The decade spanning from 2010-2019, though some cultural aspects began as early as 2008. Also currently known as the "
10s" or the "twenty-tens".
The 2010s are when social media and smartphones became increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, revolutionizing the layperson's daily life. Social media went from being a fun distraction for some to being part of life and vital for big business, and smartphones went from being expensive niche business tools or novelties to being a powerful commodities with PC-level capacity. Tablets became popular with the
iPad's release in 2010 and various other systems later on.
Political events include the
Arab Spring & rise of ISIS, Occupy Wall Street, Obama, Trump, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Brexit, Kim Jong-un, the Venezuela crisis,
Mugabe's fall and others. LGBT acceptance continued to rise in many places, and various countries legalized gay marriage.
Cultural trends/fads include Gangnam Style, world ending in 2012, Harlem Shake, Doge, Pokemon GO, Fidget Spinners, VR gear, and dabbing. Pop culture had things such as the global rise of dubstep, the Korean Wave reaching the West, the
Weinstein Effect and lots of marketing to nostalgia. In many places, paid broadcast TV like cable declined in favor of on-demand streaming like Netflix & sites like YouTube.
Free Wifi became increasingly common through the 10s, and in many places now there are hotspots everywhere. Cell phones overtook
landline phones in the mid 10s.
The 2010s are the
decade when the pound symbol came to be known as the
hashtag by the general public.