canyonwalker | "40 Forgotten Trends..." Not Here! (Reply)

I read a BuzzFeed listicle yesterday, "40 Forgotten Pandemic Trends From 4 Years Ago That Feel Like They Are From An Alternate Universe" (30 Mar 2024). I thought as I clicked into it, "I wonder how many of these trends, if any, applied to me?" Answer: ONE! One out of FORTY. Clearly I am NOT trendy. (Little surprise there¹.)

Among the things I did not do during the darkest days of the Covid lockdown that seemingly everyone else did— or seemingly everyone who Tweeted/Grammed/Tokked a lot on social media at the time did:

I didn't hoard anything— or panic because I ran out
I didn't do Zoom happy hours. ...Well, okay, I did, like, two then decided they were lame and I'd rather drink alone. Or in the words of George Thorogood: 🎵 When I drink alone I prefer to drink by myself. 🎵
I didn't get super-into any TV series
I didn't buy a Peloton
I didn't buy a quarantine pet
I didn't join any cooking trend.

The one thing I did, though only because it was practical and not because it was trendy?

I cut my own hair. (#34 out of 40 on Buzzfeed's list.)

Oh, and none of these are trends I forgot about.

Like, really, people, you forget? C'mon, it's only 4 years ago, and it's likely the most singularly different time of your life. Don't tell me it's because you all became alcoholics. ...Which, yes, that's a 2020 social trend I do remember, but the BuzzFeed listicle-compilers forgot about or glossed over!

[1] I pay attention in life and in the media I consume to stay abreast of trends, to be knowledgeable of them. I only join in when they're practical, genuinely interesting, or stylish in a way I'm curious to try. ...Which is to say, I laugh at most of them and move on.