What’s something considered normal in the U.K today that would’ve shocked people a decade ago?
Posted by Tough-Adagio1019@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 107 comments
I was thinking about how quickly things change and how stuff that once felt wild or futuristic just becomes part of everyday life. From technology to work culture to social habits what’s something we all accept as normal now that would’ve seriously shocked people back in 2015?
McKendrigo@reddit
For me, the sheer prevalence of vaping.
10 years ago it seemed like something that people mostly did to wean themselves off of cigarettes, and people mostly were respectful enough to not vape in public places where smoking was not allowed.
Now? Seems like every other person on the street vapes, and many are vaping for the sake of vaping, not to get off of cigarettes. And they fucking vape anywhere, anytime, with no regards for the people around them.
Randystarbuxx@reddit
The vapists are a scourge on the pavement, in the stands and more frequently inside. Rank
Affectionate_You_858@reddit
Exactly this. Its gone from a quit smoking tool to something everyone seems to have taken up. Seems worse as well, vapers never have it out of the mouths, would be like a smoker having about 200 a day
TheNotSpecialOne@reddit
Contactless almost everywhere. Paying with my watch
Jayflux1@reddit
Contactless payment is almost 20 years old. Apple Pay (in the UK) is also over a decade old. Why would that be unusual to someone?
topheavyhookjaws@reddit
That was already normal 10 years ago. 10 years ago is 2016, not 2010
TheNotSpecialOne@reddit
Not really. First Apple watch is 2014/15 same for Samsung. Paying by watch was not normal back then
ctesibius@reddit
2017 contactless was common enough that I bought petrol in Albania with my watch.
clickytabs@reddit
I think both of those were not unusual in 2016. 2006 yeah.
TheNotSpecialOne@reddit
Possibly. But the watch still throws people off when I do it now.
OkGlass6902@reddit
For 99.9% of restraunts even KFC to offer a decent vegan option.
10 years ago the vegan dish didnt exist and the vegetarian dish was often considered and afterthought in most places.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit
This is a good point. I often like to use Maccies in this example because I knew a vegetarian and all they could get pre vegan was lettuce in a bun.
Now they’ve got actual vegan patties (McPlant) and more and more items are becoming vegan friendly.
attemptedhigh5@reddit
Can confirm as someone about to have their ten year veganniversary. It’s
psyper76@reddit
We survived a nasty pandemic and very blasé about it even though it nearly killed the NHS and brought the whole medical world together to create several vaccines which we managed to give to basically every man woman and child in double quick time. We all nearly died and yet brushed it off easily.
rjm101@reddit
The cost of a Freddo and the fact that the cadburys recipe has changed.
djwillis1121@reddit
If the recipe did change (and I'm not convinced that it has), it would have happened more than a decade ago as Kraft bought Cadbury's 16 years ago
topheavyhookjaws@reddit
It's such a reddit conspiracy honestly
confuzzledfather@reddit
Or they have boiled the frog with a bunch of gradual small changes.
BoomalakkaWee@reddit
They boiled Freddo?! 😲
djwillis1121@reddit
Would these not be noticeable in the ingredients?
TapeDeckSlick@reddit
£6+ pints
AmINothing@reddit
Can thank the southerners moving up north for northern pints to be hitting that mark.
Affectionate_You_858@reddit
Its currently over £7 at my local in the NE
Jayflux1@reddit
There were definitely £6 points 10 years ago lol.
TapeDeckSlick@reddit
Obviously, it was commonplace though.
OkGlass6902@reddit
In London you had £6 pints 10 years ago for sure.
bluejeansseltzer@reddit
I remember paying £7 for a Guinness in central London in 2018 and thinking that was a complete rip-off. I dread to think what the price is now.
scamps1@reddit
I feel like London beer prices have plateaued while the rest of the country has been catching up
OkGlass6902@reddit
Id still expect Guinness to be max £7.50 even in central.
But most craft beer would be between £7.75 noe and £8.50
Bayff@reddit
You can still get pints for around £6 in London if you go to the right places
OkGlass6902@reddit
Yes, my local Spoons has Green King for £1.89.
Bayff@reddit
Im not talking about spoons, Guinness is regularly like £6.10 -£6.50 in a lot of pubs throughout London.
TapeDeckSlick@reddit
London has always been a rip off, was like £3-£4 max here back then.
OkGlass6902@reddit
Yeh, i should add that would have been in the top 10% for prices back then but yeh some craft beer in zone 1 you could find that price.
Paid £7 for a pint in zone 1 last Christmas and commented how cheap it was, haha.
