My vision was pretty good until, like, the end of 5th grade and then all of a sudden I was nearsighted. Even after I got glasses I could survive without them, I just carried them around and used them only to read things several feet away. It wasn't until about two years ago when I needed to wear glasses constantly and I absolutely hated it, so I got contacts and I wear them pretty much every day now.
I had to overcome my weird phobia about touching my eyes in order to get my contacts in, but I finally did it.
It was a pretty exciting five hours of me attempting to stick my finger in my eye for the first time.
I started wearing glasses for near sight (called short-sight in the UK) before I left school - I realised I couldn't read stuff on the chalk board or white board unless I was sitting in the front row!
Most of the time I wear gas permeable (hard) contact lenses - because they suit my eyes best (no irritation, easy for me to insert and remove).
I also have a pair of black specs which are very convenient to fling on my face in the mornings if I am running late (which is often).
Actually - I put on the specs first thing in the morning anyway - before I get out of bed - because I really need to be able to find my way to the door of my bedroom without crashing into random items of furniture en route
I would rather have glasses instead of contacts because you're like touching your eye when you remove contacts. I couldn't bear to watch my friend take her contacts off. IT WAS SO GROSS!
I used to have really good vision, but it's getting worse now though. I know someone who faked an eye test to get glasses (so of course they can't see properly in them). My brother is supposed to wear glasses, but he doesn't.