Why is everything “iconic” now?
You’ve seen it, you’ve been annoyed by it and now we’re here. Debating on if this is really sarcasm or not.
Unsplash image search results for "Iconic".
Per Dictionary.com:
Iconic: Widely considered to epitomize an era, culture, community, place, etc.; representative.
Take 1: It’s Not Sarcasm
Okay, let’s choose violence, at least initially. First, let me share the post from @theviralvocalss that I saw on Instagram that really fueled my fire on the topic enough to blog about it:
Now, I love Sabrina and am mesmerized by her just as much as the next person, but, come on y’all. She clapped her hands to the beat of her own music and can do it effortlessly because…she’s a musician??…and it was her own song?? I’m lost on how this is iconic and why no one told me all these years that I too, am iconic for having rhythm and being able to pick up a beat?
Let’s just take a deep breath, admire her musical talent and keep going. Or like literally, call out anything else aside from that.
People have been misusing and over-using this word for years, and I’m definitely not the first person to write an article on it. But, I have my own opinions on why this has been happening so frequently and more prominently lately.
How it started
As we began to re-enter society from lockdown, the red carpets and flashy events of the entertainment industry were one of the first to bring us all back to some sort of normalcy. With the lavishness of the awards season, premieres and just, the people, in general. In contrast to the dull, monotonous lives we were leading in the confines of our homes, the flourish of fashion, luxury and excess was iconic…
Image by @fardad_sepandar
…in comparison. In general? In a non-post-COVID-lockdown scenario? Maybe. Whatever or whoever was on display would really have to go all out to receive the high compliment of “iconic”.
Returning to normalcy
As more and more normal moments started to be sprinkled back into our everyday lives, the use of the word “iconic” went up as well. We were experiencing the same things that before were “super cool” or “amazing, wow” but now that we were experiencing them in the contrast of how insufferable and horrific COVID and lockdown were, it was lighting up our whole life and being “iconic”.
It’s no secret that social media hit its peak during shutdown as it became one of the few ways to stay connected with friends and loved ones. So, it’s only natural that the heightened usage of the word made its way from in-person conversations to the digital channels.
Growing up with social media
Gen Z and Gen Alpha, our most divisive generations since, well, millennials (hey) grew up in the most awkward way. Even before we were hit with COVID and its fallouts, they would’ve been heavily influenced by social media anyway just given when they were born and how social media has become such an integral part of our lives. But, the “grew up on social media and chronically online” part of their childhood was certainly heightened with shutdowns and lockdown. Forcing them to go to school online, celebrate major milestones in solitude and pick up internet lingo quicker than any other generations.
That being said, it only makes sense that every little heightened experience or viral video is “iconic” to them because they started their prime development years in the heart of one of our society’s greatest moments of despair.
Photo from AL BELLO/GETTY IMAGES
The shit that went down from 2020-2023
2020:
Gen Z’s median age: 19.5
Gen Alpha’s median age: 5.5
JANUARY:
On January 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that a cluster of mysterious pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 might have been caused by a previously unidentified coronavirus
The United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union in January, beginning a period of transition as the two sides negotiated the terms of their new relationship. At year’s end, relations remained tense, and negotiations continued in an effort to avoid a no-deal result by December 31, the official end of the transition
Harry and Meghan said goodbye to royal life
On January 26 came the shocking news that the NBA star Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter, Gianna, and seven other people, had been killed in a helicopter crash due to foggy conditions in Calabasas, California
FEBRUARY:
The respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, got its own official name in mid-February: COVID-19, or CO for corona, VI for virus and D for disease
In February, the former Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was convicted of a criminal sexual act and rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act. The guilty verdict, and his later sentencing to 23 years in prison, marked the end of a decades’-long tide of allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein by dozens of women, the revelation of which sparked the global #MeToo movement
Antarctica saw its highest temperature on record
MAY:
George Floyd’s death sparked global protests
JULY:
Civil rights icon John Lewis died
COVID-19 shut down the Summer Olympics and other sporting events. Though several U.S. pro sports leagues, including the NBA, WNBA and NHL, were able to operate successfully by creating “bubbles” and observing strict quarantine and social distancing measures, others saw many games postponed or canceled as players tested positive for COVID-19
AUGUST:
Wildfires burned more than 8.2 million acres in American West
SEPTEMBER:
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died
OCTOBER:
Federal and state governments attempted to rein in tech giants
NOVEMBER:
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won a historic election (and we got a great gif out of it)
The United States officially left the Paris Climate Agreement
FREDERICK J. BROWN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
2021:
Gen Z’s median age: 20
Gen Alpha’s median age: 6
JANUARY
On January 6, a mob of pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop lawmakers from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election
FEBRUARY
In February, storms bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain combined with frigid temperatures to wreak havoc in Texas, causing road closures, widespread power outages and loss of heat, electricity and water for millions of people. The death toll from the winter storms was later tallied at more than 200 people, and experts predicted it could become the costliest weather-related disaster in the state’s history
NASA Rover lands on Mars
MARCH
TV audiences tuned in for Oprah Winfrey’s highly anticipated interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry near their new home in Southern California
Two mass shootings within a week of each other in March—at three spas in the Atlanta area on March 16 and a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on March 22—proved a devastating reminder of the ongoing scourge of gun violence in the United States. Of the eight people killed in Atlanta, six were Asian women, fueling outrage and fear over the increase in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic
APRIL
In April, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, which sparked protests against systemic racism and police violence in more than 2,000 U.S. cities and 60 countries around the globe in 2020