EntirelyRandom1590@reddit
Yeah was a running joke when it was £2 in South Wales.
Evening-Web-3038@reddit
Working from home being so prevalent would be a bit of a shock.
My current employer was considered generous pre covid as they allowed you to wfh once a week. But now? People are kicking off about a 60% mandate lol.
First-Butterscotch-3@reddit
We know its possible now and have 0 desire to be less productive in noisy, smelly offices surrounded by people we dont like
PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit
I remember my first boss being proper uptight about an occasional day WFH because I knew I'd have a delivery coming or something.
It was a proper toxic work environment though.
Raventree321@reddit
You can take a picture of something and then you can use that to google search.
You don’t need to google everything now. You have an app that can answer all your questions, in depth in a matter of seconds. That app can also write your dissertation that you spent a whole year doing in about 5 minutes.
Companies are ok with working from home.
Jayflux1@reddit
Reverse google image search has been a thing since 2011, I was definitely using it over 10 years ago. I was impressed when it first came out but not in 2016 when it had been around for a while
rememberthisporfa@reddit
service charges on top of your bill at any restaurant 😔
No-Photograph3463@reddit
The shear quantity and amount of Chinese Cars that are widely available and actually popular.
DiskBytes@reddit
The return to the 70s, with people now wearing fully pulled up socks.
prepareforwarmth@reddit
Along with mullets, having been a kid in the 90s this is something I will never be able to accept
BellendicusMax@reddit
Fascism as a mainstream political party.
Latter-Tangerine-951@reddit
Gormless redditor comment of the day.
Sharktistic@reddit
Explain.
Latter-Tangerine-951@reddit
The idea that 'fascism' is a mainstream political movement is just idiotic chronically online drivel.
The kind of person who uses the word 'fascism' to simply describe any political opinion they don't agree with.
Plus_Pangolin_8924@reddit
Takes one to know one.
Terrible-Bad-9002@reddit
Yes I agree Polanski is scary
BellendicusMax@reddit
Do we need to explain to you what fascism is...
BungadinRidesAgain@reddit
Probably one of those "thE nAzIs wErE sOcIALIsts" shit-for-brains
Weak_Mechanic8517@reddit
most ppl not smoking
BoomalakkaWee@reddit
I reckon the sheer number of people vaping would be shocking to somebody from 2015.
HMWYA@reddit
The widespread societal acceptance of racism, homophobia and transphobia.
Cole-Palmer-phd@reddit
I don't think they're widespread socially acceptable
chambo143@reddit
Transphobia definitely more so. Homophobia, misogyny etc may still be widespread but at least the default position of society as a whole is that they’re wrong. Transphobia seems to be accepted in the mainstream in a way that other forms of bigotry aren’t
cod4rip@reddit
try go back 30 years buddy
explodinghat@reddit
The echochamber of social media is making people feel more confident voicing their extreme opinions in normal conversation.
OldBumblebee2001@reddit
The existence and prevalence of Deliveroo
myoung100@reddit
Chicks with dicks
FormatAndSee@reddit
The amount of traffic on the roads has increased significantly, along with the potholes.
legosharkman85@reddit
How much Facebook has basically become a boomer cesspit
You_moron04@reddit
Probably contactless and how much cash is barely used now. Or hell, the fact that people don’t really carry wallets anymore
kelvinside@reddit
People would be impressed by modern phones but not surprised. However, I think people would be genuinely mind blown by AI products. The idea that you could have a coherent conversation with a computer about a complex topic, or generate somewhat realistic images and videos of almost anything using a text prompt was not at all expected in 2015.
Apart from that, if anything I think people would surprised how little technology has changed.
Jayflux1@reddit
I agree about the AI one, not so much on phones. In the last decade it’s just been incremental updates (nothing ground breaking has really happened), and the battery still starts dying around the same 2-3 year period.
daddywookie@reddit
Feels like you are 6-12 months ahead here. Lots of people starting to realise the impact of AI but we’ve not had the proper nation wide ah ha moment yet.
DilapidatedVessel@reddit
Having to put your face/ID through a suspicious system just to access parts of the internet/your games consoles you always could beforehand.
Astonednerd@reddit
Hating trans people. Feels like it's been imported from the US and gone from never being discussed to being a major culture war topic in the space of about 10 years.
Crazystaffylady@reddit
Shit in the seas and rivers
Quaser_8386@reddit
The number of women with tattoos.
Latter-Tangerine-951@reddit
I think that trend is fading out again, luckily.
