7 things we use every day that didn't exist just 10 years ago.

The 20teens have somehow felt both painfully long and incredibly swift. Think back to 2010: MasterChef was new, the iPad had just been released and everyone was obsessed with a game called Angry Birds.

T’was a simpler time. But when you reflect on the now-essential goods and services that have landed in Australia since, it becomes clear it was also a far-less-convenient one.

Here are some of the everyday things we rely on that didn’t exist just 10 years ago.

Netflix

Remember free-to-air TV? With ads? And guides? And fixed air times?

With the boom in streaming services over the past five or so years, appointment viewing like that almost seems quaint.

Watch: This is how the decade ends on Netflix. Post continues after video.

Today, millions of us pay modest monthly fees for access to on-demand digital libraries stuffed with thousands of movies and series available to stream at will (well, the will of the NBN, anyway).

Netflix alone, which launched in Australia in 2015, has 158 million paid memberships in over 190 countries and is responsible for 15 per cent of global internet traffic. It’s also responsible for fabulous new terms in our everyday vernacular, like ‘binge-watching’ and ‘Jonathan van Ness‘.

Without it (and it’s financial success) we would likely be living in a world without big-budget series like The Crown or House of Cards. *Shudder*

Uber

A taxi, but with the ability to track how soon it will come, rate your driver and not handle any money/credit cards. Revolutionary. So much so that the taxi industry has successfully lobbied to have Uber banned in a number of countries.

Here in Australia, it’s alive and relatively well since being introduced in 2012. Last year, more than 4 million of us used it at least once in a three-month period, according to RoyMorgan data.

Staffed by ordinary people using their own car wherever and whenever they choose, it’s become a popular side-hustle (and even full-time gig) for tens of thousands of Australians.

Alternatives are catching up, including Ola, GoCatch and Shebah, the latter of which operates exclusively for women and children.

Siri

She’s the omnipotent, disembodied PA we never knew we needed. Hey Siri, will I need an umbrella today? Hey Siri, set an alarm for 6 a.m. Hey Siri, who won the silver medal for figure skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics?

Released in 2011, the Apple digital assistant is now used by roughly half a billion people, according to Apple data from 2018.

Fun fact: In Australia, she is voiced by Karen Jacobson, the same woman who lives inside most GPS navigation devices.

Tinder

Tinder, a dating app that matches users based on their proximity, was launched in the US in 2012 and enjoyed near-instant success. Within two months of rollout, it had made one million matches. Seven years on, it’s clocked more than 30 billion.

With more than 57 million users worldwide, it’s is the most popular dating app on the planet. And is now considered a totally ordinary way to find a partner.

Listen: The Quicky speaks to Dr Nikki Goldstein about how Tinder has revolutionised dating, and whether that’s a bad thing. Post continues after podcast.

Re-usable coffee cups

This is the decade we finally woke up to the fact that takeaway coffee cups are hideously bad for the environment, by virtue of being single-use and non-recyclable.

In 2017, the ABC program War On Waste stunned with its findings that Australians send one billion coffee cups into landfill every year. One billion.

Reusable coffee-cup brands, like Keep Cup and Frank Green, enjoyed a huge boom as a result of our sudden waste-consciousness. (Also, most cafes offer a BYOC discount.

Food delivery apps

For decades, home delivery meant dialling for a pizza or some spring rolls from whatever local restaurant employed a teenager with a bicycle/crappy car. Even then you had to have a copy of the takeaway menu. And something approaching the correct amount of cash.

Then Deliveroo came to Australia in 2014. The app collated local restaurants and their menus, facilitated the ordering and payment (using a credit card, if you’d like), and then sent its army of delivery riders to pick up your food and deliver it to your door. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!

Others followed, including Menulog, Foodora (which closed in 2018) and UberEats, which also roped in nationwide fast-food chains, effectively making the ‘Maccas run’ redundant for hungover city/suburban folk.

Instagram

We’ve left perhaps the most pervasive until last. It’s hard to imagine that prior to October 2010, we lived in a world without filters and #blessed and sponsored posts and social media professionals and, of course, influencers.

Somehow we coped. Now, we probably couldn’t.

Featured image: Getty.