Welcome to one of the biggest internet fads of 2019, the #10YearChallenge.

Take a moment to appreciate how far Justin Bieber has come – from tween to trash wizard.

They grow up so fast.

The #10YearChallenge is the online equivalent of your high school reunion. Everyone shows up to brag about how hot they used to be, how hot they are now, how married, how rich, how successful, and how educated.

Take your pick, Romy and Michelle, the internet awaits.

If you’re wondering how and why this started, it’s not a new thing. Here’s Vox:

None of this is particularly new — iterations of the 10-Year Challenge have been floating for years, and often resurface in January. Even the concepts of a transformation or a social media glow-up, which have existed for a long time, imply that the user is comparing photos of themselves from the past and present. And people were already constantly sharing pictures from years ago in the form of Throwback Thursdays or Flashback Fridays.

For celebrities, the ##10YearChalleng is a way to humblebrag and remind folks that they’re still relevant. It’s also a chance to show off the endless possibilities available to you if you have tons of cash and an incredible plastic surgeon.

Here are 10 of the best so far, starting with:

10.Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen’s hair changed. That’s about it.

9.Janet Jackson

Janet’s cheekbones and hair are both defying gravity in 2019.

8.Chance the Rapper

Chance the Rapper refusing to take this seriously.

7. Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah has come a long way. He actually looks younger (and better dressed).

6. Jennifer Lopez

She’s still Jenny from the block, just less pregnant and Photoshopped within an inch of her life.

5. Nicki Minaj

Yeah, nothing has changed.

4. Caitlyn Jenner

Caitlyn living her best life.

3. Jesse Tyler

Loving the celebrities who didn’t take the “challenge” seriously.

2. Amy Schumer

Yes, that’s Charlize Theron in Monster. Thank you, Amy Schumer.

1. Life Savings

Yeah, we better get saving.

Technically that jar is not a celebrity, but it is totally relatable. Also, it contains the same amount of synthetic materials as the average celebrity.

The above photo is also one of those that’s safe from Facebook’s facial recognition technology, according to Tech writer Kate O’Neill:

The most widespread criticism of the 10-Year Challenge, however, suggests that it’s actually a ploy devised by Facebook to help train facial recognition algorithms on age progression.

O’Neill argues that Facebook possibly encouraged the meme because having two sets of photos a fixed period of time apart could be used to train its software to understand how people age. This, then, could be useful to improve facial recognition software, which at a medium-bad level is used to target advertisements to specific people and t its worst is used by law enforcement to track average citizens they deem suspicious, like protesters, for instance.

The flaw in this theory is that Facebook already owns the photos. It wouldn’t be that hard to grab a pic from 2009 and compare it to a more recent photo, even without the “challenge”.

The reality is that this is a fad that will be reborn next year with a fresh hashtag.

So until then…

She definitely won.

[source:vox]