What Were You Doing a Decade Ago?

Granted, you'd have to be incredibly observant to notice this, but it's VICE UK's tenth birthday this week and we've been posting a lot of stuff from throughout the past 10 years. All the talk of 10 got me thinking about what I was doing a decade ago and where I'll be in 10 years time (downing Panda Pops as the coolest kid in primary school and nursing a quadruple whiskey at 9AM daily, respectively).

It also made me wonder what the world as a whole was doing 10 years ago and where they see themselves in 10 years, so I went and asked some Londoners a question: What were you doing a decade ago and what will you be doing in a decade's time?

Steve, 35: Hmm, that's a good question. There were so many things we never thought could happen ten years ago, and now we've got iPhones, you know? I was working online ten years ago and I think the internet was a lot more open then. Everything is just a regurgitation now—no one's making anything new.

I dunno about that. What will you be doing in ten years?
I’ll probably consume less, in terms of material items. I think we’ll all start to realize we have too much. And technology will be way ahead by then. We probably won’t leave our houses for anything.

Adrian, 23: I was in high school ten years ago. I got bullied for being geeky, but I had a lot of friends and we always got dressed up and put a load of make-up on during the weekends. I used to be very androgynous and a lot of people couldn’t tell my gender because of my hairstyle and clothes. I miss that life.

Don't get too down. How’s the next ten years looking?
I'm hoping I can stay in London for the next ten years and get a job. I want to get some experience in fashion.

Do you think society will change much?
Yeah, I think society is always changing—especially in what people are thinking. London will definitely change because it's always branching out with new ideas. It'll be totally different in ten years, but in a good way.

That's nice to know.

Ross, 27: I know exactly where I was this time ten years ago: I was in France on my first snowboard season. I eventually got out of school—it took me years to get out of school—so the first thing I wanted to do was go away and start traveling. I stopped a couple of years ago. My life has been a bit transient, but in a nice way.

How about the next ten years?
I was a little bit unsure where I was going and unhappy with not knowing a couple of years ago, but at the moment I’m not too fussed with not knowing.

What about society?
The world always changes for the better. Every generation casts their eye back to the previous generation and thinks it was better then, but if you look, things have improved. There’s less poverty and famine, but fighting is unfortunately a part of human nature—it’s the last animalistic thing left in us and we don’t seem to be able to get rid of it.

True. So if there was a WWIII, who would win?
I think it would pretty much be the end of the world if that happened. I don't think anyone would win, we'd all be losers. Humanity isn't going to live forever. We'll die out some way or another, either by destroying each other or the universe destroying us.

Deep.

Gillian, undisclosed age: Ten years ago I was teaching four days a week in Coalbridge. I don’t like the government nowadays, put it that way. There’s a lot more unfortunate people—a very divergent class system. It’s the haves and the have-nots. There’s a big dividing wedge between us.

Is there going to be loads more social peril for the next ten years?
Yes, and I find it quite frightening for young people. I have children and grandchildren and it's going to get a lot harder for them.

:(

Emma, 27: I think I was learning to drive and getting ready to go to university. It was a great time—much better than now with all this responsibility and work. Now I have a mortgage and responsibility, but I still absolutely love life.

Good news. What do you think is going to happen in the next ten years?
I think social media will affect our lives even more than it already does. People are getting arrested for stuff they've said on Twitter, and I don't think anyone really has a social life anymore. That goes from celebrities to your day-to-day people who upload everything about their lives.