# 10 Year Challenge
> 10 Year Challenge is a January 2019 viral meme where users posted side-by-side photos from 2009 and 2019, generating 3.4 million Instagram posts and sparking facial recognition privacy debates.
The 10 Year Challenge was a viral social media trend from January 2019 where users posted side-by-side photos of themselves from 2009 and 2019 to show how they'd changed over a decade[3]. It spread across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram within days, racking up over 3.4 million Instagram posts and sparking a separate debate about whether Facebook was secretly mining the data for facial recognition training[13]. The challenge became the first major meme of 2019 and drew participation from millions of ordinary users alongside celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Jessica Biel[5].
## Origin
The earliest known post matching the 10 Year Challenge format came from Twitter user @otterbutt on January 8, 2019, who tweeted two selfies from 2009 and 2019 using the hashtag #TenYearSelfie. The post picked up more than 10 retweets and 330 likes over the following month[4].
Around the same time, a version called the "How Hard Did Aging Hit You Challenge" started circulating on Facebook[12]. One of the earliest prominent entries came from Damon Lane, chief meteorologist at KOCO News in Oklahoma City, who posted his comparison on January 11, 2019. His post pulled in over 350 reactions and 65 comments within four days[1]. That same day, Twitter user @gabbymartin4000 tweeted about seeing the "how did age hit you" post on Facebook and joked about needing eye cream[4].
The trend wasn't entirely new. It built on earlier formats like the "Puberty Challenge" that went viral in 2017 and the "Grow Up Challenge" from 2018, both of which used similar before-and-after photo structures[1]. In Nigeria, users recognized the format as a rebranded version of the local "Surulere" meme trend[1].
- **Platform:** Twitter (earliest post), Facebook (viral spread)
- **Creator:** @otterbutt (earliest known Twitter post), Damon Lane (early Facebook version)
- **Date:** 2019
## Overview
The 10 Year Challenge is a photo comparison format where people post two pictures of themselves side by side: one from roughly 2009 and another from 2019. The format is dead simple. Pick an old photo, pick a current photo, slap them next to each other, and add the hashtag. Some versions asked users to compare their first Facebook profile picture with their current one, while others just used any photos taken approximately a decade apart[12].
The appeal was obvious. For millennials who'd gone through their awkward years on early Facebook, the comparison told a story of transformation. For celebrities, it was a chance to flex how well they'd aged. And for the internet's comedy writers, it was an open invitation to turn the format into jokes about everything from climate change to gas prices[9].
## How It Spread
Over the weekend of January 12-13, the challenge exploded. Celebrities jumped in fast. Reese Witherspoon posted her comparison with the caption "Time sure does fly when you are having fun!!" and pulled over a million likes on Instagram[7]. Jessica Biel shared hers with a note about missing her "tan lines, hoops and blonde days"[7]. Other participants included Cardi B, Kate Hudson, Padma Lakshmi, Gabrielle Union, and Cynthia Nixon, who quipped she went "from Cosmos to Cuomo" in ten years[5].
Twitter published a Moments page to archive the trend's spread[4]. The New York Daily News, The Daily Dot, Romper, Fox, and dozens of other outlets covered the challenge, calling it "the first viral trend of 2019"[12]. By mid-January, the hashtag #10YearChallenge had crossed 3.4 million posts on Instagram alone[3].
The meme quickly forked into several directions. Environmental activists used the format to spotlight climate change, posting before-and-after shots of coral reefs, glaciers, and deforested landscapes. A post by Facebook user Julien Geoffrion showing environmental destruction gained over 13,000 reactions, while Twitter user @juanacalvete's climate thread pulled 276,000 retweets and 271,000 likes[4]. Comedy accounts posted absurdist versions comparing trash cans, gas prices, and anti-vaxxer jokes[10]. Sarah Silverman posted the same photo twice, while Jameela Jamil used her entry to push back against diet culture[5]. Tommy Dorfman used the challenge to open up about teenage addiction[5].
On January 29, eBaum's World published a roundup of 10 Year Challenge entries applied to websites, showing how sites like YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, and Craigslist had changed their designs over the decade[14].
## How to Use
The basic format is straightforward:
1. Find a photo of yourself from approximately 2009 (or 10 years before the current year)
2. Place it next to a recent photo
3. Post both side by side with #10YearChallenge or a related hashtag
## Cultural Impact
The 10 Year Challenge was one of the first major viral events to trigger an immediate, mainstream conversation about data privacy and facial recognition. Kate O'Neill's Wired piece moved the discussion beyond tech circles and into general news coverage, with outlets like Metro, TIME, and the New York Daily News all covering the privacy angle alongside the fun[8][2][12].
The challenge also showed how quickly a lighthearted photo trend could be repurposed for activism. Climate change comparisons using the format reached hundreds of thousands of shares, turning a selfie game into environmental messaging[4]. TIME used the format to compare economic indicators, troop deployments, and Facebook's user growth between 2008 and 2018[2].
