2012 was the year when the smart phone really became standard for most people around the world. I'd say it was similar to the change in the 1920s when most American families had a car and could go wherever they wanted with ease, and sorta like the 1950s when The Pill became widely available. These all changed the culture in good and bad ways. 2012 I would say is the most negative of the turning points, particularly due to the social media aspect of the smartphone and the resulting narcissism/self-centeredness that came out of it.

I was born in 1980 and very much remember going out to stores and public places with my parents in the 1980s and 1990s. For the most part, people from the 1970s-2000s were basically the same. You look at videos/films and fashion changed, but basic human interaction was the same. But in 2012 all that changed. If you look at people in 2016 vs 1986 or 1996 there is a big difference.

This channel has a lot of cool videos from the last 30-40 years that illustrate how differently people interacted in public:

https://www.youtube.com/@vampirerobot/videos

1970s:



1980s:



1990s:

2012 was the year there was a timeline shift, which the TPTB used to their advantage to take us on the dark trajectory we're on now.

Semi unrelated: I miss the sound of Dial Up

Everyone keeps saying 2012, but if you were of adult age in the early 2000's you'd know that major turning point was 2001 (9/11) I was a freshman in HS at the time, there was a distinct shift in the country as a whole from that day forward.

true words. things got different after 2003ish when people really started going online and then after 2010 when most people began living online through their computers and smartphones.

Now the real world is dead and we are digital creatures. Any good the internet brought has been long ago eclipsed by the bad. It only took 20 years for us to be consumed. Now imagine what another 20 years will bring...death, destruction, total collapse.

I feel grateful to have experienced the pre 2000 world.

When the government stopped upholding the constitution and people stopped caring if they did, chit hit the fan

It might've started with the stop and frisk policies in New York. RICO act is unconstitutional law as well, which went into effect in the 1980s (even though it only hurt criminals, it was unconstitutional )

Then 9/11 and the Patriot act was a huge catalyst of extended governmental reach and oversight, including warrantless surveillance. Boston bombing had a bunch of warrantless searches of private citizens when they were looking for one of the bombers

But hey, let's give up all of our essential liberties for a little bit of temporary safety. What could possibly go wrong when the government doesn't give the power back to citizens and instead keeps taking more?

2001 definitely changed things. I grew up in NY area and everything was different for a few years. But tbh by 2004-5 things were basically back to normal. Whereas 2011/12 change with smartphone and social media everywhere was a massive change worldwide. Notice in those videos above, people walking around, engaging with each other and not stressed out. Nowadays everyone is distracted and not in the moment, with big dropoff in social skills/social cues.

Yeah there was a significant change in 2012 and then a major one around late 2014 to 2016. Lots of glitches in the matrix since 2014 as well. To me its like some kind of purgatory or dreamstate that I cant change. Just glitches everywhere. Cern also fired up in 2012 and since they found the Higgs boson nothing has felt the same. Idk if thinks changed then or around 2015 or so but something has warped reality. There is evil rising across the world and it all just kind of came out of nowhere. Man i don't remember any negativity from before 2012. It seems like that year things got dark depressing and negative overall. I remember in 2010-2011 especially everyone was so happy to socialize and talk about anything and we just went with the flow. Everyone connected with each other. Then smart phones and social media came along and things changed. It's almost like for most people their personalities got uploaded online and they are just a shell of themselves physically if that makes any sense. Not everyone is like this but this is the general vibe i get. I'm weird as **** now unless I'm in a place where socializing is forced. Like at my job I can talk normal to my coworkers but I act desperate and weird around anyone else. Even the way I talk is weird now so i cant just be trying to talk to random people about dumb ****, I'm weird now and very desperate. When I started feeling desperate is when I started to just put my head down and ignore everyone. Idk what else to do