This Changed Everything

Vox has been explaining for an entire decade. We’ve published thousands upon thousands of articles, videos, and podcasts about nearly every subject imaginable, illuminating all the important and interesting and confounding things that give us a better understanding of who we are and how our world works. It’s been a wild time! To say so much has happened would be a gross understatement. Our staff has taken the opportunity of our 10th anniversary to look back at the moments that defined the past decade. Rather than rehashing how, say, the Covid pandemic impacted public health in America, we’ve focused our attention on the unexpected — both small-scale incidents that foretold big-deal changes and huge events that had surprising consequences. There are stories on everything from the rise of self-care to the death of George Floyd, a not-at-all-comprehensive list of pivotal turning points from reporters across the newsroom, accompanying Today, Explained episodes, and a text and video forecast of what the next decade could look like, from Future Perfect. [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/06-BlurbsLede_d4d42b.png?quality=90&strip=all] The last 10 years, explained The (wild! scary! surprising!) moments that mattered. [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/02-SelfCare_238d2a.png?quality=90&strip=all] How the self-care industry made us so lonely The commodification of an activist concept turned a revitalizing practice into an isolating one. by Allie Volpe [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/backlash-Floyd.png?quality=90&strip=all] The “racial reckoning” of 2020 set off an entirely new kind of backlash We are living in an era of conservative grievance politics. by Fabiola Cineas [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/01-Armenia.png?quality=90&strip=all] The overlooked conflict that altered the nature of war in the 21st century From drones to social media, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan was a preview of Ukraine and the conflicts to come. by Joshua Keating [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/05-TheDress.png?quality=90&strip=all] The internet peaked with “the dress,” and then it unraveled The ominously perfect meme marked the splintering of our shared reality. by Brian Resnick [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/03-Serial-1.png?quality=90&strip=all] Serial transformed true crime — and the way we think about criminal justice The show that helped to free Adnan Syed completely upended how much the average person knows about US legal and prison systems. by Aja Romano [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/08-Future.png?quality=90&strip=all] 10 big things we think will happen in the next 10 years Obesity will go down, electric cars will go up, and a nuclear bomb might just fall. --- Credits Editorial Director: Julia Rubin | Project Manager: Nathan Hall Reporters: Alex Abad-Santos, Zack Beauchamp, Fabiola Cineas, Rachel Cohen, Kyndall Cunningham, Abdallah Fayyad, Constance Grady, Ellen Ioanes, Oshan Jarow, Benji Jones, Josh Keating, Whizy Kim, Keren Landman, Dylan Matthews, Ian Millhiser, Anna North, Christian Paz, Brian Resnick, Aja Romano, Sigal Samuel, Dylan Scott, Allie Volpe Editors: Marina Bolotnikova, Melinda Fakuade, Meredith Haggerty, Caroline Houck, Libby Nelson, Alanna Okun, Lavanya Ramanathan, Izzie Ramirez, Patrick Reis, Paige Vega, Elbert Ventura, Bryan Walsh Art Director: Paige Vickers | Illustrator: Hudson Christie Managing Editor, Audio & Video: Natalie Jennings Audio: Amina al-Sadi, Laura Bullard, Rob Byers, Victoria Chamberlin, David Herman, Miranda Kennedy, Noel King, Andrea Kristinsdottir, Amanda Lewellyn, Sean Rameswaram Video: Rajaa Elidrissi, Adam Freelander, Dean Peterson, Joey Sendaydiego, Catherine Spangler Style & Standards: Elizabeth Crane, Anouck Dussaud, Kim Eggleston, Caity PenzeyMoog, Sarah Schweppe Audience Lead: Gabby Fernandez | Audience: Shira Tarlo, Kelsi Trinidad Special thanks: Bill Carey, Nisha Chittal, Swati Sharma