Brands and organizations adopted the format too. The NYPD's 19th Precinct posted officers as children dressed as cops next to photos of them in uniform. The Colorado Rockies showed centerfielder Charlie Blackmon's dramatic beard growth. The Indian Prairie Library posted its construction site next to the finished building[15].
The trend landed in the context of the post-Cambridge Analytica era, when public trust in social media platforms was already shaky. Facebook's quick denial that they had anything to do with the challenge only underlined how reflexive the company had become about privacy optics[6].
## Fun Facts
- The hashtag #10YearChallenge hit 3.4 million Instagram posts within roughly two weeks of the trend starting[3].
- In Nigeria, users recognized the format as a rebranded version of the local "Surulere" trend, which had its own history of before-and-after photo sharing[1].
- Kate O'Neill's initial tweet about facial recognition concerns was meant to be "semi-sarcastic" but quickly took on a life of its own[13].
- The most common rebuttal to the privacy theory was that Facebook already had everyone's old photos, which O'Neill countered by explaining those photos were too noisy for clean machine learning datasets[13].
- The NYPD's 19th Precinct became one of the more unexpected participants, posting childhood cop costume photos next to current duty photos[12].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is the 10 Year Challenge?
The 10 Year Challenge is a social media trend where users post two photos of themselves side by side, one from 2009 and one from 2019, to show how they've changed over a decade. It spread across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in January 2019[3].
### Where did the 10 Year Challenge come from?
The earliest known post came from Twitter user @otterbutt on January 8, 2019, using the hashtag #TenYearSelfie. A Facebook version called "How Hard Did Aging Hit You Challenge" spread around the same time, with meteorologist Damon Lane posting one of the earliest popular entries on January 11[4].
### What does the 10 Year Challenge mean?
At its core, it's a simple visual comparison showing personal change over time. For most participants it was about showing a "glow-up" or just having fun with nostalgia, though it was also used for environmental activism and social commentary[3].
### How do you use the 10 Year Challenge?
Find an old photo from approximately 10 years ago, pair it with a current one, and post them side by side with the hashtag #10YearChallenge. Captions typically note the years being compared[12].
### Is the 10 Year Challenge still popular?
The challenge peaked in January 2019 and faded from trending topics within a few weeks. It's now a recognized reference point in internet culture rather than an active trend, and the format occasionally resurfaces for decade-milestone events[2].
### Was the 10 Year Challenge created by Facebook?
Facebook explicitly denied creating or promoting the challenge, calling it "a user-generated meme that went viral on its own"[13]. No evidence has confirmed that any platform orchestrated the trend.
### What was the facial recognition controversy about?
Author Kate O'Neill speculated in a Wired op-ed that the challenge created an unusually clean dataset for training facial recognition algorithms on age progression, since users were voluntarily labeling photos with exact time gaps[13].
### Who were the most notable celebrities to participate?
Reese Witherspoon's entry earned over a million Instagram likes. Other participants included Jessica Biel, Cardi B, Gabrielle Union, Kate Hudson, Padma Lakshmi, and Cynthia Nixon[5][7].
### How was the 10 Year Challenge used for climate activism?
Users posted before-and-after images of environmental degradation, including coral reef bleaching and glacier retreat. Twitter user @juanacalvete's climate thread gained 276,000 retweets[4].
### What was the Cambridge Analytica connection?
The challenge arrived less than a year after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed mass Facebook data harvesting, which made users more suspicious about the privacy implications of participating in viral trends on the platform[6].
## References
1. [Meet 10 Year Challenge Meme Starter Damon Lane - NaijaGists.com - Nigerian News, Gist And Music Blog]()
2. [What the 10YearChallenge 2008vs2019 Meme Looks Like for U.S. | TIME]()
3. [What Is The 10 Year Challenge? 🤔🤷 - Serotina Media Inc.]()
4. [10 Year Challenge - Know Your Meme]()
5. [10-Year Challenge: Cardi B, Reese Witherspoon, and More Stars Show How They’ve Changed (or Haven’t) Since 2009]()
6. [Wired: Facebook Could Secretly be Data Mining the '10 Year Challenge' Meme]()
7. [What Is The #10YearChallenge Meme? (It's Total Crap)]()
8. [The 10 year challenge: is there a sinister reason behind viral photo trend? | Metro News]()
9. [30 Hilarious Memes For Those Who Can't Get Enough Of The ‘10 Year Challenge’]()
10. [35 Funniest Memes That Mock The ‘10 Year Challenge’ | Bored Panda]()
11. [The Real 10 Year Challenge. Another viral trend is now flooding our… | by Tash Pericic | Medium]()
12. [The ‘How Hard Did Aging Hit You?’ challenge is the first viral trend of 2019 – New York Daily News]()
13. [Facebook's '10 Year Challenge' Is Just a Harmless Meme—Right? | WIRED]()
14. [23 Popular Websites That Have Changed Drastically Over Time | eBaum's World]()
15. [What Is The How Hard Did Aging Hit You Challenge? The First Meme Of 2019 Is A Good One]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/10-year-challenge
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