It's the Feeling, Not the Clothes: Nostalgia for 2016

"2016 is so back. At least that's what everyone on social media has been saying. For the past few weeks, Instagram feeds have been flooded with throwback posts, celebrities like Lili Reinhart and Ed Sheeran have shared 2016 photo dumps, and Kylie Jenner even changed her profile picture to an iconic "King Kylie" era selfie. As people looked forward to 2026, they also looked back ten years ago. Since the new year, "2016" themed Spotify playlists have risen by nearly 800%."

"But most people don't mean they want to wear skinny jeans again when they say they miss 2016. They aren't necessarily talking about hearing Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" or Desiigner's "Panda" on the radio every day. What they really want is to feel like they did back in 2016. 2016 was the last time many people felt at peace. It's before Donald Trump was in office. It's before COVID-19. It's before generative AI was everywhere."

"Social media was completely different in 2016. YouTube was at its peak. Vine and Musical.ly still existed. Snapchat was the only platform with "stories." Twitter was Twitter, not X. Now, TikTok is the go-to platform, and all the others are trying to be more like it. The aggressive algorithm creates an echo chamber. There's a different trend every few days. Advertisements and AI take up half of users' feeds."

Social feeds and cultural memory show a resurgence of 2016 nostalgia, with celebrities posting photo dumps and users sharing decade-themed playlists and hashtags. Visual motifs such as chokers, palm trees, angel wing murals, Snapchat filters, and Unicorn Frappuccinos characterize the aesthetic revival. People associate 2016 with a calmer period before major political upheaval, the COVID-19 pandemic, and widespread generative AI. Platform dynamics have shifted: YouTube, Vine, Musical.ly, and Snapchat stories once dominated while Twitter remained unchanged. TikTok now shapes trends with a powerful algorithm, accelerating fads, amplifying ads and AI content, and increasing pressure to curate idealized online identities.

Read at Her Campus