Honestly, looking back at 2024 feels like trying to remember a fever dream that just wouldn't end. One minute you're watching a baby hippo named Moo Deng bite her handler's knee, and the next, you're witnessing a seismic shift in global power that we’ll be talking about for decades. It was a year of "firsts" and "finallys."
You've probably forgotten half of it because the news cycle moved at a breakneck speed. But the big events that happened in 2024 weren't just headlines; they were structural changes to how we live, vote, and even how we see ourselves. From a convicted felon winning the U.S. Presidency to AI finally moving past "chatbots" into tools that actually do our work, the year was heavy.
The Political Earthquake Nobody Saw Coming (Then Everyone Did)
The U.S. election was the elephant in the room all year. Or maybe the phoenix? Donald Trump’s victory on November 5, 2024, wasn't just a win; it was a total historical anomaly. He became the first person since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to win non-consecutive terms. Oh, and the first convicted felon to ever take the Oval Office.
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Remember the summer? It felt like the Democratic party was in a slow-motion freefall after that June debate. Joe Biden’s exit was unprecedented. We haven't seen a sitting president drop out that late in the game since... well, basically never in the modern primary era. Kamala Harris stepped in, "Brat Summer" became a political strategy, and for a few months, it looked like the momentum had flipped.
But the "red ripple" turned into a wall. Trump didn't just win the Electoral College with 312 votes; he's projected to have secured the popular vote too. That’s something Republicans haven’t done since 2004. People were fed up with inflation and the border, and they voted like it. It was a "vibes" election where the vibes were decidedly "change everything."
A World on the Edge
Outside the U.S., the world felt... fragile. You had more than 60 countries going to the polls. Mexico elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, which is a massive deal that sort of got buried in the North American news cycle.
But the tragedy was the "intractable" nature of the conflicts. The Russia-Ukraine war hit its third year with no end in sight. Meanwhile, the Middle East basically caught fire. The Israel-Hamas war spilled into Lebanon, and by October, we were seeing headlines about ballistic missiles flying between Iran and Israel. It felt like every week we were checking to see if "World War III" was trending for real this time.
When AI Stopped Being a Toy
If 2023 was the year of "What is ChatGPT?", then 2024 was the year AI started using our computers for us.
In May, OpenAI dropped GPT-4o. It was spooky. The way it could see, hear, and talk in real-time—without that awkward two-second delay—felt like we were living in Her. But the real shift happened later in the year with "agentic AI."
- Anthropic's "Computer Use": They literally taught the AI to move a mouse and click buttons like a human.
- Small Models: Meta and Nvidia started releasing "tiny" AI that could run on your phone without needing a massive server farm.
- Deepfake Fraud: We saw the dark side, too. A firm in Hong Kong lost $25 million because an employee was tricked by a deepfake video call of his own CEO.
The tech didn't just get smarter; it got smaller and more dangerous. We're now in an era where you can't trust your eyes on a Zoom call. That's a huge shift in the human experience.
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The Paris Olympics and the "Viral" Athlete
The Paris 2024 Olympics were a breath of fresh air, mostly because they weren't held in a "bubble" like Tokyo. They used the city itself. Beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower? Genius.
Simone Biles came back and reminded everyone why she’s the GOAT, snagging three more golds. But the internet, being the internet, obsessed over the weird stuff. We had the "pommel horse guy" (Stephen Nedoroscik) who looked like he was napping until his country needed him. We had the Turkish shooter, Yusuf Dikeç, who won silver looking like he just wandered in from a hardware store with no specialized gear.
And then... there was Raygun. The Australian breakdancer who became a global meme overnight. It was a perfect encapsulation of 2024 culture: a mix of genuine elite excellence and absolute, confusing internet chaos.
Why 2024 Still Matters for Your Wallet
You’re probably still feeling the hangover from 2024 in your bank account. Even though the "big events" were political and tech-heavy, the underlying story was the "cost of living crisis."
Central banks finally started cutting interest rates toward the end of the year, but the damage was done. Rent, groceries, and insurance premiums stayed high. This economic "grind" is what actually drove the big political shifts. If you're wondering why the world feels so different now in 2026, it's because the frustration of 2024 finally boiled over.
What You Should Do Now
The dust from 2024 is still settling, but you don't have to just be a spectator.
- Audit Your Digital Security: With deepfake fraud becoming a "service," set up "safe words" with your family for phone calls involving money. It sounds paranoid, but it’s the 2026 reality.
- Watch the Policy Shifts: With the new U.S. administration in place, keep a close eye on trade tariffs and energy policy. These will hit your local gas station and grocery store prices by mid-year.
- Learn to Prompt "Agents": Don't just use AI to write emails. Start looking at tools that automate workflows. The "agentic" shift is where the high-paying jobs are moving.
- Verify Your News: We saw in 2024 that social media is faster than news, but often wrong. Use a "triangulation" method—check a left-leaning, right-leaning, and international source (like Reuters or BBC) before sharing a "breaking" story.