“The times, they are changing.” said a young Bob Dylan once. Dylan himself even changed from a rebellious folk poet to born again Christian in his later years. This week we had a massive leak of scandalous celebrity photos, and people are quick to sit on their high horses and say “kids these days” and “what ever happened to integrity?” But let’s not pretend like people didn’t engage in scandalous activity back in the day. Lewd pictures might still be considered scandalous now, but it might not be in the future (of course hopefully we’ll be smarter about who sees them).
Here are some things used to be totally not cool, but are (mostly) just accepted now.
1.) Online dating: This used to be only for sad, desperate people, but now 1/3 of married people in the U.S began their relationships online.
2.) Tattoos: Maybe I’m still young, but the fact is I’ve never worked at a place where at least someone didn’t have at least one tattoo. Whether it was a good tattoo or not is a different story.
3.) Girls wearing pants: Honestly though, it’s been so hot lately I dream of the day that dudes are allowed to wear skirts. Certain areas of my body could use the ventilation.
4.) Nerds: From Weezer to Game of Thrones, it seems that nerds and nerd culture continue more and more to be “in”. But maybe it’s not so much the actual things nerds are into, but the idea that you shouldn’t have to hide your passions that is becoming more the trend. When you think about it, Fantasy Football is quite possibly the nerdiest thing on Earth.
5.) Bra straps: Panty lines are still a no-go, but nobody’s going to scoff at a woman in the park for showing a bit of bra, unless they’re 1000 years old.
6.) Girls making the first move: Shy guys rejoice! The girls are speaking their mind, which is great for those of us who’s version of flirting is just switching between nervous eye contact and looking at the ground.
7.) Women keeping their maiden name: It just seems kinda silly nowadays. Unless your maiden name is “Mcpoop”, then definitely take your husband’s name.
8.) Not responding to invitations: It used to be rude not to RSVP, but now with invitations mostly moving to Facebook, I just can’t answer them all. (I’m not as popular as I sound, I promise.)
9.) Using your real name on the internet: Remember on AOL instant messenger we all had codenames like we were spies or rappers or something? Nowadays I spell my name out more than I give people my number so they can chat me on Facebook.
10.) Calling after 9pm: Back in the day the only reason to call someone after 9 was if there was a family emergency or if you needed to coordinate your secret love affair. Now I get calls from people who just wanna say “Hey!” Hey? I’m about to sleep, dude!
Things always change. Sometimes they are for the better, and sometimes they are for the worse. No matter what, though, your life will look completely different in just a few years.