I've been thinking the same lately as well. Music, fashion, style – it all got put on pause, I would say in September 2001. Cars look the same. Clothes look the same. The music – meh... autotune is not an innovation, like what The Beatles, the guys at Motown, Phil Specter, etc. were doing in their day.
A few years back in NYC, I was having a conversation with a guy who'd been a bartender for like 18 years – he started sometime in the 90s. He said that when he first started, people would come in, have at least 5 drinks, get smashed or go home with somebody by the end of the night. "Now," he said (circa 2018), "people come to the bar with their friends, order one drink and sit there looking at their cell phones for an hour and a half or two, then get up and go home separately."
I met a guy named Jim when I was on holiday in Tortola – he was from some small town north of London. He told me that he was shocked the last time he visited his family. He always takes the train to his town, and he told me "It was always very alive, with everyone talking to one another – sharing stories and maybe some beers. Didn't matter they were strangers – we all had a common bond, coming from the same place! It was like a party – every time! But last time, when I went home – wouldn't you know‽ Everyone's on their phones: no one even looks at one another! I tried striking up a conversation with a guy sitting next to me, and all he did was look up for a second to grunt – he didn't even say a word! And he went right back to his phone..."
