Why is everyone obsessed with 2016?

“2016 vibes — OMG,” I read on my phone screen as I scroll through a photo dump full of heavily filtered pictures from 10 years ago posted by a friend reminiscing about simpler times.

Kylie Jenner's Instagram post reminiscing on 2016.

As I continue scrolling through my feed, I realize everyone is talking about 2016. Friends from my hometown, microinfluencers, celebrities, even big-name brands are hopping on the trend of taking a trip down memory lane.

Why is everyone so obsessed with the year 2016?

14-year-old Kat serving you some IRL 2016 realness.

Ten years ago, I was 14 and a freshman in high school. Instagram had just introduced its story

feature, Snapchat had recently rolled out filters, and Pokémon GO had everyone taking long walks around the city. Frank Ocean released Blonde and then ghosted us after. Beyoncé dropped Lemonade and had us all hating on Jay-Z. The first season of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix and had us all hooked.

Fast forward to today: I’m 24 and stressed about finding a job and starting my career, buying a home, and making ends meet to pay all my bills.

The New York Times reports that this past February showed a decline of 92,000 jobs and a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent. A survey from the Cengage Group also found that just under a third (30%) of 2025 graduates — and less than half (41%) of 2024 graduates — have found full-time employment related to their education.

According to a Redfin survey, Gen Zers are also more likely than older generations to struggle with housing payments. About two-thirds (67%) say they struggle to afford their rent or mortgage.

This struggle definitely isn’t what I envisioned when I thought about adulting. In 2016, I was

thinking about how I was going to get $20 out of my mom to go to the mall with my friends and when Shane Dawson was going to post a new YouTube video.

Clearly, I’m not the only young adult having a hard time right now. It’s no wonder we look back to a time when things seemed easier. Ten years ago, life felt more carefree.

Clay Routledge, a nostalgia specialist, told the BBC that two factors may be driving the

obsession with 2016: the start of a new decade of life for many young people and widespread uncertainty about the future.

“We tend to be especially nostalgic when the world feels like it's going through some major

change,” Routledge says.

Maybe what we’re facing are simply the realities of growing up and becoming adults. The rose-tinted glasses we once wore as teenagers are starting to come off, and we’re seeing the

real world more clearly.

Clinical psychologist Tracy King told Glamour that nostalgia for 2016 is really about “trying to reconnect with a sense of meaning, continuity, and self-understanding that feels harder to

access in the present.”

She adds that nostalgia “is not just about seeing the past as better, but about finding direction in the present. It reminds people that meaning, connection, and hope were once easy to find.”

I agree with King. Looking back at 2016 can be a reminder of where we were then and where

we are now.

14-year-old me and my bestie who's still my bestie! We've come a long way.

Would the person you were ten years ago be proud of who you’ve become?

I think 14-year-old Kat would be proud of me.

Because even though things feel harder now, those memories remind us that growth is happening even when it doesn’t feel like it. If we look to the past to find direction in the present, we can remain hopeful for the future and whatever comes next.

Keep trudging, you guys. We’re the new adults now. And we can do this.

Kindly,

Kat