When the original CW show Gossip Girl first aired in 2007, its namesake, a secret blogger spreading gossip about its readers, was ahead of their time. In fact, the original Gossip Girl predicted the future in more ways than one.
Back in 2007, most people were still using MySpace. They weren’t on “The” Facebook, and Twitter was only about a year old. We were still getting used to sending text messages rather than just picking up the phone, and many of these texts were sent on phones that didn’t have QWERTY keyboards. For our younger readers, that means you had to push a number multiple times to get the letter you wanted (1 was A, B, and C, etc.) – and yes, it was exhausting! Some cell phones were starting to have cameras, but again, they were very rudimentary; we used digital cameras for taking pictures instead of phones. It was a world away from today, when even the youngest kids grow up knowing how to use their parents’ smartphones.
Gossip Girl also introduced the novel concept that a blogger might have a group of followers, all of whom received text messages whenever she posted hot gossip on the blog. The characters used flip phones, a wonderful invention that didn’t last beyond the ‘00s. These text messages often came with incriminating, though very blurry, photos – just one way this show was way ahead of its time with its technology.
Here are the five impressive ways I think Gossip Girl accurately predicted the future:
GG Future Prediction #1: The Instant Notification
Everyone on the UES (or, at least, all the characters in the show) “subscribed” to Gossip Girl and instantly received a text message whenever something was posted. While Gossip Girl never revealed her face (or any other identifying factors), her posts were basically today’s version of a live recording – because everyone instantly paid attention! One impressive example was the way her text notifications interrupted the entire St. Jude’s/Constance Billard graduation in an episode at the end of Season 2.
GG Future Prediction #2: Fashion Trends
For me, Blair Waldorf’s wardrobe contained the first dresses I had ever seen with pockets. It was an earth-shattering trend – and it continued. I instantly wanted dresses with pockets, and so did everyone else! Today, you can get yoga pants with pockets, dresses with pockets, even bathing suits with pockets. Pockets can be a deciding factor on whether to even buy a dress. And why do we need them? For our phones, of course – so we can stay connected to the latest influencers and trends via Social Media. Or, you know, for emergencies.
When Anna Sui came out with a Gossip Girl line for Target, it felt like the whole world started wearing headbands. Blair Waldorf’s signature headpiece created a trend that continues to this day. While Blair’s trends were definitely the most prevalent, each character had their own style, emulated by fans and fashionistas.
GG Future Prediction #3: Social Media and Peer Pressure
As social media was in its infancy when Gossip Girl first arrived on the scene, the notion that social media might be a potent form of peer pressure was a new concept. The Constance Billard/St. Jude’s students started sending the Gossip Girl grainy photos of their classmates in compromising positions, including Dan with a certain teacher, which really makes me doubt that he could ever have been Gossip Girl.
However, the show also demonstrated that peer pressure could have a positive impact. In Season Two, Blair has to baby-sit Emma, a 14-year-old girl whose parents have connections to Yale, to increase her chances of being accepted. While Emma’s parents think their daughter still likes Harry Potter and horses, Blair finds out that her charge actually likes partying – and wants to use this opportunity to sneak away from her sitter and lose her virginity to one-up a friend. Since Blair wants Emma’s parents to get her into Yale, she does everything in power to keep the girl from carrying out her plan. She devises her own foolproof idea: sending the Gossip Girl a fake tip that Emma’s friend had already lost her virginity, leaving her no reason to cash-in her V-card in a hurry.
Teens today have it even harder than the OG Gossip Girl characters. Literally any embarrassing thing that happens in high school can be captured and posted, instantly, on the Internet – and today’s pictures and videos are much, much clearer than the ones that appear on the GG blog in 2007.
GG Future Prediction #4: Tracking People
The Gossip Girl blog started tracking its followers’ cellphones long before tracking – or locating – became a mainstream trend. The characters on the show used and abused this tracking system, which led to many plot twists and betrayals.
Today we can track our children, our spouses, and even our pets without even thinking about it. Nonetheless, this was extremely cutting edge technology in the early 2010s – just another way Gossip Girl predicted the future.
GG Future Prediction #5: Influencers
The Gossip Girl was the original viral influencer. The blog shared all the parties, daily routines, and hottest places to visit for socialites living on the Upper East Side; deciding what was in and what was out. From “it couples” to breakups and shocking truth bombs, literally everything appeared on the Gossip Girl. Everyone followed her, and they all lived their lives with her influence in mind. As a side note, could you imagine Gossip Girl or any of the main characters doing a makeup tutorial?
Whether we love it or loathe it, today’s world is one of instant notifications, social media driven peer pressure, the latest fashion trends, the latest Internet trends, and the ability to find literally anyone, anywhere, anytime – just like on the show. I personally am very glad that I went to high school and college before social media! This show was all the more entertaining for me when I was in my mid-20s, because I was past all that.
We’ll just have to see what the future holds in terms of technology, social media, and peer pressure. Hopefully the positive influences will outweigh the negatives – the characters introduced to us in Gossip Girl certainly showed us that it was possible.
XOXO
