Think back to a time, maybe not too long ago, when you were still a teenager. You had just gotten back home from school, and you may well have been listening to a playlist including bands and artists like Lana Del Rey, The Neighbourhood and the Artic Monkeys.The first thing that you do when you get in is change into your ripped jeans and jumper, and if you are lucky then you may have had a choker to go with the outfit. Soon after, you go online. Maybe on Tumblr, however if Tumblr came just before your time, then you would have probably been looking at very similar content on Instagram or something. You are happy that you are going to be spending the next few hours scrolling through pictures of landscapes that you wish you could visit, albums that you wish that you owned and groups of friends with cool outfits and cool hairstyles. Nonetheless, you might have also accidentally stumbled across some rather unhealthy posts as well. But looking back, you may well have this weird sense of nostalgia for this era, considering that back then, the biggest thing that you had to worry about was probably your art project. Unless of course, you had to go through a lot of crap as a teenager.
Any of us who remember this period well are going to be ‘adults’ by now, and goodness me, haven’t times changed! At the moment, I can’t even comment on whether these have changed for the better or the worse. I guess as an adult, things are not QUITE as helpless. I mean at least we get some choice over what we want to do about our toxic families eg. However, I am sure that a lot of us would also like to go back to a time where we barely had to worry about money, uni grades, not the mention the thought of soon being at an age where we are either completely independent or are at least contemplating the thought of being ‘adult adults’. And whilst we should be proud of how far we have come since being younger teenagers, our younger selves were kidding us when they thought that as soon as we turn 18, any kind of ‘baggage’ from our childhood would immediately go away. But hey! At least there is no one to tell us off for dying our hair purple or for staying up beyond midnight (alright, there may be consequences relating to uni and work, but at least then we get something in return). Yeah, it is definitely nostalgic. But it still seems a bit weird. So what was Tumblr, why might its ‘aesthetic’ be coming back into fashion, and how helpful or harmful was it?
What Was Tumblr?
Tumblr was originally set up as a blogging platform, where users could post and repost ‘small messages in the form of text, photos, quotes, links, audio and video’. Between around 2011 and 2018 it was highly influential within internet and pop culture. For instance, aesthetics were very popular on Tumblr, with many aesthetic styles being populated by users of Tumblr. These different styles or aesthetics included pastel goth, grunge and hipster, just to name a few. The 1990s was the era that mostly influenced the aesthetic of Tumblr, with a lot of fashion on Tumblr resembling 90s fashion. For instance, the 90s can be credited for the reemergence of pieces including leather, ripped denim and don’t forget the chokers! Nowadays, whilst Tumblr is still popular with ‘certain fandoms’, ‘pop cultures’ and ‘alternative subcultures’, it is fair to say that TikTok has replaced Tumblr. Nonetheless, if you have TikTok and you happen to be reading this WordPress post, then I’m sure that you would agree that WordPress and TikTok could not be much more different from one another. Therefore, what was so distinctive about Tumblr which enabled it to differ so much from blogging platforms, as well as, I would say, other popular social media sites?
How it differed
For a start, Tumblr was a site that featured a lot of ‘alternative’ fashion. This may have been enabled by how Tumblr had quite a visual element to it. And whilst I was a bit young to be an avid Tumblr user, I do admit that I did create a site once (and no, I’m not telling you what it was called), and one of things that I got a lot of pleasure out of was attempting to create aesthetically appealing pictures, and make my website look pretty (shut up, I was 13-14). I also really enjoyed looking at other aesthetically appealing pictures on there. However, I think that the visual element of Tumblr was what enabled the aesthetic element to thrive. Sticking to fashion for now, often photos on Tumblr would feature (usually) girls sporting popular alternative fashion styles, including let’s say skinny ripped jeans, doc martins and of course, dyed hair. Often, these photos would often be taken in an ‘edgy’ location, such as a park in the middle of the night, or in the middle of an alleyway full of graffiti. In addition, ‘Tumblr girls’ would often be pictured engaging in activities such as smoking or drinking, as an addition to their more ‘edgy’ lifestyle. An example of a ‘Tumblr girl’ would be Effy Stoneman, a main character, if not the main character, of popular TV series, Skins. Effy would be shown featuring items like black leather jackets, black boots and short skirts/dresses paired with fishnets (and of course she looked amazing, ugh). However, she would also very often engage in risky behaviors, including smoking, heavy drinking and drugs. And as time went on, it became increasingly prominent that she struggled with severe mental health issues. And as adults, we can easily see how she was engaging in these behaviors as a way of coping with her severe mental illnesses, nonetheless many teenagers probably somewhat romanticised her lifestyle.
