Is 2026 the New 2016?
2016 was the year of the dog filter. King Kylie ruled Instagram, no one wore blush and Musical.ly was pregnant with TikTok. People went to school in full beat - sunset cut creases and blinding highlighter - everyone wore Adidas Superstars, and everyone's jeans were ripped all the way up the leg. 2016 was also a year of change. Donald Trump won the presidential election, a moment that marked a significant shift in U.S. politics. Notable U.S. athletes Michael Phelps and Simone Biles solidified their gold medal status at the Rio Olympics, winning five and four gold medals, respectively. So-called “Beauty Gurus” - NikkieTutorials, Jeffree Star and Manny MUA, to name a few - grew in fame and status online, changing the world of makeup.
Across platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, users are taking part in creating posts showing off their 2016 style, music tastes and even old dance videos. But who is declaring 2026 as the new 2016? In my case, I was in transition between elementary school and middle school. I was freshly 12 years old, had just been given an iPhone 6 for my birthday (wow, ancient) and my locker had a chandelier. I was part of the middle school group of Gen Z that lived through this year, but many people who were in high school and even in college are also reminiscing about this time. But what about the generation of users that were in primary school, toddlers and even babies at that time- how can they romanticize an era that they do not actually remember?
Some might say that trends never truly die. We tend to revert to former styles that we had once sworn that we would give up. Let us look at jeans, for example. By the end of 2019, to the onset of the pandemic, skinny jeans were phased out and replaced with high-waisted mom jeans–a staple in the 1980s. Similarly, low-rise styles sported in the 1990s and early 2000s have become increasingly popular in 2026. So, is it really precarious to say that society would also crave the vibe of 2016?
2016 sits at the edge of the society we know today. It was pre-pandemic, pre- “For You Page” and pre-AI filters that fixed every imperfection. It was a mess, but in the best way. Social media, while becoming more curated, was the forefront of self-expression. There were no fridge restocks or clean girl slickbacks, and constant brand deals did not plague the algorithm. Going viral meant truly going viral, not the premeditated post pattern that we use today. The internet felt smaller - like it belonged to the people using it, not to the platforms shaping it.
For younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha users, 2016 is less of a memory and more of a mythology. As they always say, the internet is forever. Unlike previous decades, such as the 1980s and 1990s, we have a curated time capsule of Pinterest boards, YouTube tutorials and Vine compilations that encapsulate the culture of 2016. These younger generations are not missing the actual year that was 2016 - they are missing the idea of it.
2026 may not truly be the new 2016. Maybe we just crave the chaos of it being the last year before everything seemed to change - before the pandemic changed life as we know it, before politics hardened and before AI took over. Just as trends are cyclical, maybe our longing for them is too. Right now, that longing looks a lot like Adidas Superstars and dog filters.
Editor: Sydney Annis
Graphic: Sanjana Karanth