MANILA, Philippines – 2017 was a lot of things. It was a year of chaos and grief, a year of heart-stirring progress, and of course, in these pop culture-saturated times, a year of trends, trends, trends. 

Some trends, however, we can only hope remain that way: of the moment, fleeting, and altogether trivial. They may have had their day in the sun, but we hope their time is up and that 2018 leaves them well behind. 

Here are some 2017 trends we wish would go the way of the dodo:

“Sorry not sorry” apologies from sexual harassers

2017 was the year women publicly banded together and called out sexual harassers for what they were: scum. And while many of these perpetrators got their due by being sacked from their jobs and getting yanked from projects, one unfortunate result of the #MeToo phenomenon was the rise of non-apology apologies from men.

From comedian Louis CK to local band Jensen and the Flips, we were subject to admissions not of guilt for doing the dirty deed, but for getting caught in the first place. Hopefully 2018 opens more people up to the truth that consent is not an option, but a requirement. 

The ketogenic diet

Fad diets – or, let’s face it, diets – don’t work. This year’s weight loss darling, the low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet, isn’t any different. You may be able to shed pounds in the short-term because of the sudden shift from your previous eating habits to a more limited menu, but it’s simply not sustainable. 

Getting to a healthy weight has always been about proper, moderate eating and regular exercise, not super-specific food restrictions or drastic physical exertion. If you put yourself in an extreme situation, can you honestly stay in that extreme situation for the rest of your life and actually enjoy this life? Remember the Atkins diet? Yeah, we don’t either. 

The word “shookt”

There’s nothing wrong with slang words, but this one has admittedly gotten old. It’s probably because the word means to be shocked or surprised by something, and the fact is, if you continue to use a word with this meaning over and over, the shock or surprise factor gets significantly watered down. 

Sure, it makes sense to be “shookt” if you just dodged a big road accident, or found out your best friend was getting married to his Tinder date of two weeks. But getting “shookt” over salted egg potato chips or a new celebrity lipstick line just makes you sound flat-out ridiculous (and kind of sad). 

Bad hair dye jobs

It’s great that unorthodox hair colors have become more accessible this 2017, with many online sellers stocking up on a rainbow of semi-permanent hair gloop. But unfortunately, rocking wildly colored hair is a commitment few people seem to really understand. Maintenance and after-care is crucial for bold tresses, but it looks like quite a few are too lazy or not learned enough to do it right. 

Go to any geek convention or indie band hole-in-the-wall and you’re bound to see an increasing number of people with hair that clearly had a crazy cool hue just a week or two ago, but have begun to fade and dry drastically. There are only too many times we’ve spotted a girl whose bright blue-green “mermaid” hair has turned into yellow-gray “lumot” hair this year. 

Advertising places as “IG-worthy”

Remember when we went to places without having to tell the whole world about it? Yeah, we don’t either. 

This phenomenon of marketing restaurants and other hot spots as a perfect backdrop for your Instagram posts has become pretty depressing. There’s nothing wrong with taking photos of your daily adventures for posterity, but you have to admit that going somewhere on purpose specifically so you can take a selfie in front of a now-clichè pastel-hued, unicorn-strewn, and/or over-calligraphied wall just makes you an impressionable sheep. 

Fidget spinners 

Anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders are no joke, and it’s good that more and more people are open about it and trying to find small ways to ease or mediate their symptoms. Nonetheless, fidget spinners have morphed from a calming little gewgaw to just another fad toy with countless Chinese knock-offs.

These days, when you see a kid with a fidget spinner, you don’t think, “Oh, here’s a kid who’s trying to refocus his concentration in order to live a more mindful life. Good on him!” Instead, you think, “This kid probably wheedled his parents into getting that thing in the mall because everyone in his class has it.”

“Baby Shark”

Why, god, why. 

Now, we’re sure there are other trends out there that you wish would die out by the time 2018 rolls around. We feel you, and rest assured that we’ll all be walking hand in hand together into another long year of crazy fads and phenomena. Let’s all wish each other luck! – Rappler.com