Why is everyone posting 2016? What to know about the nostalgic social media trend that’s dominating TikTok
By the time they get into their 20s, every generation seems to have nostalgia for one year from their teenage years.
For people in my generation (Gen X), that year is usually cited as 1994—the final year before the internet really started taking hold. But if a recent trend on TikTok is anything to go by, the year Gen Z is most nostalgic for is 2016.
Here’s what you need to know.
‘2026 is the new 2016’
In recent days, TikTok has been flooded with variations of the phrase “2026 is the new 2016.”
Along with the phrase, TikTokers are posting throwback pictures to when they were younger, listening to songs popular a decade ago, and reminiscing about how the world just seemed like a more stable and safe place in 2016.
It’s unclear exactly why or how this trend gained critical mass in the last few days, but at the start of any new year, it is natural to reflect on past years and compare how we and the world have changed over time.
Nostalgia and the 10-year rule
As a decade ago is both long enough to notice differences yet not so long ago that your memory becomes foggy of the time period, it’s little wonder why when we nostalgitize the past, we often choose a period that happened 10 years prior.
As for why many may feel nostalgic for 2016, you just have to look at events so far in 2026.
In America, we’re seeing increasing social upheaval and protests across the country, and once again, the U.S. is attacking other countries. Things feel chaotic, and that chaos makes us long for a time when things felt more stable.
For many on TikTok, that time was apparently 2016. As noted by Yahoo Entertainment, for many TikTok users, 2016 felt “like the last year before the world shifted.” The leader of the free world was predictable and stable, housing prices were more affordable, and AI hadn’t yet put a big question mark over the future of people’s job security.
It’s self-evident why those things are yearned for now.
The world that was 2016
If your memory is a little foggy about what 2016 was actually like, here’s a little reminder.
Google’s decade-old “Year in Search 2016” roundup showed what people across the world spent their year searching for, which reveals key events from the time.
On the geopolitical front, the 2016 U.S. presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was at the top of people’s minds. So were mass shootings in Orlando and Dallas, as well as fears over the Zika Virus outbreak.
Culturally, people were obsessed with a new show called Stranger Things, as well as the shows Westworld, Luke Cage, Game of Thrones, and Black Mirror.
The Rio Olympics and World Series were also on top of people’s minds.
Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, and Batman v. Superman got people into the theaters, and Celine Dion and Kesha were some of the musicians who generated the most interest.
Meanwhile, 2016 was also the year that people were obsessed with Pokémon Go, and the top tech products of the year included the iPhone 7 and Google Pixel.