The trend cycle harkens back to the early 2010s, where fanatical dorkiness was applauded and the rivalry of Emo VS Swag beset the Internet. Can we go back to these simpler times?  In Janice Kei’s “Deus ex machina“(God from the machine), One Direction CDs, moustache necklaces and kitschy collages converse and dither in generational nostalgia. The #corecore video memoir steer these relics to the olden days of Tumblr’s reign over its loyal subjects. These halcyon days initiated the unified diversification of culture and community, while simultaneously constraining them through the circulation of subversive memes and monotonous beauty standards. The emergence of micro-trends confined by uniform archetypes, morphed into the now inexhaustible catalogue of buyable #core identities: these years birthed the internet zeitgeist as it was by the end of the decade, and continue to be. Social media’s demise is not imminent, and a rejuvenation as transformative as that of the 2010s would unlikely recur. But were those really simper times, or are we simply blinded by the allure of escapism in this age of distraction?