Prolific Blogger
With the year of optometry rapidly approaching, many of you are reminiscing on the past decade and wondering what will happen next. Some of you, in true Y2K fashion, believe that the world will end when we reach 2020, and some of you hope it will. However, I encourage all of you to quit sulking and welcome the new year eagerly, because the world has improved and is definitely worth living in. I mean, this decade I went from an asinine tech job at my dad’s company to managing this blog, an Etsy for The Office stickers, and a verified Twitter account! The 2010s have been great for me, so obviously they have to have been good for the world too.
Don’t be swayed by how easy it is to be negative, pessimistic, cynical, you name it! Look at the good things in life, and realize that it’s not half bad. Perhaps it is not as idyllic as suggested by Kelsey’s Disneyland trip photos, (we get it, your dog is really cute and they sell tiny Swarovski Mickey ears now, but not everyone needs to see it, KELSEY) but it’s not like the world is going to end. We’re all happy and having fun, right? At least, for the most part?
Also, can you believe that at this time in 2010 Katy Perry’s “Firework” was at the top of the Hot 100 list? Granted, she’s kind of gone downhill now, but the list itself hasn’t. On the topic of music, how about K-pop’s explosion? Did we actually let “Gangnam Style” be the most viewed Youtube video for five years? Nowadays, thanks to groups like EXO and Twice, Koreans have proved that they aren’t all in secret dictatorships or having elevator dance parties. Luis Fonsi doubled down on the notion that maybe English speakers don’t always want to understand the lyrics in their pop songs. And don’t forget that the Harlem Shake dominated Youtube before superior dance forms phased it out, including whipping, dabbing, and liking tweets with abnormally long nails.
But to shift gears, what about our beloved cell phones? We used to drool all over our sliding keyboard Blackberry phones and tiny Apple devices because texts no longer required wrestling with a number pad for an hour. Now I have an iPhone XS Max in a case with massive bunny ears, and I wouldn’t want it any different even if my pockets were big enough to hold a phone. And who wants to type or draw a password when you can just sell your face and fingerprint to your phone? Never mind who’s on the receiving end! My mom said she saw information surfacing in strange corners on the Internet, but it’s spreading my influence so it’s fine.
Finally, let’s appreciate how far technology has progressed. Loads of people whine that it is encroaching too much on our lives, but I would argue they’re missing the point. American schools use iPads and Chromebooks to “enhance the classroom experience,” which really means to mask the shortcomings of Common Core (sorry Americans, we’ll always be behind). Everybody used to care so much about TVs, but thanks to Netflix, HBO, and now Disney+, with just my computer and credit card I can escape my roommate’s judgement when I binge “The Good Place!” Oh, and also, virtual reality went from super clunky headgear that simulated a lousy world to slightly less clunky headgear with way cooler universes. If you still refuse to believe what I’ve said, just go hide in there like in “Ready Player One” or something. It’s probably better for everyone.
