Throughout the years, many trends have faded in and out of popularity. In elementary school there was Silly Bandz and Duct Tape wallets. In middle school there was water bottle flipping and checkered Vans, and in high school there were scrunchies, FILA monster stompers, claw clips, Among Us, a Y2K resurgence, and so much more. Not all trends were good and, if we’re being completely honest, most were extremely hard on the eyes. Without further ado, here is an incomplete ranking of the most memorable and iconic trends of our childhood.

There were a few years where every primary school recess was dominated by kids wearing, trading, and showing off their eccentric Silly Bandz. Silly Bandz were rubber bands invented in 2002 in Japan that didn’t reach the United States until 2005, yet reached peak popularity among kids in 2010 and 2011 due to the brand’s collaboration with celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber. They came in shapes such as animals, food, musical instruments, and so much more. This trend was most definitely HOT, at least until the bands were banned in Syre Elementary in 2014 due to distracting kids in class. 

Another craze that took the 2000s and 2010s by storm was Uggs. These fuzzy boots were on the wish list of every aspiring fashionista and were the inescapable mark of every future fashionista. Although these fuzzy boots and slippers could be seen on the feet of all, both young and old, this trend was NOT HOT. The poor ranking of this phenomenon is due to, one, the soaring price of the accessories and, two, the passionate, vigorous amount of sweat the shoes would cause your feet to accumulate. Unless you were wearing the boots in sub-zero temperatures and making sure not to participate in any form of cardio aerobic exercise – unlikely at the Olympic event that was elementary school recess – your feet would be submerged in pools of your own delightful foot juice.

The most historic, unforgettable trend of middle school has to be bottle flipping. This trend originated in 2016 when a video of Mike Senatore, a student at Ardrey Kell High School, went viral for showcasing him landing a bottle flip at his school’s talent show. The phenomenon quickly spread across the nation and all of a sudden we were bombarded with 12-year-old boys flipping water bottles in the cafeteria, in between classes, and onto the lofty rafters of pre-remodel Einstein Middle School. This trend was also HOT due to its comedic value and ability to capture the attention of squads of middle schoolers for upwards of 30 minutes at a time. This trend is also HOT because we can all entertain ourselves by imagining the looks on the poor construction workers’ faces when they found dozens upon dozens of water bottles in their time-consuming demolition of the school.

Inarguably the biggest trend of our high school experience was Among Us. Even though it reached its peak while students were still sequestered away in our homes, suffering (maybe irreparably) from complete social seclusion, Among Us still managed to spread like a wildfire – a virus some might say – through the lives of all Even though I never personally played the game, due to the amount of information that was forced down my metaphorical (or literal, take your pick) throat, I could probably seamlessly describe in great detail the inner workings of the game. It was impossible to escape the Among Us phenomenon and even today it is, somehow, still the topic of countless conversations I regret listening to during slow-moving class periods. This trend was NOT HOT. The memes and jokes about this game were funny for about two months, until everyone realized there were an infinite number of better things to be spending our time doing than roleplaying as little astronauts. The true victims of this trend is the sophomore class who will suffer through the next two years under the class name “Crewmates”; we can truly only pray for the class of 2027 and hope that they will receive a much kinder treatment than those who will have full control over their class name. 

All in all, every trend has its HOT elements and its NOT elements, and there’s no way that any of us could accurately evaluate every trend in a fair and all-encompassing way. However, I at least will always be voicing my incompetently informed opinions and I encourage everyone to do the same.