They almost always look awful.
kasia_littlefrog@reddit
I feel like tattoos stopped being something special now because everyone has at least one. And it's probably more difficult to find a person without the tattoos than with them.
loperaja@reddit
I’ve got no tattoos and I do feel like I’m different (not particularly special or unique, just different).
Lizbelizi@reddit
Women had tattoos ten years ago
CanOfPenisJuice@reddit
Yeah but there's more now
Lizbelizi@reddit
Ten years ago was 2016, not 1990. There isn't significantly more tattooed women today than in 2016
CanOfPenisJuice@reddit
There are a billion more people in the world. I'd bet there's more tattooed women in that bunch
zonked282@reddit
Ha, right? My home town 25 years ago had only 2 tattoo studios and both were run by women. Not only were there lots of heavily tattooed women around then, they were also the ones doing all the art!
Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit
Yeah, 10 years isn't long enough, maybe like 20/25
Latter-Tangerine-951@reddit
A decade??
This is an insane question lol. You might as well ask what is shocking to people from 2025.
Difficult_Style207@reddit
Calling literally everyone a paedophile.
Warm_Stress_1654@reddit
Men going to their office jobs wearing shorts.
SubjectiveAssertive@reddit
The amount of electric cars and hybrid/remote working
Probaby the price of fuel as well
HenchRS@reddit
I sometimes have police interceptor episodes playing in the background at home from about 10 years ago. Just how much the cars on the road have changed compared to now is crazy
Conscious-Ball8373@reddit
According to the RAC, in April 2016 diesel was about 106p per litre. It had been about £1 in February that year. 😢
EntirelyRandom1590@reddit
They'd already seen the spikes at £1.40 in 2014 which would be over £2 with inflation today.
Prize-Phrase-7042@reddit
That you have to fill in a customs declaration to send a single A4 paper document to Ireland.
zonked282@reddit
But those blue passport's make it all worthwhile
Ok_Aioli3897@reddit
Says the American
chambo143@reddit
As a British person I would like to echo their sentiment
jamescisv@reddit
Cashless stuff.
Like, 10 years ago I used my card for stuff, obviously, but I still had and used cash for "small" stuff. Now it's just "tapping" everywhere, for everything.
Even buskers and whatnot have a wee tripod set up for card payments and casually nod at it when you do the little apologetic patting your pockets whilst doing a rueful head shake/shrug thing.
ActionBirbie@reddit
Nothing, a decade is no time at all unless you are a teenybopper.
shredderroland@reddit
Dogs in restaurants
Cole-Palmer-phd@reddit
I've never seen a dog in a restaurant. Pub, yes
trillspectre@reddit
Ai screeners/ stages of the interview process. The prevent use of ai imagery.
Prices of everything.
How low wages are (I'm aware the minimum wage has risen substantially since then but majority of jobs that where comfortably above minimum wage now are just scraping past it now)
Concert prices/ how many concert/music spaces have gone.
The rise of facism and it's adjacent talking points being mainstreamed.
The size of products are tiny compared to even 10 years ago.
The availability of work from home/hybrid.
The increase in cycle infrastructure.
It hasn't really come to fruition yet but your ability to own a pet not being automatically dictated by your tenancy agreement.
No_Secret2322@reddit
The amount of things we can do from home, working a full time job, ordering a coffee or desert in & not just a takeaway , the next day Amazon deliveries for even small things like cleaning items, Tesco whoosh etc We can do many things from the convenience of our homes, for a stark price of course.
TheSchofe@reddit
The market share and prevalence of Aldi and Lidl. Sure, we had both, I even bought a bike from Lidl in about 2000, but they weren't everywhere like they are now, and a lot of people still looked down on them ten year ago in the same way many did when Netto was around in the 90s.
Extreme-Banana-9@reddit
QR codes instead of menus. 2016 me would just sit there waiting for a waiter like an idiot
Arny2103@reddit
Dummy it's the waiter's job to wait, not yours!
Extreme-Banana-9@reddit
Waiter’s job now is to point at a sticker on the table
Zealousideal-Low3388@reddit
How mainstream transphobia has become.
Theresa May had plans for self ID
kasia_littlefrog@reddit
Oat milk as a standard in a coffee, and cow milk as an option.
harpajeff@reddit
The extent to which people order food and drink to be delivered, even when it's just coffee from Starbucks. We've got so bloody lazy.
OkGlass6902@reddit
Yeh, i should add that would have been in the top 10% for prices back then but yeh some craft beer in zone 1 you could find that price.
Paid £7 for a pint in zone 1 last Christmas and commented how cheap it was, haha.
Raventree321@reddit
It’s ok to not offer to get a round in. Everyone has just accepted it’s too expensive.
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