I have repeatedly stood shoulder to shoulder with my closest friends over the past few weeks.  At a certain point in life, around the mid-20’s, time with friends becomes less and less of a weekly meet-up and more of a monthly event, such is the rarity of spare-time that life affords you as you grow older.

But very recently one of my closest friends decided that he had found “the right one” and decided to marry her.  Not only was this a great time of happiness for the blushing bride and himself but it afforded me and my close friends some regular time together thanks to a well planned stag-do and of course the wedding itself.

But I noticed something very prevalent during our time together that stuck out like a sore thumb.  Looking past the natural differences that human’s have such as hair colour, body shape and the general mental thought process there was something else.  Tattoo’s.  Almost all of my closest friends are adorned with Tattoo’s, from a few tribal images to a full on sleeve that reflects like a dark beacon above the natural skin.

Having a tattoo used to be the mark of a rebel or a rockstar looking to make a point, wanting to stand out from society.  But in today’s modern world where the average workplace is becoming more and more tolerant of tribal artwork being flashed about like yesterday’s spreadsheets – are tattoo’s just becoming a little bit boring?

I like to think that my nearest and dearest buddies aren’t too rebellious, don’t partake in any hardcore drugs or even ride a motorcycle around while wearing sunglasses.  They’re just normal, honest, hard working citizens who pay their bills and go back home to their wives and girlfriends just hoping for less hassle the following work day.

The acceptance of tattoo’s in society is in my opinion a good thing.  It’s a sign of the world moving with the ages and getting to grips with human’s attempts at being different and trying to differentiate their own bodies from that of others.  But is this harming the appeal of tattoo’s?  The notion of ink to skin was an act that was only accomplished in gritty, dark rooms down street alley’s.  Fast forward to today and not only are Tattoo Parlours bastions of health and safety but mainstream enough to have a reality TV show featuring one.  Not that that’s a bad thing of course.

But the very natural tribal and animalistic nature of tattoo’s is being blurred by today’s always online, always connected society.  Not a day goes by when most modern, always online people don’t share at least something.  Today’s popularity of tattoo’s could possibly be their peak, followed by a decline like most other trends seem to go through.

Despite not having a tattoo myself I do find some tattoo’s very appealing and a good measure of the world becoming more acceptable of new and popular practices.  You can even read more about the appeal of Tattoo’s here on this very site.  But with the tattoo trend reaching a peak amongst my personal group of friends and possibly society in general over the next few years, I wonder if just holding off and being the only natural skinned human, would be more likely to make me stand out from the crowd?