What’s There to Miss About 2016?

It’s a beautiful 2016 morning. You rise from bed and throw your hair into a messy bun. The outfit you picked out for the day is Pinterest-inspired: black skinny jeans, a knitted sweater, boots, and a choker to accessorize. As you head outside to wait for the bus, you plug your earbuds into your brand new iPhone 7 Plus and hit play on “Closer” by The Chainsmokers.

Social media seems fun; people are posting dance videos and flipping water bottles, a guy named Daniel has some pretty nice white Vans, and the Snapchat dog filter makes for a cute selfie. 

That evening, you head downstairs to tell your parents goodnight. They’re watching the news – how boring! The world seems like it’s headed in a more accepting direction. Your last thought before shutting your eyes for the night — come tomorrow, I will no longer have to dream about seeing the first female president.

…

2016 has seemingly re-entered the collective American consciousness. This nostalgia could be attributed to a young adult’s desire for stability as they leave adolescence, but it begs the question: What is there to miss about 2016?

2016 was indisputably one of the largest years in contemporary American politics, delivering a political upset where socialite Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. Along with the already established conservative majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, the election cemented a strong conservative presence for the following years. Yet despite this devastating blow for American progressives, the vast majority of 2016 was a seemingly hopeful year. A common refrain among progressive women was pure excitement to finally vote for a female president, and to have one right after the first African-American president felt like America had finally gotten it right. 

Now, a decade later, America has been subjected to a full year of Trump’s second term, halting any sense of progression in terms of political representation for marginalized groups and fanning the flame of alt-right conservatism. Additionally, in the past decade, wars have placed direct threats on displacing American life, leading many Americans to feel the instability of war reverberate in their own homes. Though 2016 planted the seeds for what became a political mess, the vast majority of the year was spent in anticipation of the feminine bliss that has yet to come. 

Similar to the “Girlboss” era of politics, media conglomerates such as BuzzFeed offered videos which embraced progressive sentiments, such as: “Weird Things Women Do Before Sex,” “Women’s Ideal Body Types Through History,” or even “The Try Guys Try Labor Pain Simulator.” Through BuzzFeed’s videos, they would simultaneously entertain the viewer, discuss progressive ideas, and, in a meta way, sell young Americans on a dream that they could be just like them. There are hundreds of videos from former BuzzFeed workers who discuss how they got their job, as if it were a truly mythic feat, rather than a place you clock in from 9-5. 

However, just as quickly, people were making videos about leaving the business, inferring issues such as the loss of their intellectual property, corporate layoffs, long hours, and low wages. The cracks in its idyllic workplace began to show, which instigated the resurfacing of a clip from 2016, which features employees allegedly drinking their own urine. Currently, America is facing a labor crisis, with many large profit-driven companies displaying mass layoffs, and recent labor reports making the market look extremely dismal for new graduates. Though compared to today, 2016 seemed like the golden age of employment, there were still terrible working conditions that were romanticized and never truly addressed, manifesting a decade later with record low entry-level job openings. 

The pop culture landscape has drastically changed over the past 10 years due to the accessibility of virtually all forms of media, the addictive nature of algorithms, and the rapid evolution of technology.  

Everyone’s favorite movies, shows, music, and internet content are all available on demand in 2026. Streaming services were just beginning to kick off in 2016. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, black-ish, and The Good Place were popular, as were older sitcoms, such as Friends and The Office. To this day, these sitcoms are well-loved and enjoyable rewatches. However, in 2026, the 22-episode-per-season sitcom has largely disappeared, with major entertainment companies such as Netflix opting for shorter eight-episode “artsy” shows that may be critically acclaimed, but are not the type of shows people return to for comfort or happiness. Streaming services also cost more than they did 10 years ago, with the quality of shows not necessarily meeting the increased demand.

Instagram and TikTok both utilize short-form content designed to keep users scrolling for hours, or “doomscrolling” by way of a predictive algorithm, which is tailored to each individual user. The collective internet is engaged in a new “microtrend” every few weeks. Trends become tiring quickly due to how frequently we are exposed to them through our algorithms.

While addiction to technology was still prevalent in 2016, particularly among adolescents, YouTube vlogs and other long-form content were the fad of the time. Studies continue to show a link between increased time spent on social media and reduced mental health, which may be contributing to why we remember 2016 to be a happier time. 

Since 2016, the internet has shifted from primarily content originated by its users to an AI-dominated space, a term referred to as the “Dead Internet Theory.” Over time, human thought and interactions online shifted to mediation by these non-human entities to advertise products or propagate political theories. In 2016, everyone thought photo filters were revolutionary. It was hard to imagine that in only 10 years, artificial intelligence could perform robotic surgery, generate creative work, and even translate thought by interpreting neural signals into text. There is a possibility that we are headed in a direction where artificial intelligence could entirely surpass human intelligence. 

…

It’s a beautiful 2026 morning. The first thing you do while lying in bed is grab your phone. You open Facebook thinking, I wonder what my family is up to while I’m away at college, and quickly close the app after discovering that your mom has reposted several AI-generated videos that she was unaware were not real. 

You dress in a polka dot top, low-waisted jeans, and flats. Olivia Dean plays in your headphones as you walk to class.

That night, you’re doomscrolling in bed. Since the start of the new year, your social media timeline has been all 2016 nostalgia. Your last thought before shutting your eyes for the night — I wonder if life was truly better in 2016.