Now, speaking of fictional characters, Tumblr was also a place where fandoms would often gather. The concept of a fandom has been defined and described in many ways, however an older definition would be ‘the culture of taking mass produced media and selecting certain individual bodies of it, such as people, movies and television shows and reworking them into outcomes of the provoke an extreme pleasure response’. Whilst a more recent definition would be ‘the process of taking mass media and transforming it into an outcome which greatly excites the creator.’ Tumblr differed in this respect compared to say, Facebook, because unlike on Facebook where users would be part of a group, anyone on Tumblr could be involved with a fandom. Therefore, it is not too surprising that some users who did not join Tumblr with the purpose of being a part of a fandom ended up engaging with them. Another distinctive characteristic of Tumblr fandoms was how social justice was prominent within these communities, where the concept was often used to discuss topics including ‘abortion, suicide, feminism and sexism.’ Finally, research shows that often users on Tumblr felt that they were able to be truer to themselves on there compared to in real life.
How it helped people
Any adult who used to use Tumblr a lot or was even just familiar with the type of content that was popular on Tumblr might understandably be quick to begin discussing the many ways in which Tumblr was harmful. And in all fairness, as will be demonstrated soon, there were many ways in which Tumblr was harmful, in fact, this post has even somewhat touched upon it. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant surprise when I found that Tumblr might have been particularly positive, at least for some users and communities. For instance, it created a safe space for marginalised communities to share art, experiences and connect. For instance, Tumblr had a positive impact on trans communities because it enabled them to connect with one another, when often trans people are incredibly marginalised within public spaces.
How it harmed people
I imagine that many past users of Tumblr have their own experiences concerning ways in which it may have been damaging, however I am going to focus on one thing that I believe that was particularly notorious with Tumblr, being ‘thinspo’. Now, most of us are probably aware that a lot of people face pressure to lose weight because of social media use. And I believe that this is the case just as much now as it was back then. Whether you are looking on TikTok at different aesthetics today, you will probably notice many women (or girls) on there who are probably not at a healthy weight. Or if you go onto Instagram, I imagine that a good proportion of women who are wearing gym wear, advocating a ‘healthy lifestyle’ are going to have a particular look. Probably being very toned, having an hourglass figure but overall, they are probably also rather thin. However, to take this further, research shows that there is unfortunately a positive correlation between social media use and eating disorder symptoms, which is probably not surprising. Yet, one form of social media which I would say that particularly stuck out in this realm would be Tumblr, which contained a lot of pro-eating disorder content. Pro eating disorder content ‘advocates both anorexic and bulimic behaviors as a valid means of losing weight’. Before Tumblr was popular, much of pro eating disorder content would be featured on a website that would have been built for this, which were typically ‘run by a female administrator who provides information to consumers on how to successfully engage in highly restrictive eating’, whilst they commonly contain ‘thinspiration’ which I would define as content that idolises and glorifies very skinny bodies. However, once Tumblr was popular, Tumblr was a safe haven for this kind of content, and it has been suggested that the anonymous nature of Tumblr was something that enabled this. This may have also enabled a lot of talk about hardships that Tumblr users were experiencing. Often, these posts would be humorous, however often these would depict very serious topics including ‘loneliness, self-loathing, self-harm and suicide.’
Why it might be coming back
There are probably two main reasons why Tumblr is something that is becoming popular again. To start with, ‘The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, and 5 Seconds of Summer’ have recently ‘announced new projects and/or tours.’ However, a deeper reason would be that young people are becoming disillusioned with hustle culture, and perhaps are nostalgic for a time that was simpler. This makes sense, considering that Tumblr was something that would have had a considerable impact on the experiences of young people when growing up.
What I feel we should have learned
2014 Tumblr is of course now quite well known for its glamorisation of unhealthy behaviors; however it also shaped the nature of social media today. I would agree with this, because having TikTok, I am bombarded with different aesthetics, and I used to come across a lot of posts that would at least express negative feelings, or even self-destructive behaviors. And, in all fairness, a lot of these videos did go one step further and would somewhat glorify this, whether this was the user’s intention or not. Saying this, I have not noticed many posts that explicitly promote eating disorders, for instance. But maybe that is simply because I have not been seeking them out. However, I have also noticed that on Instagram, there are a lot of healthier posts as well, which still concern the same topic. This way, I think that it is important that anyone who posts content, whether they are posting mainly for themselves, or whether they have a significant following, should keep in mind the dangerous impacts of posting such content. And instead, if they want to express their feelings, they should post stuff that is simply expressive of that, rather than of content that actually glorifies this kind of behavior.
Personally Political 