Light on the internet restriction and heavy on the social media presence, the early 2010s provided many of us with an introduction to the vast realm of the interweb. Honoring tradition as middle school screenagers and working against our set screen limits, our existence on the internet continues to be a daily (hourly for some) habit backed by heavy roots in re-blogging, liking and subscribing to posts and web personalities. And sure, it doesn’t go without saying that what makes us who we are today is defined by our feelings and beliefs intersecting with our exposure to the closest individuals to us.
However, many would say that YouTube’s infamous cinnamon challenge has made a bigger impression on who we are today! With the likes of TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and, dare I say, Discord being the big guys within the internet social scene, one should take time to reminisce about the beloved blogging site and app, Tumblr. With a long summer ahead of us, make use of your free time by recalling and revisiting the following Tumblr trends that defined our early teenage years.
Go back to 505
In your imagination, you’re waitin’ lyin’ on your side, listening to the Arctic Monkeys reminiscing about the year 2014. Amongst the thousands of blogs picturing mood boards and teenage girls’ trendy wall art, Tumblr remains synonymous with capturing the chokehold dark indie pop and rock had on teenage girls and other active users. Popularization of albums range anywhere from the sound of Lana Del Rey’s album Ultraviolence pleading for a dangerous love to The Neighborhood’s album I Love You, hoping for a rush of California love. Tumblr recognized such music that paired perfectly well with the website’s teenage angst aesthetic.
With the booming popularity of both Tumblr icons Lana Del Rey and Charli XCX resurging in the media and musical space, take advantage of a long road trip or even a day inside to revisit their new and old albums that once measured your taste in music and maybe even littered your walls with overpriced vinyl records from Urban Outfitters. Honorable mentions that have made their second round of virality, this time through TikTok, are Marina and the Diamonds, Melanie Martinez, Halsey and Lorde. Despite the lack of sweater weather under this California heat, peruse your neighborhood and reconnect with your 13-year-old self by recalling the adolescent angst of the early 2010s.
Revisit American Apparel
Peak summer date outfit: black and white striped long sleeve, high-waisted black shorts, high-top Converse! Feeds plastered in “soft grunge” and “Tumblr girl” outfit ideas reinvented a new way for teenage girls and others to gain outfit inspiration. The Tumblr girl aesthetic is coined by an alien patch t-shirt, low-rise Dr. Marten loafers, American Apparel’s almost legendary black tennis skirt and a token flannel for around the waist! With a long summer ahead, this is the perfect opportunity to dabble in the likes of an indie aesthetic or summon your grunge side with the perfect Nirvana t-shirt without caring whether you can list five of their songs or not!
Have a limited wardrobe? Live vicariously through a mood board picturing your perfect Sky Ferreira mock outfit that would have garnered you thousands of Tumblr notes. A pop of 2013 can be made easy by incorporating, luckily, easily accessible fishnets or studs you can slap on just about anything you own! Rethink your outfit tonight, and consider unretiring those choker necklaces and oversized jean jackets.
Smosh that like and subscribe button
With a summer empty of a job, internship or a friend with a yacht, embrace the idea of a rot girl summer and revisit the world’s first influencers and have a day binge-watching your favorite old YouTubers you once fangirled over on Tumblr. With the popularity of short-form videos taking place as TikToks, Instagram reels and even YouTube shorts, it is no mystery that many retain a shorter-than-usual attention span (guilty), leaving longer video forms out of the question.
However, this summer, disable the habit of putting everything in 2x speed (guilty) and indulge yourself in binge-watching a YouTube rewind series or a classic Smosh parody video of your favorite anime. Given the perfect opportunity to sleep in ‘till noon, feel productive by romanticizing the morning routines of YouTube’s best beauty gurus, Bethany Mota and Michelle Phan. YouTube DIY room decor featuring mason jars, melted crayon paintings and Polaroid picture walls defined the Tumblr feeds of many teenage girls wishing to be the next viral blog.
Relive ruining your parent’s dining room table by creating the preppy DIYs taught by YouTube’s best DIY channels: LaurDIY, MyLifeAsEva and Rclbeauty101! While YouTube and Tumblr remain separate platforms, their reign on the internet intersected through the mutual expression of fandoms, DIYs and the need for virality amongst its users.
Dig out that iPhone 5
Put that “Instagram eats first” mentality to work this summer and make that overpriced matcha look good! Tumblr blogs were nothing shy of pictures, of course, considering that its main feature is blogging! However, a good majority of those pictures featured one particular trend: taking the most aesthetically pleasing picture ever, of whatever, wherever. A picture of an oil spill on the pavement with a cameo of one’s favorite Dr. Martens would easily make it onto everyone’s feed. This is a circumstance where literally anything and everything can be made pretty using an iPhone 5.
In today’s age, a good matcha and bagel pic will make its rounds across many Instagram stories on a daily basis. Back then, it was a vanilla frappuccino with whipped cream! While the famous pastel Fujifilm Instax mini polaroid cameras made their impression on teenage walls and blog posts, consider participating in the digital camera trend many are investing in. Make your Instagram photo dumps interesting by adding that disposable flare once practiced by internet pioneers: Tumblr bloggers. Though we moved on from the “let me take a selfie” era and moved into the “I’m bringing my digi” phase, channel your inner blogger.
Delve back into summer reading
It isn’t always easy to make good use of one’s time, especially when given the opportunity to do whatever you want with it. While ideas are plenty, many can’t be executed. Classic activities to make the time move always go back to reading a good book. With the book community being at a peak with the manifestation of “Booktok” on the TikTok platform, reading is made to look better than a night out in the town. However, TikTok isn’t the first to do this. Tumblr is a pioneer when it comes to making book reading look cool! Again, aesthetics and an appealing atmosphere will make anything look good; even harrowing dystopian books like The Hunger Games and Divergent look like a sweet summer read under a VSCO filter. If you’re considering picking up a book this summer, revisit the books that made Tumblr users go crazy: The Fault in Our Stars, Harry Potter and Paper Towns. Anything by John Green, you’re down the right track to recalling Tumblr!
Assuming the best, you have a European summer ahead of you! Assuming the greatest, you have a Tumblr summer waiting for you! Whether you’re revving up your hidden dark academia obsession or unpacking your American Apparel from a donation pile, make the most of it and relive the best of your early teenage years on the web!
