"Everybody Thought It Was The Future": 22 Trends That People Thought Would Be The "Next Big Thing" But Instantly Fizzled Out Instead

Trends always come and go, and some fizzle out much quicker than expected, whether we love them or not. (I recently found my hair feather collection; what a time.) So when redditor u/caelencater asked the r/AskReddit community to share the trends that died quickly , people sure had a lot of unlocked memories to share. Here are some of the short-lived trends they mentioned.

1. "Remember in the early 2010s when there was a frozen yogurt place on every block? Two or three years later, they all seemed to vanish, and nobody wanted froyo."

2. "Planking."

— u/No-Self-Edit

"So simple, silly, and harmless. I liked it."

— u/AlessandroTheGr8

3. "Those that got a mustache tattoo on the side of their finger, y'all OK?"

4. "The Harlem Shake. "

— u/ExcitementMedium5796

"It's so weird that a video with people in costumes humping the air turned into a meme with what was essentially a scientific formula."

— u/simpersly

5. "Segways were going to revolutionize transport."

6. "NFTs."

— u/joe_chicago

"I was so freaking glad when this went away. My stepsister's now ex-husband was hard into crypto and was trying to sell everyone, including my dad and stepmother, on NFTs. He was visiting clubs trying to sell near retirement-age Boomers on investing in them to 'diversify [their] portfolios' and talking about how they were going to be the biggest thing to ever hit finance.

And then they bottomed out. To my knowledge, my parents didn't invest in them, but my step-sister's finances were not in a great place for a while."

— u/WardenCommCousland

7. "Cup stacking was big for a minute. The middle school even had cup-stacking competitions after school."

8. "The fidget spinner craze was wild! One minute, everyone was spinning them like they were the coolest toys on the planet, and the next, they were collecting dust in drawers. It's like they went from 'Look at me, I'm stress-relieving!' to 'Why do I have 12 of these?' faster than you can say, 'What was I thinking?'"

— u/Both_tits0566

9. "The whole 3D craze back in like 2010. Everybody thought it was the future after Avatar came out in theaters. EVERY movie tried to be 3D. After that, there were 3D TVs, 3D phones, and the Nintendo 3DS. I think the craze disappeared in a year because it gave people headaches."

10. "Guys wearing two polo shirts and popping up both collars."

— u/Chicagosox133

"I remember a short-lived trend of polo shirts that had words printed in the collar so when you popped it up, the person behind you could read the word 'DOPE' or something. I worked at a PacSun at the time, and we sold SO MANY of those."

— u/unhinged_behavior

11. "Google glasses."

12. "Four Loko with caffeine."

— u/ehandlr

"Original formula Four Loko was a night in a can."

— u/imjusta_bill

13. "Sillybandz."

14. "Dual discs. One side CD, the other DVD. It lasted by about two years around 2006."

— u/Unlikely-Star-2696

15. "The Livestrong-type rubber bracelets. I remember my mom driving me to multiple stores in third grade to find some. I soon discovered a rash from them."

16. "I forget what it was called, but people would film a video in which everyone in a group froze in place."

— u/shananies

"The mannequin challenge !"

— u/Ok_Cupcake_5226

17. "Feather earrings in 2011."

18. "The mobile game Draw Something . It got hugely popular quickly, then purchased, and then everyone stopped playing altogether."

— u/RandomPoster7

19. "Arguments over whether the dress was blue and black or white and gold."

20. " Pokémon Go. I know some folks still play, but once upon a time, I remember taking a walk in the park, and people were just on their phones, pointing them this way and that and walking in circles. Then there'd be a group huddled together because they were taking down a gym or something."

— u/LuvYouMost

21. "Barefoot toe shoes. I can't even remember the last time I saw anyone wearing a pair."

22. "People dressing up like creepy clowns and showing up in random places at night. I think all it took was for a few of them to get their asses torn up by the dogs of a few of their people targets, and it suddenly went away real quick."

— u/BS_Analyzer

What other short-lived trends do you remember? Let us know in the comments, or fill out this anonymous form !

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.