Define each decade that you were alive in one word.

[mathew101281]

1. 80’s: glamorous
I mean that in the stylistic sense(sparkles and big hair) but also in the classical sense. In much the same way that the fay of myth used glamour to confuse and confound mortals, the glitz of the 80’s was used to mask a lot of problematic things ( Cold War, AIDS etc)

2. 90’s edgy

Grunge gangster rap, and Image comics. The 90’s were all about pushing the envelope to me. Even the cartoons were edgier for example Beavis and Butthead, Ren and Stimpy, and even Batman the animated series with its use of real guns. Jerry Springer, and his imitators took over day time tv. The 80’s were more visually over the top, but the 90’s were more thematically over the top.

3. 2000’s: Shaken

I’ve always felt that the first few years of a decade tend to have a little hang over from the previous decade. The early 90’s felt like continuation of the 80’s. Their were still the remnants discos culture in the early 80’s. 2000’s were an exception to that. From the 2000 election to 9/11 you knew things were going to be different almost right from the jump. A lot crazy stuff happened early in this decade that really shook politics, pop culture and the world in general to its core.
4. 2010’s: niche

Smaller and smaller niches. Politically, socially and in terms of pop culture. You can be YouTube famous meaning you can be insanely popular in your niche, but can be a relative nobody to everybody else.

[Frances]

80's: Wonderment
Possibility because I was a kid and curious, but this decade felt one of rapid development. If you get excited about a new feature on your smartphone every 18 months, imagine living through a period where it seemed a whole new thing came out and turned the world upside-down every month or so. A time of excess.

90's: Sedation
I was heavily into the punk/grunge explosion, an undercurrent that would eventually rise up and... Go nowhere except YouTube's comment section. But to be in it at the time was exciting: it was like a grimier, more cynical 1969 that lasted almost a decade. And when the internet came and we jumped on it, I think we managed to push some of our social agendas forward. Following on from the 80's excesses, though, I think our society moved to a use-once disposable model and, counter-culture aside, the masses felt way too comfortable. There was also the beginning of a split of society into the two groups warring today, a destructive dichotomy we sleep-walked right into.

00's: Collapse
9/11 woke everyone up. The crash kicked them out of their beds. I remember these years as a miserable time.

10's: Ignorance
Now that everyone is woke, they're sure they know the answer. There are a lot of people engaged in political activity who have no history in it. When you've been an idealistic teenager, you can well understand the extremes that can lead people. But it's like everyone woke up all at once, so it feels an incredibly dangerous time. Ignorance is more than strength, it's power.

[TriggerWarning]

70's: Stoned. How else to explain the fashion and music.

80's: Materialism. Everything was appearance over substance.

90's: Awakening: The internet changed everything about our lives.

2000's: Ignorance. Everyone was so blinded by 9/11 and the need to seem patriotic that alternative ideas about anything not supportive of the majority were quelled.

2010's: Triggered. Too many on all sides are too whiny and offended by everything and its only getting worse.

[Celgress]

1980's - Excessive (Everyone wanted everything and they wanted everyone else to see it)

1990's - Innovative (the dawn of the Informative Age)

2000's - Regressive (9/11 followed by the "War on Terror" rolled back much social/cultural progress)

2010's - Offensive (Everyone is offended by everything, or at least pretend they are).

[foxley]

1970s - Change. In the 1970s, the social change that had started sweeping across the rest of the western world caught up with Australia. The long-serving Liberal (i.e. conservative) government that had been in for decades was swept from office in a landslide, and the conservative stranglehold on power was broken. Socialised medical care, free university education, changes to marriage laws, etc. came in and forever changed the nature of Australian society. Even subsequent Liberal governments could not undo all the changes.

1980s - Hope. My teen years. After skirting closer to nuclear war than any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, suddenly the Cold war over. The world opened up, democracy was on the rise and a bright future beckoned.

1990s - Enlightenment. The information revolution swept in and suddenly all of the possibilities that technology had been promising us seemed like they would be a reality. Information was freer and more readily available than at any time in human history, and you could be connected in real time to people located all over the world.

2000s - Regression. 9/11 changed everything. Suddenly old enmities raised their heads. People were willing to sacrifice freedoms in the name so so-called 'security'. The world which had been opening up, suddenly shrunk. The old 'us and them' mentalities came back with a vengeance. Complex geopolitical situations were reduced to simple slogans, and could supposedly be solved by resorting to 'big stick' diplomacy.

2010s - Uncertainty. Nothing is settled any more. Nationalism is on the rise everywhere. Conservatives rule the roost and believe that they can dispel the truth simply by stating they don't believe in it, such as climate change. History is rewritten on a whim to suit the goals of the speaker. Anything you don't agree with can be dismissed as 'fake news'. For the first time since my early teens, I am truly scared by the possibility of a nuclear conflagration.

[babyblob]

1980 Excess- This was the decade that saw over spending and the popularization of lavish lifestyles.

1990 - Anti-Establishment - Like stated above a musical revolution with the rise of grunge and punk. The moving away from republican establishment in both the way we voted and on tv.

2000's - confusion - From not knowing what was going to happen with y2k to the start of seemingly endless wars in the middle East people and the deception of goverment people didnt really know what was going on some of the time.

2010's - Divided - This country has never been more divided in both politics and personal beliefs. It started with Obama with people who acussed him of socialism and really kicked up with Trump.