The 2014-era Tumblr internet was a cringey mess we should never bring back.
By @xenayy · Nostalgia
Everyone on TikTok is romanticizing the 'soft grunge' and 'indie sleaze' aesthetic, but they're forgetting the reality. It wasn't just flower crowns and Arctic Monkeys, it was a lawless wasteland of bad fandom takes and galaxy print everything.
The full story
i keep seeing these tiktoks that are like 'bringing back 2014 tumblr energy' and they show someone with perfect eyeliner listening to the 1975 and i have to laugh. you guys don't remember. you weren't there in the trenches. we weren't all ethereal indie girls. we were chronically online teens making embarrassing text posts about being socially awkward introverts. the uniform wasn't cool band shirts, it was galaxy print leggings from amazon, mustache-print everything, and maybe a flimsy infinity symbol necklace. my entire personality was reblogging gifsets from supernatural. that was it. that was the whole deal. people forget the absolute chaos. the sherlock fandom's implosion. the dashcon ball pit. the collective obsession with doctor who and bowties. every other post was a lyric from a marina and the diamonds song edited over a grainy gif of lana del rey smoking. we thought this was the peak of art and culture. i had a blog i poured my soul into and if anyone i knew irl found it i would have to fake my own death and move to another country. it was just a stream of other people's posts, occasionally punctuated by a text post i wrote at 2am that was like 'is anyone else just really sad sometimes?' that would get 50,000 notes. it was a bizarre micro-celebrity culture where the most unhinged thoughts got you the most engagement. the aesthetic people are copying now is a heavily sanitized, curated version of the reality. it was awkward and embarrassing and deeply, deeply cringe. i love that we all shared this collective fever dream, but let's please leave it in the past where it belongs. some things don't need a revival.
How people voted
- Facts — 38% (40 votes)
- Depends — 28% (30 votes)
- No Way — 34% (36 votes)
Readers are split: “Facts” leads with 38% — 106 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@ughme — Are we sure the internet is any less embarrassing now, though?
@nick — The galaxy print leggings were a cultural reset.
@nataliek — I had a whole pinterest board dedicated to infinity symbol tattoos and I don't even have any tattoos.
@owenagain — crying
@liamok — nah let them have their cringey era it builds character
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