A new decade is upon us … What will the “twenty-twenties” hold for all of us and for the planet? Great things, we hope! Rather than try to gaze into a crystal ball, though, we’re going reflect on the ten years that have just passed. Back on 1 January 2010, workers in Dubai were putting the finishing touches on the Burj Khalifa, in time for the building’s grand opening on 4 January. A decade down the track, “the Burj” is still the tallest man-made structure on the planet (828 metres). But a lot of other stuff has changed! Enjoy a look back with our list of facts, trivia, highlights and lowlights of the years 2010 to 2019.
Notable social media launches
- Instagram (2010)
- Pinterest (2010)
- Snapchat (2011)
- Tinder (2012)
- TikTok (2017)
Web browsers we used
- Start of 2010: Internet Explorer 55%, Firefox 31%, Chrome 6%, Safari 4%
- End of 2019: Chrome 71%, Firefox 9%, Safari 5%, Internet Explorer 5%
Notable natural/non-natural disasters and incidents
- 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
- 2010 Eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
- 2011 Christchurch earthquake
- 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami / Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
- 2012 Hurricane Sandy
- 2014 Disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370
- 2015 Nepal earthquakes
- 2017 Grenfell Tower fire
- 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue
- 2019 Australian bushfires
Songs we listened to
- “Gangnam Style”, Psy
- “Somebody That I Used to Know”, Gotye featuring Kimbra
- “Uptown Funk”, Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
- “Hello”, Adele
- “Shape of You”, Ed Sheeran
10 new dictionary words
- Noob
- Schmoozefest
- Twittersphere
- YOLO
- Gaydar
- Emoji
- Twerk
- Glamping
- Hangry
- Binge-watch
Gadgets we (or our kids) used
- Fidget spinners
- Selfie sticks
- Smartwatches
- Electric scooters
- Drones
iPhone updates
- Latest Apple iPhone version available at the start of 2010: iPhone 3GS
- Latest Apple iPhone version available at the end of 2019: iPhone 11 Pro Max
Biggest developments in health
- AIDS became a treatable condition
- Africa was struck by two Ebola epidemics
- 3D-printed body parts became a reality
- Healthcare apps and online communities became commonplace
- Self-powered pacemakers were trialled in animals
5 world leaders remaining in power the entire decade
- Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- Lee Hsien Long, Prime Minister of Singapore
- Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
- Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria
Video games we (or our kids) played
- Pokemon Go
- Candy Crush (okay, that was mostly us, not our kids…)
- Minecraft
- Breath of the Wild
- Fortnite
10 pieces of sporting trivia
- Usain Bolt becomes the world’s most successful sprinter of all time in terms of world records, world championship titles and Olympic gold medals.
- Leicester City goes from the 5,000-to-1 underdog to win a miraculous English Premier League title in the 2015-16 season.
- John Isner defeats Nicolas Mahut in a marathon tennis match at Wimbledon 2010 Wimbledon; it takes three days to finish and ends 70-68 in the last set.
- London hosts the Olympic Games for the third time in 2012, becoming the first city to do so.
- Lance Armstrong is stripped of all his Tour de France titles in 2012 after being found to have used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
- In 2019, Tiger Woods completes an amazing comeback to win his first major title since 2008.
- “Deflategate” hits the 2014-15 NFL Playoffs, with quarterback Tom Brady accused of deliberately letting air out footballs.
- Michael Phelps wins his 23rd Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Games in Rio.
- Spain becomes the first international football team to win three consecutive major tournaments, including the 2010 World Cup.
- In October 2019, following threats from governing body Fifa, Iran overturns a 40-year ban on female spectators watching football and other sports in its stadiums.
10 fashion trends that came and went (or stayed)
- Wedge sneakers
- Hipster fashion
- Naked dresses
- Athleisure
- Mom jeans
- Festival wear / Coachella style
- White sneakers
- High-waisted pants
- Slow fashion
- VSCO girls
Films we watched
- Marvel films (21 released in the decade, starting with Iron Man 2 in May 2010, and ending in Spider-Man: Far From Home in July 2019)
- Star Wars films (5 released in the decade, including 3 “main” films, and 2 “anthology” films)
- Frozen
- Harry Potter films (the final 2 films in the series were released in 2010 and 2011)
- Furious 7
Films we might have missed that were critically acclaimed
- The Social Network
- Boyhood
- Interstellar
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Moonlight
Prominent political events
- Ongoing: Arab Spring / Syrian civil war
- 2011: Occupy Wall Street movement
- 2013: Death of Nelson Mandela
- 2015: Adoption of the Paris Agreement on global warming
- 2016: Brexit referendum (51.9% vote to leave)
- 2016: Election of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States
- 2019: Hong Kong protests
10 bizarre world records set
- 2010: Most naked riders on a theme park ride (102, set in Somerset, England)
- 2012: Longest time to spin a basketball on a toothbrush while holding the toothbrush in the mouth (22.41 seconds)
- 2012: Most number of bees on a human body (331,000, by a Chinese beekeeper)
- 2013: Most number of facial masks applied simultaneously by a group of people for 10 minutes (1,213, in Taipei)
- 2015: Most balloons blown up by an individual in one hour (910)
- 2016: Most eggs cracked with a whip in 30 seconds (17, by a 17-year-old girl in Illinois)
- 2016: Most apples crushed with the bicep in one minute (14, by former Australian rugby star Drew Mitchell)
- 2018: Longest jump by a cat (2.13 metres, by Waffles the Warrior Cat)
- 2018: Most toothpicks placed in a human beard (3,500)
- 2019: Most people lying on top of each other in a multi-layered bed-of-nails “sandwich” (9)
Growth of Netflix
- Number of countries Netflix was available in at the start of 2010: 1
- Number of countries Netflix is available in at the end of 2019: 190
TV shows we watched
- Mad Men
- Breaking Bad
- House of Cards
- Game of Thrones
- The Crown
10 food buzzwords
- Gluten-free
- Acai bowl
- Craft beer
- Veganism
- Cronut
- Avocado toast
- Chipotle
- Clean meat
- Almond milk
- Kombucha
See more in our Living in Hong Kong section
26 ways to enjoy Hong Kong’s waters
Where to live in Hong Kong