Chapter 1: What cultural trends from 2016 are resurging today?
The Chainsmokers, Drake's One Dance, King Kylie.
I don't know if I've ever been on a podcast before.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard. The internet has decided that 2016 was the best year ever. Summer of 2016, why was it so good? Why do we all love it so much? It was even better than what you think it was. And I know because I was there. But what's behind all these throwbacks?
Well, millennials are in their 30s and 40s now, and increasingly, our generation is having to wrestle with the realities of getting older. Now, that could mean more nostalgia, but it could also mean more anxiety about the years to come, particularly in a society that seems less secure than the one our parents or grandparents grew up in. The millennial midlife crisis and what to do about it.
That's up next on Today Explained from Vox.
Pokemon Go to Today Explained.
My name is Deja Tolentino. I am an internet culture reporter, previously of NBC News, and I currently write a newsletter called Yap Year.
Can we first just start with, like, why did this 2016 trend come back online? Where did it start?
It's been building up since last year, especially on TikTok.
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Chapter 2: Why do millennials feel nostalgic about their past?
People have been slowly bringing back 2016 trends, whether that's the mannequin challenge with, you know, the Black Beatles song. or pink wall aesthetics and these really warm, hazy Instagram filters. People have been kind of romanticizing this time since earlier last year in 2025. And when we entered the new year in 2026, there were a lot of TikToks saying that 2026 was going to be like 2016.
2026 it's like 2016 all over again it's giving 2016 vibes now that it's 2026 that means 2016 is back which i was curious about because it's kind of like what does that even mean yeah i don't actually think people know what that means at all um then you know a couple weeks ago you see a lot of people on instagram especially like peak instagram influencers posting
Themselves at their peak, really, in 2016.
Heard we're going back to 2016. Scrolling through my camera roll, it feels like peeking into another lifetime. One I lived entirely behind a lens. 2016, but same baby face. Peak 2016. Snapchat filters and all. Guys.
I took 5,000 photos in 2016. By the time I get through looking through all of them, this meme will have passed.
Which inspired then everybody to post their own 2016 photos.
And this trend got really big. I mean, according to TikTok, searches for 2016 surged by 452%. Spotify showed a 71% increase in 2016 playlists. Last year compared to 2024 and also big artists from 2016 have been making a comeback.
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Chapter 3: How is the concept of aging affecting millennials?
And so in your newsletter, you've kind of tried to define what the 2016 mood board is. Can you just explain that for me? Like when we're thinking 2016 vibes, what do we mean?
When I look at 2016, you see makeup gurus on YouTube blow up at this time. Hey guys, welcome to today's video. We are gonna be chatting about. Hi guys, this is James Charles. Welcome back to my YouTube channel. Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. It's your girl Jackie Aina. And the makeup at the time is extremely maximalist. It's very full glam, full beat.
very matte, very colorful, some neon wigs. At this time, you know, you have the King Kylie of it all. This year is really about, like, the year of just realizing stuff. 2016, I think, was such a pivotal moment in Internet culture. I think that is when we started to really enter this influencer era in full force.
And prior to that, you know, we had creators, but we didn't have as much of this, you know, monetization infrastructure to make everything online and ad essentially. And so, you know, people are posting whatever they wanted to post. And then it also was the year that it changes algorithm towards a more algorithmic feed versus a, you know, friends only chronological feed.
I think people have missed that a lot. Although, you know, I think people romanticize 2016 and forget a lot about what that year is actually like.
The other question I wanted to ask you, though, is what do you think this says about 2026? If we're all looking back so longingly on 10 years prior, if there's this wave of nostalgia for a time before the algorithms ruled our lives, what do you think it says about people's relationship to the present?
As much as people are talking about 2016 right now, the entire 2020 so far, especially as an internet culture journalist, I have observed throughout the entire decade thus far, almost every year, people on TikTok, especially young people, have been romanticizing the 2010s.
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Chapter 4: What are the significant milestones for millennials as they age?
I think in general, people associate the 2010s with a sense of optimism, especially post-2012. But I think a lot of people, especially young people, have been growing up at a time after the pandemic and in the 2020s, which has been such a tumultuous time in the economy and politics and in the world in general.
And it feels really hopeless at times that looking back at a time that literally looks so sunny and positive and wonderful and low stakes, you know, I think that's It's really easy for people to become really fixated on this time period, even if that wasn't the actual reality, right?
I mean, you kind of mentioned this, though, but it's not like in 2016 at the time, it felt like some rose-colored, sunny, perfect time, you know? I mean, they remember pretty tumultuous events, particularly in the political landscape, things like Brexit.
The UK has voted to leave the European Union.
Yes!
I think about obviously the Donald Trump election and his winning of the primary was kind of roiling the country at the time. All we need is great ideas to make America great again. Why do you think people are only cherry picking the good parts of 2016 and ignoring what were real tension points of that time?
I think that a lot of people are looking back at 2016 so fondly because it was one of the last years in which we engaged in a monoculture together and we had shared pieces of culture that we could remember. I mean, we could all remember Closer being on the radio like 24-7 at the time.
I think a lot of people romanticize 2016 because it is the last time they remember unification in any way, right? Not that people are politically unified at this time, but it feels like the last kind of... moment of normalcy before this entire decade of turmoil.
