The Fleeting Zeitgeist

Pop culture, war crime and the royal family. It all has it’s time in the limelight, but how long until the next love island star gets someone pregnant? Zeitgeists have always represented main stage topics that consume an era or generation, but this period has now become so fleeting and miniscule that the whole meaning could be changing. Gen Z favourite clothing brand, Weekday, updates their zeitgeist printed t-shirts weekly. 7 days. Are we really over something that quickly or do we find it hard to concentrate living amongst the issues we do. I mean, global warming is real.

Over 2 million news articles are posted every day online. Imagine the response time journalists now need to engage with the general public without being flushed out by the sound of yet another air strike happening over at the next newspaper. It’s even becoming hard to differentiate what we deem important to digest. Air strikes killing civilians are now getting the same air time, if not less, than ITV social climbing celebrities. It could be this, or the world is really getting so bad that the next day we have some other city destroying story to read about. These are the things we should be listening to. But, of course, is it that easy? When we have become so aware of all the things, good and most definitely bad, that are happening across the globe and beyond, do we need an escape of celebrity gossip just to take a timeout?

The 1960s represented the time of hippies with their psychedelics and the civil rights movement shaking the government. These were the topics for 10 years. Yes, of course we cannot speak now of everything that took place during this time but looking back, this is what we know. Now, think how you might describe the last decade – and this doesn’t need to include a picture of yourself then and now. Where does your mind go? Black lives matter movement? Terrorism? The Kardashians? #MeToo? The Summer of the 2018 football world cup? Whatever it is, the fleeting thought of how this shaped our society only lasts a moment. This is how we receive information now, and whether you think is good or bad for society, well next time you read an article or a headline, think of it’s worth to you.