'2026 Is the New 2016': Why everyone’s engaging in performative trend-hopping
The current obsession with “2016” isn’t really about the year itself, but about how a specific early Gen Z internet culture turned it into a shared, ironic reference long before it went mainstream. What began as a niche, coded way of remembering a feeling has since been diluted into a trend, stripped of context by celebrities, algorithms and media eager to explain something that was never meant to be explained.
The current obsession with “2016” isn’t really about the year itself, but about how a specific early Gen Z internet culture turned it into a shared, ironic reference long before it went mainstream. What began as a niche, coded way of remembering a feeling has since been diluted into a trend, stripped of context by celebrities, algorithms and media eager to explain something that was never meant to be explained.
