Matt Bernstein, Kat Tenbarge and I dig into what the 2016 nostalgia is really about.
Why is everyone suddenly obsessed with 2016? Hyper-saturated Instagram photos are back. The Snapchat puppy filter is everywhere again. Nostalgic edits are flooding TikTok. From the "King Kylie" era to Harambe, it feels like we’re collectively regressing.
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But was 2016 really “the last good year”? I wanted to understand why this particular moment looms so large in our cultural memory, so I called up my friends Matt Bernstein and Kat Tenbarge to discuss.
Kat is an incredible journalist and the author of Spitfire News, and Matt is an iconic podcast host and content creator. We re-examined the defining moments of 2016, talk about the old days of YouTube, why boomers don't get the nostalgia, and why 2016 has become such a powerful focal point.
We unpack what this fixation on 2016 reveals about today's internet, culture, and politics nearly a decade later.
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In this video, we cover:
The revival of 2016 aesthetics on TikTok.
Why people romanticize the pre-Trump/early-Trump era.
The impact of 2016 internet humor on today's culture.
The rise of the content creator industry.
Why it's all Gen Z and Millennials who are getting nostalgic while older generations don't seem to care.
