Why 2016 is all over your social media feeds right now

If your Instagram and TikTok feeds have recently been flooded with grainy screenshots, overexposed selfies and suspiciously well-curated “2016” carousels, you’re not imagining it. From old festival snaps and mirror selfies taken on iPhone 6s, to screenshots of Notes-app captions and Tumblr-era outfits, everyone seems to be posting their life from exactly a decade ago.

Yes, that’s right — 2016 has reappeared across our feeds. A decade on, the year is being recast as the last moment before life, politics and social media became permanently intense.

Whether the captions say “take me back” or are in denial that this was now an entire decade ago, there is a definite romanticism surrounding 2016.

But this isn’t just your average throwback. It’s something more specific. Call it pre-chaos nostalgia: a longing for the moment just before everything accelerated, intensified and became permanently exhausting.

The nostalgia isn’t just for big moments — it’s for the small, oddly specific details that now feel impossibly distant. Avocado toast before it became basic. Festival wristbands worn for months like badges of honour. Instagram photos taken on the way out rather than for the algorithm.

Even the throwback carousels tell the same story: a single group photo at brunch, blurry selfies from messy nights, unfiltered content that we didn’t even refer to in that way. It was a time when enjoying things didn’t require irony, explanation or optimisation — you just liked them (that’s IRL, not for engagement), posted them, and moved on.

Why 2016, specifically?

Plenty of years have had better fashion. Some had better music — although the 2016-themed spin class I sweated through the other week would beg to disagree (that’s right, it’s even infiltrated our workouts) and Beyoncé’s Lemonade release was nothing short of iconic.

According to Caroline Edwards, trends editor at CORQ, “there’s a lovely bit of innocence when you look back at the year, especially when you look at trends and internet culture.”

She says: “It was Harambe, Kermit the Frog (especially Evil KeRmit), Usain Bolt and Arthur first memes, Damn Daniel, bottle flips and the mannequin challenge. Dabbing was still a thing. The Instagram aesthetic was everything and VSCO was key for achieving the right feed, while Snapchat remained powerful — as did its filters. It’s easy to look back in awe and delight, especially a decade on.”