, to our lifestyle and even our culture. We’ll go over this in depth one by one, telling you what all new changes we have witnessed in the past decade.

If we are going to talk about any of the things mentioned above, the first thing that we need to talk about is the influence of social media and bloggers in our daily lives. There are so many social media platforms, started from Facebook and Twitter in the beginning of the decade and ending with Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. There are so many bloggers out there who have made it their profession to influence people, in ways we never thought. From the fashion and beauty bloggers, to lifestyle and travel ones, we’ve got all of them. Also, the involvement and interest of the Male gender into fashion and beauty has been tremendously increasing and we now even see some Male fashion bloggers as well, such as Abhinav Mathur, Jatinn Jay, etc.

Well apart from that, beginning from the fashion and beauty trends, we have seen changes all throughout, but the thing which was the highlight in the fashion industry was the transformation of the old-style clothing into a modern one. Bringing the trend of ghararas and shararas back into the society, and transforming them into clothes that can be worn on a daily basis has been an advancement. Also, the approach these days have been comfortable and casual over all. For the beauty thing, we have seen an incorporation of Korean skincare and American makeup into our daily routines. From the usage of sheet masks and serums, to that shiny highlighter, we’ve seen it all in this decade.

Okay so now talking about the lifestyle, which has actually changed a lot, starting from the families: these days people prefer to live in a nuclear family rather than a joint one and also try to have a luxurious lifestyle. People have made up a mindset that having the most expensive phone, laptop, car, etc, is the status symbol for them in a society. And most of this and the expenditure of a family is because of the societal pressures to maintain their status. Mobile phones have become a large part of an individual’s survival these days and has replaced the functions of an alarm clock, calendar, etc.  Travelling has also become a huge trend, some people do it because they love to, but others just give in to the standards of living, and most of these standards are basically set by the influences of social media and bloggers.

The last thing that I want to mention is about our preferences in entertainment, that has been changing recently because of the availability of so much more than what we could just get. People, especially the youth have diverted from the typical Indian TV soaps to a variety of international ones like Elite (Spain), Adını Feriha Koydum (Turkish), Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar (Pakistan), The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars (US), A Love So Beautiful (Chinese) and so on. We like them because of their unique and crisp storylines which end just in time. In addition to this, we would like to give a special mention to Netflix and Amazon Prime which has replaced the basic television in a household, and gives us large numbers of TV Shows and movies to watch. Also, if we are going to consider changes in the decade, how can we miss the music which started from One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer and is ending with the huge BTS popularity. We have seen K-pop and different regional music trending in the last 2-3 years, and making a name for themselves.

A lot of new trends have swayed away the old ones, but in a world where everything is constantly moving and evolving, there is nothing that stays forever, and we as people adapt to these changes pretty quickly as if we never noticed what around us has changed. So how many of these changes have you given in to?

Shaireen Khan
Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia