College fashion in 2020-2021 was dictated by the "Zoom Shirt"—the idea of looking professional from the waist up while wearing pajamas below. This led to several distinct trending aesthetics:
The academic year spanning 2020 and 2021 will go down in history as one of the most unusual, challenging, and transformative periods for higher education. As the COVID-19 pandemic forced universities worldwide to shift to remote learning, the traditional college experience vanished overnight. Dorm rooms were replaced by childhood bedrooms, lecture halls became Zoom grids, and campus quad socializing moved entirely online.
Here is your guide to the entertainment and trends that ruled the dorm rooms (and childhood bedrooms) of 2020–2021.
With traditional campus social spaces locked down, digital platforms became the primary substitute for dorm lounges and quad hangouts.
While TikTok was already gaining traction before 2020, the 2020–2021 school year solidified it as the central hub for college entertainment. With traditional campus life on pause, students used the platform to vent, joke, and find community.
The competitive shooters filled the void of intramural sports. Call of Duty: Warzone’s "Gulag" mechanic (giving you a second chance) became a metaphor for the semester. If you weren't playing, you were watching streamers like Valkyrae or CouRageJD on Twitch.
While technically released in 2018, Among Us became the definitive college game of Fall 2020. It was cheap, ran on a laptop, and required social deduction. Friends would hop on a Zoom call, screen share, and scream "Red is sus!" for hours. It simulated the paranoia and betrayal of real-life social drama.
The global phenomenon that made green tracksuits the year's top costume.
Educators began leveraging trending pop culture in higher education curricula to increase student engagement , though it carried a risk of "alienation" for those not following the trends ( PMC ).
By 2020–2021, TikTok had surpassed Instagram as the #1 entertainment source for undergrads.
: Streaming platforms introduced "watch party" extensions that allowed students to sync movies and video chat simultaneously. Digital Content Overload
This specific subculture exploded on Tumblr and TikTok during 2020–2021.
