Why the 2016 Trend is Taking Over Your Social Media Feed
It is natural for the turning of the calendar every year to usher in a bit of nostalgia. That nostalgia has manifested itself in a new trend taking over social media, prompting users to turn back the clock ten years to reminisce about life in 2016. Here is a closer look at this trend and why it has caught fire throughout the internet.
About the 2016 Social Media Trend
The biggest social media trend of the new year is taking people back to 2016. The trend first appeared on TikTok, encouraging users to post pictures from a decade along with taglines such as "2026 is the new 2016."
There is no doubt that the year 2016 was one for the ages. In addition to the year ushering in a new era of politics created by the arrival of Donald Trump on the scene, 2016 was also the jumping-off point for some of the decade's most memorable pop cultural moments. This includes the premieres of "Stranger Things" and "Hamilton." This moment of time also saw a number of viral trends, including the Mannequin Challenge and Chewbacca Mom.
A key difference between 2016 and 2026 is found by looking at one of the hottest cultural phenomena of a decade ago. The augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go launched in the summer of 2016, encouraging users to head outside, explore their surroundings, and engage with other players. It was revealed years later that Pokémon Go was actually used as a training ground for a future Artificial Intelligence (AI) model.
The 2016 trend is taking millions of Americans on a trip down memory lane. While the year 2016 is being remembered fondly, some psychologists say that the wave of nostalgia is largely attributed to people naturally seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. In addition, psychologists have noted that the trend is most popular with people who were adolescents and teens in 2016. Known in clinical terms as a reminiscence bump, it is normal for people to think more fondly of the era in which they came of age.
The current state of the world makes it natural for people to feel nostalgic for the past. People often turn to positive memories when they are feeling anxious or distressed. The upheaval across the nation in 2026 makes the trend to travel back to 2016 a comforting experience.
What people may not remember is that 2016 was not all sunshine and unicorns. For instance, the 2016 election that pitted Trump against Hilary Clinton marked the beginning of the immense political division that the nation faces today. Many political experts say that this moment will be remembered as a turning point that forever changed the landscape of American politics. From this point on, politics and entertainment have become entangled, often blurring the lines between what is real news and what is just entertainment.
Role of Social Media in 2016
Social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Musical.ly took off in popularity around the year 2016. The advent of these platforms helped to shape views on social media today. The entire culture surrounding social media shifted in 2016 and in the few years after.
For many, social media was an easier and safer place in 2016. Just as the year 2016 marked a shift in the political landscape, the same time period also saw a dramatic shift in social media culture.
For example, some of the 2016 posts over the last few weeks have waxed poetically about the casual nature of social media in 2016 when compared to 2026. The statistics bear this out. Adults between the ages of 18 and 34 from 2014 and 2017 demonstrated increased rates of depression linked to the rising usage of social media paired with a decrease in in-person interaction. Conversely, social media in the current age is more commercialized and targeted.
Instagram is a platform that changed significantly in 2016, starting with a physical change to what users see when logging in to the site. The term "doomscrolling" did not exist in 2016; yet, it is a common activity for social media users in today's divided world.
There was no AI in 2016, a tool that has radically changed social media. Today's internet users continually have to discern between what is real and what is a deep fake. All of this makes it understandable that the 2016 trend is gaining steam as social media users fondly remember a time when AI did not play into the picture.
What is now X was still Twitter in 2016. Like most other social media platforms, Twitter was also more moderated a decade ago.
While the 2016 trend may seem like a mere pastime, psychologists also say that it is being used as a coping mechanism to move forward despite all of the uncertainty in the world.
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