Scenario: Life in the 2020s

The 2020s are going to be a prosperous time with a high economy and very low government. The 2020s will have a revival of many 1990s and 2000s trends along with many 1950s trends while some of it will be a rehash of the 1980s. A slight nostalgia of the 2000s, particularly the early 2000s might occur in this decade just like the 2010s had a slight nostalgia of the early to mid 1990s. By the 2020s (when Generation Z enters adulthood), despite the resurgence of conservatism (the conservatism will more likely be more economic with deregulation and tax breaks), non-conservative and non-traditional family values will be the norm for families in the 2020s and beyond. The technology of the 2020s will be improvement upon 2010s technology, with Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google becoming the four most worldwide recognized companies (it will eventually become nicknamed "The Big Four" of tech, with other companies such as Sony and Samsung continuing to rise. Smartphones and social media will not have as much hype as the previous decade while other emerging technologies of the 2010s such as Virtual Reality Interfaces, drones, 3D printing, self driving cars, Google Home type things etc. will be more the rage. By 2027, things such as the iPhone and the iPad will be just as obsolete and cheesy as the iMac and iPod in the 2010s. DVDs and even internet music downloads will become more obsolete as streaming takes over. Many retail stores will stop selling physical CDs and DVDs all together, or have a very limited supply. This is already starting to happen with retailers such as Best Buy as of 2018. The same effect will take place with video games. This will change the face of many retailers especially in the home entertainment industry. Physical books and magazines will still be popular despite the use of eReaders, smartphones, and tablets. The internet will start becoming a part of more everyday objects instead of being confined to a computer, tablet, or smartphone. The Smart TV is the start of this trend.

Music of the 2020s

 * Music from Disney will rise.
 * A new wave of rappers against the use of autotune will emerge, turning back to a more traditional way of rapping. The beats may return to a more traditional rap beat that was common in the 1990s and early 2000s instead of the trap influences of the 2010s. Beats similar to lo-fi hip-hop will emerge. Rappers will begin to rap more about socially conscious and intellectual subjects, instead of the glitz and glam that was common in the 2000s and 2010s.
 * A major backlash with the loud drum and bass sounds that was prominent in popular music, especially hip-hop since the mid 2000s will take place. Softer drum sounds and less focus on bass, rhythm and more focus on harmony and melodic structure will take place in the 2020s, especially in the later end of the decade. EDM style music will be common but will have softer drum sounds and more focus on genres such as house, trip-hop, chill out, 2 step garage,  ambient, and trance instead of trap and dubstep influences. Ambient style music will rise to the mainstream. The happier sounding dance music of the 1990s and late 2000s-early 2010s ( circa 2009-2012) will make a slight comeback in the later end of the decade.
 * Songs with completely synthetic voices will emerge more and more in the charts and mainstream music. Animated artists in the likes of Gorillaz and Crazy Frog will become more common, along with more masked personas in the likes of Marshmallo will emerge.
 * Boy bands will be common all over the world, starting with overseas countries (South Korea, Japan, etc.) with the likes of BTS but then starting to become mainstream once again in the UK and the USA.
 * A new form of music called Doo hop becomes common with a combination of hip-hop and doo wop, which features beatboxing, doo wooping, and breakdancing.
 * Comeback of classic '50s style rock and roll.
 * Grunge Music will make a comeback, and post-grunge music will comeback around the later part of the 2020s.
 * Britpop will make a comeback.
 * A brand new style of music like "Rock and Roll" will emerge in the '20s
 * Electronic pop music will continue its rise and evolve.
 * R&B music will make a strong comeback, starting with 2010s trap music influences and then turning into a more mature, traditional sound.
 * Vocal pop and a capella will be more common.
 * Country music will become more mainstream especially with the Republican take over of the 2020s.
 * Jazz influences will come back in music again. A resurgence of New Jack Swing music will take place in the R&B and hip-hop community, along with some element of both contemporary (smooth jazz etc.) and traditional jazz. Lo-fi hip hop music will continue to grow in popularity, creating a returning interest in jazz music.
 * Instead of complete focus on synthesizers and computers, more acoustic and orchestral instruments will become more common in pop music, especially with the rise of ambient music and chillout music.
 * Many influences from Eastern countries such as Japan, South Korea, and India will start having an influence in Western pop music.  More K-pop groups like BTS and Blackpink will become more mainstream in Western countries as well J-pop music/anime influences starting to enter the mainstream.  Bollywood style artists will start to emerge as well.

​Life and Trends in the 2020s

 * Men and women will wear Whatever they want. With hints of fashion from the 1900s.
 * Combinations of tradition & unique will become trends.
 * A new form of counterculture that merges the greaser, nerd, and the skater.
 * ​ Beanies will make a comeback
 * A merge between the "Rachel' hairdo and the beehive will be a 2020s hairdo
 * Many toys from the 50s and the 90s will come back such as Mr Potato Head, Furby, hula hoop, and wiffle balls.
 * A comeback to the SUV and the soccer mom/helicopter parent
 * Drive in movies will be popular especially with the rise of Web 3.0 type technology which allows you to access the internet on other appliances besides computers.
 * Small town America will see a new renewal as the younger generation carries on the redneck lifestyle. This will also be an effect with the increase of mining and manufacturing jobs in places such as the United States instead of outsourcing these jobs to overseas countries. The local farming movement, along with urban farming will continue well into the 2020s. Millennials start moving to the suburbs once again as they begin to have higher paying jobs and their own families, along with a desire for a more safer, calmer, more "family-friendly" community. The younger Generation Z will prefer to live in smaller communities and rural areas if they spent their formative years in that environment instead of the Millennial trend of escaping to the urban areas. Online jobs and telecommuting, along with more e-commerce, e-medicine, etc. will make it easier to live in a more rural community instead of being forced to live in more urban areas to obtain corporate jobs.
 * Greaser grunge - which will result in the popularity of the rat rod. Greaser grunge merges the greaser cultures of the 1950s with the grunge of the 1990s.
 * The malt shop will make a comeback along with the internet cafe with a malt shop atmosphere
 * Very snazzy cars will be released in the 2020s, especially with the New Greaser Gang
 * Hollywood will become more conservative as celebrities such as Dwayne Johnson and Kanye West headline Trump 2020 and Pence 2024 rallies
 * It will be the fad to sell things on the street to cars in the 2020s.
 * Rat rods, vintage motorcycles, dirt bikes and snowmobiles will be the rage with the new greaser counterculture
 * The at home online business will take off in the 2020s. You can work out of your home along with be a house wife.
 * Laser bowling and indoor swimming pool parties, especially in the wintertime, will be the rage in the 2020s.
 * Moral panic, such as freak out over a couple of drawing or some nipples, will be treated as a sign of nervous breakdown or insanity & would require a psychologist.
 * In addition, the 1950s teen fashion will return too in a modern sense.
 * Many fashions and trends influenced by anime will enter the mainstream.
 * The later part of the 2020s will abandon all previous fashions and music sounds and focus more on innovation rather than recycling things of the past. This is an result from increased optimism of the future instead of the fearful/pessimistic attitudes that occurred especially after 9/11 and The Great Recession. Society will become less divided and more united/comformist as optimism increases. By the late 2020s, most young adults will have little to no memory of 9/11 and even the Great Recession.
 * A backlash against social media and Instagram/tumblr culture will take place in the 2020s. YouTube and online streaming platforms such as Netflix will remain popular. Social media will still be around but newer social media apps will make older social media apps such as Snapchat and Instagram seem almost as dated and cheesy as MySpace in the 2000s. A social media app similar to MySpace might make a revival by the later end of the decade.