The snapchat dog filter, chokers, and ripped skinny jeans – are we back in 2016? 

No, you’ve not time travelled. But your social media feed might have.

It was the year of the Brexit vote, the Rio Olympics and Donald Trump’s first presidential win – yet these are not the parts that people are talking about. 

Users of Instagram have instead been reposting their throwback pictures. Ironically, part of what they long for is the “simpler time,” with less social media usage, less scrolling, and less screen time.

Ten years ago the app was vastly different: Instagram was all about photos. 

There was no option of carousel posts, where you can share multiple images in one place, which was added at the start of 2017. Popularised ‘photodumps’ with posed and carefully selected images, or highly edited and snappy short form content was not on the platform.

Even the logo was in an era of its own, when it was transformed from the former vintage camera icon to its current colourful gradient. The stories feature was introduced during August 2016, and reels in August 2020. 

It might explain why users remember a time of more spontaneous posting. Now, the only place that an unedited side of life might slip through is on close-friend stories.

The trend – reviving photos from a decade ago with the caption ‘It’s 2016…’ –  is a rejection of doomscrolling. 

It was the last full year before we met Tiktok. 

Founded in 2017, the app is often regarded as addictive due to its powerful, personalized algorithm. According to data from Backlinko, the global average screen time on the app is 6 hours and 38 minutes per day – just shy of the UK’s average amount of sleep per night. 

But now it’s 2026. We’re seeing a revival of analog media; replacing notes apps with physical notebooks and using ipods for their music. There’s a resurgence in the popularity of flip phones. It’s an attempt to recover from the digital overload, and swap the convenience and portability of the technological world for a less stimulating one. 

Even celebrities have joined in on the trend. Reece Witherspoon posted a collection of images captioned ‘Bringing back BIG memories with some of my fav people.’ The ‘fav people’ in question included none other than Taylor Swift and Shailene Woodley.

Emily in Paris star, Lily Collins, shared pictures where she was sporting a matte lip and classic, thick, sculpted eyebrows – just as Anastasia Beverley Hills would have wished for.

The trend has reached as far as the sporting world, with the Lionesses and England football team Instagram accounts sharing screenshots of players’ ten-year-old Instagram posts.

Perhaps the most iconic celebrity involved in this trend has been Zara Larsson. Her song Lush Life ended the year at number 6 on The UK’s Top 40 Official Biggest Songs of 2016. 

She’s since shared tumblr-style posts and reminded her audience to “dance like no one is watching.” And dance she certainly has, as the iconic choreography from Lush Life recently went viral.

It originated from her ongoing Midnight Sun tour and became a trend on TikTok. Following its rise in popularity at the end of 2025, the song re-entered the official charts almost a decade after its release. With its iconic mid-2010 pop sound, the song has sparked memories for listeners. 

It’s an embodiment of the relentless nostalgia fuelling the movement that’s branding 2026 as the new 2016.

The past is recalled through rose-tinted glasses, much like the rose-coloured filters used atop pictures from the era. 

Hazy, tinted, and with lower camera quality; these pictures are from the teenage years of those sharing them. We often hear that school is the best time of your life. It’s rooted in the nostalgia of childhood innocence, friendship – and a distinct lack of adult responsibilities. 

The Maybelline-Baby-Lip-wearing, Arctic-Monkeys-listening and Impulse-smelling generation is growing older. They’re longing for younger years in an era where children and teens have digital records of their own youth through social media.

So, perhaps this movement is instead about documenting nostalgia online – rather than simply looking through family photo albums.

Image credit: Hannah Foley