In another trial related to Black Lives Matter protests, teenager Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges after claiming self-defense in the killing of two people and wounding of another during the unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Finally, a jury in Georgia convicted three white defendants of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man whom they confronted while he was jogging through their neighborhood. As with Floyd and Blake, Arbery’s killing—and the slowness of local law enforcement to make arrests—had fueled anger and outrage among protesters condemning racial injustice and demanding change
JUNE
President Biden signed legislation officially establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States
In late June, the U.S. Pacific Northwest experienced the most extreme heat wave in its recorded history, with temperatures reaching highs of 116 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland, Oregon and 108 degrees in Seattle, Washington. The excruciating heat, which extended into British Columbia in Canada, was due to a heat dome, a massive high-pressure zone hovering on the U.S.-Canada border. Historically expected to occur only once every several thousand years on average, experts say such rare weather events have become far more probable due to climate change
JULY
Gunmen masquerading as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents burst into the home of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti, killing him and seriously wounding his wife. Barely a month later, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Haiti, followed by flash floods, leaving more than 2,200 people dead and injuring or displacing thousands more in a nation already suffering from widespread poverty and hunger
In the early morning hours of July 8, the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed. Ninety-eight people were killed in the incident, which was attributed to structural damage in the concrete building that had first been reported several years earlier
AUGUST
Making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds on August 29, Hurricane Ida claimed the lives of more than 30 people in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, becoming the most damaging storm to hit the region after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. After weakening to a tropical depression, Ida wreaked unexpected havoc in the Northeast, killing at least 60 people in six states and causing widespread flooding of streets, neighborhoods, houses and even the New York City subway system
SEPTEMBER
Audiences returned to Broadway theaters in New York City for the first time in 18 months, with pandemic precautions including mask-wearing and proof of vaccination
After decades of allegations of sexual abuse of women and underage girls, R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted by a jury in New York of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in September; he faces a possible life sentence. Meanwhile, in a blow to supporters of sexual assault victims and the #MeToo movement, a Pennsylvania court threw out the conviction of Bill Cosby and released him from prison after ruling that his due process rights had been violated
SpaceX and Jeff Bezos make civilian space travel a reality
NOVEMBER
A New York judge granted the motion to vacate the convictions of Muhammad A. Aziz and the late Khalil Islam for the 1965 assassination of Black nationalist and religious leader Malcolm X. The two men’s exoneration more than 50 years after they were convicted came after an investigation found that crucial evidence pointing to their innocence, including FBI and New York Police Department documents, had been withheld at the time of their trial
In November, fans and activists in the #FreeBritney movement celebrated the decision of a Los Angeles judge to end the 13-year conservatorship controlling the personal and professional life of pop star Britney Spears
2022:
Gen Z’s median age: 21
Gen Alpha’s median age: 6.5
MAJOR EVENTS
Russia invades Ukraine
Climate Change intensifies
Inflation returns
COVID eases
2023:
Gen Z’s median age: 22
Gen Alpha’s median age: 7
MAJOR EVENTS
Civil war wracks Sudan
AI burst into the public consciousness with the release of ChatGPT
Hamas attacks Israel. The soaring death toll for Palestinian civilians, most of them women and children, fueled worldwide complaints that Israel was committing war crimes
Global temperatures shatter records
Umm, so yeah. A lot of shit has been going down. And while we’ve all majorly been affected psychologically, mentally, emotionally (you name it, we have trauma for it), Gen Z and Gen Alpha have been trying to develop into functioning toddlers, kids, pre-teens and young adults during this time. You can imagine how growing up during all this and then having a slow reveal of what this mystical “life before” was as the years move on past 2022— can skew the way you see the world. For better or for worse.
Photo by: Christina @ wocintechchat.com
Side Note:
If you somehow made it through the last few years without some sort of counseling or therapy, we are all scared for and of you. Please go talk to someone <3
Now, back to what I was saying about for better or for worse, regarding the development of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. This nicely brings us back to the two-sided coin on the matter. They could totally have this skewed outlook on life and how to measure things because so much of their young lives have been absolute shit.
On the other hand, they could have the best humor out of all of us and it’s just on full display online for us to consume and be confused (read: crossed) about it.
Take 2: It’s Sarcasm
I’m willing to admit that I’m a good example of how humor can be used as a treatment for trauma.
Has recounting all the events of my parent’s divorce to my therapist improve my trauma response to certain coming of age movies?
No.
Did it help me pinpoint where my back pain originated from due to carrying the weight of my family on my shoulders because I’m the eldest daughter?
Yes.
See, I’m super funny.
And while the upcoming generations are inherently humorous, as shown given they were able to completely skip over their awkward teenage years (for those old enough to have gone through them at this point in time) I do believe their strength is, by a landslide: sarcasm.
This may actually be a good question to flip around the Gen X, cause I’m genuinely curious as to how they’d respond. I have never felt so dumb or digitally accosted and dismissed by anyone before meeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Is this new??
“Okay, Boomer” happened yes, but that was to be expected. Some Boomers be trippin’. But what did we do, other than be ignorant to their lingo and mindset, to be deserving of such sass and mystification.
I could 100% see this “iconic” annoyance being planned and fueled by the younger generations just to piss people off. Like as a past-time— no, no, not even as a past-time it’s too natural to be called that— it’s an automatic response for most of them. Because what else are they going to do when they’ve been raised to be chronically online.
I probably sound like I hate Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but I don’t, I really don’t. I admire them in a lot of ways, but this, ain’t one of them.
Take 3: Some creepy guy (or gal, I’m all for women’s wrongs) posted that original reel knowing it would incite rage and get clicks and likes and shares
And to that I say. You were correct. Congrats.
I’ll leave you with this GIF of Kim K that has become a popular sound bite for non-iconic things and no real resolution to this blog post— but tell me, what do you think?
