The early 2010s occupy a specific sweet spot in cultural memory. It was a time before the algorithm completely dominated our brains (IGTV didn't exist, TikTok was a song by Kesha). It was a time when social media connected us but hadn't yet broken the social contract. It was a time when you could still buy a physical CD at Target, play Angry Birds on your first iPad, and argue with your friends about whether Glee was good or not (it was).
While the season ended with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers beating the Celtics in a Game 7 thriller, the real story of 2010 happened in July: . LeBron James went on live television to announce he was taking his talents to South Beach to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. It was the most controversial sports broadcast of all time, turning LeBron from hero to villain (and later, back to hero). It defined the "superteam" era. super 2010
But the biggest event of 2010 was the launch of . On October 6, 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched a simple app that let you put a filter on your photo. Within 24 hours, it had 25,000 downloads. Within two months, 1 million users. Instagram didn't just share photos; it invented the aesthetic of the 2010s. It was the app that turned everyone into a photographer. The early 2010s occupy a specific sweet spot