2012 provided us with 366 days of news, work, and entertainment. Blogs ruled 2012. This year we spent our free time looking at blogs (such as whatshouldwecallme) on Tumblr, Memes on 9gag, and fundraising projects on Indiegogo. In fact, we spent so much time online looking at .GIFS (a file format for moving image files) that the Oxford Dictionary selected .GIF as the 2012 Word of the Year.
If we ever did manage to get off Tumblr, we probably ended up watching the KONY 2012 viral video or pinning our favorite outfits, accessories, and DYI manicure tips on Pinterest to share with our followers.
To access the Internet, we probably used one of the increasingly ubiquitous tablet devices or our new iPhones or Samsung Galaxies. While the cell phone world experienced huge changes after the unveiling of Siri and the iPhone 5, its biggest changes came in the form of Apps. Although we started 2012 enthralled with Draw Something, a glorified digital version of Pictionary, we ended it as Instagram-obsessed users who constantly took mobile pictures and added filters to make our photos seem artistic.
The Internet continued to impact our lives by changing the way we listened to music. Pandora continued to grow in popularity as an online Radio provider and programs, such as Spotify, increased in popularity and helped expose us to new songs such as Gotye’s Somebody I used to Know, Lana Del Rey’s Video Games, One Direction’s That What Makes You Beautiful, Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Ellie Goulding’s Light, and PSY’s Gangnam Style. We can also thank Youtube for once introducing us to Rebecca Black 2.0: Nicole Westbrook and her song, It’s Thanksgiving.
No review of 2012 music would be complete, however, with a mention of Carly Rae Jepsen’s smash hit, Call Me Maybe. Carly Rae Jepsen capitulated to fame after an unofficial Call Me Maybe music video featuring Ashley Tisdale, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez went viral. Ever since, countless groups, such as the Harvard Baseball Team and the US Olympic Swim Team, have made videos for Call Me Maybe, which have helped make Call Me Maybe the song of 2012.
Speaking of sports, it’s safe to say that sports dominated 2012. Football fans got to ring in the new year by watching the Giants defeat the Patriots during Super Bowl XLVI and basketball fans were introduced to Jeremy Lin and the Linsanity that surrounded his season with the New York Knicks.
During the summer, everyone started watching the Olympics and helped make the London 2012 games the most watched event in television history. There was a lot of hype surrounding these games, especially around runner Lolo Jones and swimmer Ryan Lochte; and it was during these games that Michael Phelps won his 22nd medal and became the world’s most decorated Olympian. These games also introduced the world to the likes of Nathan Adrian and the US gymnastics “Fab Five,” who rose to fame thanks in part to Gabby Douglas’ gold-medal performance and McKayla Maroney’s “not impressed” face.
When we weren’t watching the Olympics, we were probably watching our favorite Showtime or HBO shows, such as “Breaking Bad”, “Girls”, and “Game of Thrones”. We also tuned in to watch our guilty pleasure, TLC’s “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”
This year, we also got to see a live stream of the landing of the Mars Rover, “Discovery” and were subsequently introduced to the NASA Mohawk Guy. We were also able to see history in the making during the Red Bull Stratos jump from the edge of space.
Finally, when we wanted to take a break from the TV and Internet, we were able to read JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy. We could also pick up the tabloids to read about Miley Cyrus’ engagement to Liam Hemsworth, Taylor Swift’s love life, Justin Timberlake’s marriage to Jessica Biel, or the pregnancies of Kate Middleton, Snooki, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, and Hilary Duff.
As 2012 comes to an end, it’s important to focus on the important questions: Is the show, “Jersey Shore”, over for good? Who will ring in the New Year with Ryan Seacrest now that Dick Clark has passed away? And, most importantly, will Ark Music Factory every stop producing songs? Until then, it’s important to live by Drake’s modern rendition of carpe diem, YOLO, because if 2012 has taught us anything, it’s that you only live once and you should use these next 365 days in 2013 to make history.