There are numerous universally-accepted and known facts about the world. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west; water evaporates, condenses, and precipitates; and fads fade. Fads, it seems, have been more than just fading–they have been outright disappearing, enjoying fifteen minutes in their moment of fame before the next fad pushes them into irrelevancy in a vicious cycle that has come to dominate popular culture.

The media today has culminated into online platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, public forums where anyone and everyone has a voice. With so many individuals online posting so many different thoughts and opinions, topics of discussion come and go easily and quickly. Twitter, in particular, has a feature which displays top trending topics which are constantly updating in order to accurately reflect what people are talking about the most. However, according to the company’s website, trending topics only last for about eleven minutes on average.

Every eleven minutes, people find new things to be fascinated by, argued over, and discussed about, leaving behind the last eleven minutes’ topic. Fame is truly a brief eleven minutes before being forgotten about nearly completely. 

Other viral trends, from fashion styles and Tweets to movie quotes and quick videos, may have a longer lifespan, but will ultimately fade into irrelevancy within a week or two. Sierra Lane (12) recalls the popular “Rise ‘n’ Shine” meme, in which reality star Kylie Jenner inadvertently humorously sang to her daughter, and reflects, “I remember watching the video a few times online, having a friend or two show it to me, ‘like’ Kylie’s Tweets about it, even click on the sweatshirts Kylie made–she came out with them so fast, probably to capitalize on her moment–just to see how she took advantage of everything. And that was it. Everyone was onto something else, something new and funnier, and I and the rest of the world, even Kylie, forgot about it.”

The brevity of popular trends can be concerning but ultimately reflects the rapid nature of society and culture today. The world is constantly changing. New technology is released, politicians rise and fall, tragedies and miracles alike strike. People are constantly on the move, working towards their education and making the world a hopefully brighter place with every class, meeting, and interview they rush to. 

Fads fade, but not only because people have short attention spans. They fade because people never stop searching for bigger, better, and brighter.