As much as there was so much change and disruption happening in 2016, whether that's Donald Trump, whether that's Brexit, or even the rise of like Bernie Sanders. We can do much, much better as a nation.
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Chapter 5: How can millennials cope with the anxiety of aging?
like feeling the burden. There's so many, you know, people who are so excited about that. I think there was a feeling of disruption that could be mistaken for general optimism. And in a way, it is optimism, right? But it is this hope for something different to come that began in 2016 that did not materialize in maybe the ways that people wanted them to.
But I think a lot of people can remember that feeling and the... shared culture that we all had that nobody really is able to share in these days.
I love that point because originally I thought, you know, this is just millennials trying to post when they looked hotter, right? But I do think that what you're saying makes a lot of sense. You know, I think up until... Maybe it's that election or certainly, I think, the years that follow.
You could kind of tell yourself a story of shared universal values, of a shared national identity, of a shared political identity. I think the last decade has really disrupted. I can see how that plays into the nostalgia for 2016 and that time. But I got to say, at the same time, I do wonder about particularly young people living in such nostalgia. Like, I'm 32.
I can't imagine 10 years ago me thinking that the best years were behind me and not in front. Am I just being old? Or like, does some of this feel like a generation that's been raised on remakes and sequels, you know, looking back instead of looking forward?
Yeah. And I have, you know, noticed this retroactive obsession for, like I said, the entire 2020s. And especially as young people, you know, I'm 27. Like, I shouldn't be like...
Yeah.
Like being 17 was the best years of my life.
I'm like, it gets better.
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Chapter 6: What does the Stanford study reveal about aging cliffs?
Right. Because a lot of, you know, in a lot of respects, it is culture. too obsessed with looking back because when you consistently cherry-pick through the 2010s, which is something that Gen Z Online has been doing for the past six years at this point, first of all, you run out of stuff. There's really not a lot of difference at some points between 2013 and 2012.
You run out of stuff, you run out of references, and you also... are unable to imagine a better future forward. And that is always really concerning. That is always an indication that there's a loss of hope. But I think that this year, it seems like the energy online is interested in
Creating something new and introducing friction and moving forward from this constant need for escapism that the internet has provided us for the past 10 years. I have seen that kind of rise, you know, alongside this nostalgia that has been so widely publicized and widely talked about. I think people are ready for new things.
I think people are ready to move on from like constant escapism that the internet and social media brings, including constant nostalgia. I think that'll take time, obviously.
Deja Tolentino writes about internet and culture for the newsletter Yap Year. Now, if hearing people that are nostalgic for the chain smokers or feeling the burn makes you feel old, well, you might just be old. That's coming up. Support for Today Explained comes from Vanguard. We've stepped into a new year, says Vanguard.
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Chapter 7: How does societal perception of aging impact millennials?
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A lot of us have spent a lot of the last week watching videos of what's happening on the streets of Minneapolis and understanding what it is that we're seeing, but also what's real and what isn't and what's AI and who is taking these videos and how we're supposed to understand the source feels harder than ever.
So this week on The Verge Cast, we're talking about what's happening in Minneapolis, how information moves in an AI age and what it means to make sense of it all. All that, plus what's new with the new TikTok, why everything feels like it's falling apart on TikTok, and more on The Verge Cast, wherever you get podcasts.
We're back with New York Magazine's Emily Gould. So if millennial nostalgia is a growing trend, that means millennials themselves must be getting old.
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Chapter 8: What insights can we gain from the experiences of older generations?
And it's true. Emily wrote a piece for New York Magazine about how the oldest millennials are reaching their first big milestone in aging. Emily, what is that milestone?
There's this study coming out of Stanford about aging cliffs that happen at age 44 and age 60. Those are the ones they know about so far. And long story short, basically, the data that this study has come up with is showing that all of the cells in your body, every organ, every muscle, all those cells are degenerating faster. Like you're aging in hyperspeed during the year that you are 44.
It got so much press when it came out, and I think it was because just the idea of 44 being the age that you really become middle-aged resonated for a lot of people, regardless of whether they were feeling it in their own bodies or their own souls.
I just put the call out for anyone who had had particularly dramatic health or life things happen to them during the year that they were 44, and I was shocked by the responses that I got. Things like... All of a sudden, I couldn't see. I went from having 20-20 vision to needing glasses. Overnight, I stopped being able to drink.
I'd have a glass of wine and be hungover to like, I don't recognize my own face in the mirror. I had no wrinkles, and all of a sudden, my face is like sliding off my skull. So this put the fear of God into me. I had not yet turned 44 when I was doing this research. And so I started to think about like, okay, I know myself. I'm not going to overhaul my whole life. I don't have the budget.
I don't have the stamina. Can I do any incremental changes that will make 44 go more smoothly?
You know, the people you were talking to, how were they trying and were they trying to mitigate the effects of aging? And how has that changed in recent years?
I was more interested ultimately in talking to people who seemed really at home in themselves as older people and also who had a spirit of youthfulness. And I would always chalk that up to age. Nothing that is visible on the exterior and nothing that comes from, you know, a cream that you can smear on your skin or like a pill that you can take or an injection that you can take.
More than anything else, just open mindedness and being willing to be wrong about things, being willing to change your mind even as you get older is the key thing to remaining like youthful in spirit.
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