2026 Is The New 2016 Trend Explained: Why Are Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Ananya Panday Sharing Pictures From 10 Years Ago?

We are well into 2026, but social media seems to have got its hands on a time machine, transporting it 10 years back. From friends, followers and acquaintances to social media influencers and celebrities, everyone has been sharing their photos and videos from 2016 in long, seemingly never-ending carousel posts on Instagram. While the photos take you back in time and prompt you to think about a time 10 years ago, are you also wondering what's up with the internet?

Wake up, it's 2016! 

Imagine this. Times are simpler. The first season of Stranger Things just dropped. Instagram does not have a carousel post feature. Snapchat is filled with flowers and rose-tinted cheek filters. Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Sia and Chainsmokers are cool. Skinny jeans are in, shiny makeup gets applause, and YOLO energy will fetch instant likes (real ones, not the algorithm-driven Instagram likes).

Just two weeks into the new year, instead of embracing the future, social media has crawled back to the past. The reason, sweet old nostalgia. 2016 was a monumental year. Memes were springing up, organically. Fashion was at its peak, and pop culture was having a moment. The year brought with it a restrained carefreeness that seems to be lost in the post-pandemic era. This was also the time when social media was actually fun. Algorithms were not designed to sell. Instagram users were not perfomative and the platform was used just as it was intended for, sharing photos. Nothing was designed for TikTok or Instagram, and yet it fit right in. All in all, virality was not manufactured.

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A trend driven by nostalgia, embracing the pre-AI slower time

In 2016, there was no AI-driven software trading human conversation with correctly worded prompts. While it would be incorrect to say that photos and videos were raw, real and unfiltered, they were certainly not as polished as they are today. One was allowed to have ‘a dull, boring’ Instagram feed which did not follow any template. Today, the world moves faster and is seemingly less forgiving. In between cancel culture and the noise of trending audios, the viral ‘2026 is the new 2016’ trend likely aims at pausing to look back at the relatively monotonous yet mess-free time. Driven by nostalgia, the trend helps one take a minute to look back at the progress made in the last 10 years and recall a time when social media was just another app on the smartphone and not the only audience in our lives. It is a collective movement to reflect on the past decade and cherish the one thing that has lost amid a sea of content, trust. In the growing age of deepfake and AI, 2025 was the year when scrolling became an addiction, but content stopped feeling human.

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How to do the trend right?

The trend, in its essence, is simple. If you are among the blessed people who have enough storage to have digital keepsakes from 2016 on your smartphone, then bring them out. Alternatively, you can forage photos and videos from 10 years back in hard drives and old devices and collect them. Post the photo(s) and short clips in the form of a carousel post on Instagram. Usage of ‘#2016’ might fetch you more attention. Top it up by using popular songs from the year. Think Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Sia, Selena Gomez and Justin Timberlake. Throw in photos from Snapchat with ‘uncool’ filters, exaggerated selfies and ‘cringe’ group photos in the mix for maximum effect. Think of it as going through your old photo albums. Just pick out the most unhinged ones and display them proudly.

Don't forget to hop on the trend ASAP, as (in reality) it is still 2026 and a new trend might just be around the corner, and you don't want to be outdated on the internet.

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