I’ve gathered evidence that the spirit of the 2010s is making a comeback through Tumblr, skinny jeans, and “Phan.” One thing is the one I don’t want to deal with.
Do you hear that? The sound? It’s getting louder. Is it the wind? No. Listen closer. Don’t you hear the ghost-clacking of the keyboards? It’s the sound of thousands of teenage girls in Doc Martins and My Chemical Romance band tees rapidly typing dissertations about their Supernatural ships on Tumblr.
Yes, you read that correctly. The ghost of the decade of 2010 is returning. The proof, then? Welcome to my evidence room as a genuinely skinny jeans-wearing teen of the era (who undoubtedly had a crush on Dean Winchester). So take a seat, grab a notepad, and let it all sink in. Because there is something on the horizon that many of us aren’t going to be able to handle.
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First thing’s first, let’s cut straight to the whistle-blower: Dan and Phil’s renaissance. Even if you don’t know quite who they are, you’ll likely have seen news that the YouTuber duo recently confirmed their secret 16-year relationship. To say it caused a seismic reaction is an understatement. People called old acquaintances they hadn’t spoken to in years. Fans filmed themselves crying.
Now pictures of them at the BFI London Film Festival 2025 are going viral on TikTok, and meanwhile, the pair have launched their own podcast. (Ironically named Hard Launch, a quintessential facet of 2010s humour; we’ll get there).
What’s the significance, then, you ask? Well, if you were to use the Internet in any capacity between 2012 and 2017, you’ll undoubtedly know about them. They had a strong connection to the popular “OG” British YouTubers known as the Brit Crew, who dominated the platform. Think Caspar Lee and Zoella.
Dan Howell gained notoriety for his awkward skits, which featured him identifying as an introvert and relaying his struggles through basic social circumstances. This was crucial to capturing the largely adolescent fandom of his and a major contributor to the era’s defining social media platform: Tumblr, which would be a pillar of the era’s defining social media platform.
Take note of that because Tumblr will eventually be the only site. Immediately. The emo rock band’s next stop is Exhibit B: My Chemical Romance are making a UK tour in 2026. They rose to fame between 2004 and 2010 before disbanding in 2013. They were celebrated by a whole generation of panda-eyed scene kids and received culturally defining hits like “Welcome To The Black Parade” and “Teenagers.”
Scene kids, defined by brow-swallowing fringes, slathered-on black eyeliner, and knee-high converse in clashing neon colors, were a significant component of early 2010s fashion and culture. MCR, Fallout Boy, and Panic were my choices! At The Disco . However, some scene-kid elements are now appearing on popular TikTok fashion inspiration posts, though they are admittedly more muted. The style’s fundamental characteristics are checked over-shirts and shorts over tights in one video, which has received over 1.7 million views.
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The quiet return of Tumblr is perhaps the most interesting of all the lurking trends that shaped and amplified all of these. The first microblogging site was created in 2007 and quickly rose to prominence as a social media platform in 2010. Although it didn’t invent these terms, it was the epicenter of cultural discourse, which included pairing two characters or even a real person.
On the website, as did popular TV shows like Supernatural, which aired from 2005 to 2020, artists like Lana Del Rey and Melanie Martinez helped foster tight-knit communities. Additionally, it was the location of “Phan” (a ship between Dan and Phil). There were numerous inside jokes in niche communities, and awkward individualistic humor was hailed. The platform, however, was fueled by fandoms and had a lot more.
It became the go-to safe haven for marginalized people on the Internet, whether it be because of their race, gender, or other characteristics of who they are. The SJW (or the Social Justice Warriors) were born, a term that is now considered somewhat unpopular. Tumblr posts were distinctive because of their all-caps messaging and explicit language, which “tone policing” could not stop, and where users could speak without fear of reproach on more male-dominated platforms like Reddit.
Sadly, the site is widely considered to have declined in 2016 after its parent company Yahoo slashed its value by more than half, citing a failure to meet its sales goals, according to Mashable. Eventually, it just faded into oblivion.
But the data shows that the iconic platform may be resurfacing. As reported by Business Insider, Gen Z now makes up half of Tumblr’s monthly active users and 60% of new sign ups. Perhaps we’re about to see the site return to its former glory.
I’m definitely looking forward to the resurgence of 2010 despite it’s admittedly making me feel a little old. Perhaps that is what the world needs. Yes, it was embarrassing and self-conscious. People typed as though they had just begun to swear. In the English language, genders were being created more quickly than prefixes.
But it was also the golden age of the counterculture. SJWs ruled, pronouns (all gajillion of them) were enforced with a fury that could only be mustered by first-year arts students with ten contact hours per week. Fashion was messy – but experimental. As the culture seems to be shifting towards conservatism, it might be time for the spirit of the 2010s (and yes, I guess the clothes too) to make a comeback.
The only issue with all of this is the skinny jeans. I’m not sure I’m ready to go over the awkward jump-then-wriggle that occurs when you yank the form-fitting material over your legs.
