Instagram is nostalgic for 2016 again (yes, really)

It’s 2016 again on Instagram. Well… if only.

There has been a bubbling nostalgia for 2016 over the past few weeks. Chance Townsend wrote here on Mashable about Gen Z getting particularly nostalgic about 2016, the last good year. Of course, that might not be the case felt it was great at the time, but for Gen Z, it was their last great summer.

I would say that, in many ways, we’ve been living in late 2016 for a decade now: the political atmosphere, the way social media has become real life, crisis after crisis.

But either way, the internet has now become a nostalgia bomb for 2016. It’s an extension of the trend we spotted on TikTok earlier this month, coupled with people wanting to show off how much they’ve grown over the past 10 years. Yes, like it’s 2016, we’re bringing back the humble and self-deprecating messages but not really. As with most trends, it has migrated from kids on TikTok to normies and celebrities on Instagram, who mostly use it as an excuse to post decade-old photos. (Remember Snapchat filters?)

Let me be clear, 2016 wasn’t that great. It was great Not Chill to start a career and see the world order upended by elections, Brexit, celebrity deaths and a climate deal that seemed impossible to keep.

But things always look rosier in hindsight. And it’s fun to post his younger self, so naive and unaware of what was to come. Let’s hope, however, that 2026 does not seem SO awesome when we look back in 2036.