Since 2020, people have been waiting for the world to calm down from unforeseen and even ironic news headlines. Murder hornets, World War III threats and COVID-19 made 2020 and the years following a series of crazy, unexpected events. Yearly recap trends on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram highlight how “crazy” these years have been, and 2023 is no exception. These platforms help news travel to the world quickly and efficiently.
Chinese Spy balloons – January
Military action and defensive strategies made headlines in the U.S. throughout the year. Determined Chinese spy balloons that used U.S. internet were shot down off the Atlantic coast and brought a huge range of reactions. Serious concerns for the country’s safety were shot down by memes and sarcastic jokes on social media. Allowing China to attain internet access in the U.S. could lead to serious foreign arguments.
TikTok investigation – March
TikTok is debatably one of the most used and famous social media platforms from the last couple of years. The U.S. government held an investigation over ByteDance who owns TikTok, in an attempt to ban the app from all U.S. devices. Congress thought that the platform was being used by the Chinese government to spy and attain data from U.S. citizens. Clips of older congressmen debating how Wi-Fi works flooded the media as the younger generations laughed at the investigation.
OceanGate submarine – March
The next topic that had a huge social media presence was the OceanGate incident, where a submarine was built and sent to explore the Titanic ruins and eventually malfunctioned, before imploding. The submarine carried wealthy tourists, leaving the company in a horrible position of conspiracies and bad press. British billionaire Hamish Harding and diver Paul Henry Nargeolet were a couple of the prominent names aboard. The five person submersible vessel was mainly built from carbon fiber and titanium. The company OceanGate argued that excessive safety precautions hindered innovation. This ironic quote found its way on every headline shortly after the submarine lost contact with the surface.
Canadian wildfire smoke – June
Taking it back to this summer, dense smoke engulfed major U.S. and Canadian cities like New York City and Ontario. High winds caused the smoke to travel around the states and ruin the air quality, requiring many people to wear masks for the first time since COVID-19. Outside events were very difficult to participate in including outdoor sports or school sports.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift – September
Recently, social media has been breaking over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. After Swift’s “Eras tour”, her social media presence is very prominent and theories about her new relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs’ player Kelce covered the media. After the relationship became official and Swift started showing up to Chief’s games, people had mixed reactions. Football fans were furious that the game coverage would constantly switch to a camera on Swift instead of covering the game, while Swift’s fans were happy to see her there.
2023 may have been a very eventful year, but 2024 is off to a hot start. New news such as convicts leaping over the judges desk, or even mainstream celebrities being exposed on Epstein’s list continues to appear online. As more hilarious or very disturbing events arise, everyone can expect social media to cover it in hundreds of sarcastic or serious ways.
Contact Ian Humphreys at [email protected]
