measles has been eradicated Created by Beyoncé in America “lemonade” And liberals had high expectations. first female president. Voters were encouraged to: pokemon go To the voting station. Remember 2016?

Ten years have passed, and both celebrities and ordinary people have had their faces “burned in.” #I am with my girlfriendduring some of the biggest national dramas. Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift showdown.

This year has also been a notoriously bad year. of Pulse nightclub massacre It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history (until the following year). prince and david bowie Among the lost treasures are the dead. Political divisions deepened and common ground crumbled. Preparations were already being made for a dystopian 2026. So how tough is it now?

Many women who were very famous in 2016 are sharing throwback photos online to remind their followers just how famous they’ve become since then. Kylie Jenner was the queen of Tumblr in 2016 with her overdrawn pout. mourned The launch of the lip kit that made her a millionaire. supermodel karlie kloss I remembered Wearing or using a choker Snapchat Puppy Filtertruly a relic of the mid-2010s. Lena Dunham, Cross’s fellow Taylor Swift “Squad” member, I remembered About the filming of “Girls”. And during behind-the-scenes snaps of “Big Little Lies,” Reese Witherspoon also secretly In a photo taken with Swift in 2016.

Then, gush. Celebrities and non-celebrities alike remember 2016 as a carefree, happier time. Jeans were tighter and eyebrows were more blocked. the inspired something to go back to, or try it on those Aesthetics of 2016 like costume At present.

“I loved this time and all the memories from it so much I had to post it!” Mindy Kaling with subtitles An Instagram carousel of herself wearing bright costumes from her “Mindy Project” days. for a long time Technology YouTuber eye justin commented Another creator posted: “2016 was so amazing!!!”

“I don’t think I would have left 2016 behind.” added Bohemian brand Free People’s Instagram account (based on their consistently Coachella-themed merchandise, that’s probably true).

Jessica Maddox, an associate professor of media and cultural studies at the University of Georgia, said the trend is fairly benign, but “there’s also historical revisionism going on.”

Maddox shared a photo from 2016 to remind old friends and new followers that he spent a year in a cast after nearly splitting his thumb in half. She said it was fun introducing a short but pivotal chapter in her life story to people who didn’t meet her until the hand trauma occurred. But she doesn’t miss it.

“Nostalgia is always complicated because we think that by doing or consuming something we can feel the same way we did back then, but that’s never the case,” she said.

2016 photos do Maddox said it was back in a “simpler” time when social media felt like an actual network and community. People are now more likely to follow the same stories, participate in the same trends, and make fun of them (mannequin challenge or millennial pink,someone? ), discuss the same schedule tv set. Makeup has become thicker, camera lenses have become grainier, and style has become skewed maximalist (at least, two Of these trend (may turn into an advantage). In 2016, Maddox said, “We’re less online, but at the same time we’re more together in online spaces.”

“Our media diet was also very different. We weren’t constantly bombarded with bad news from being constantly connected to politics and the media,” she said. “I think that’s part of the reason why I look back and think it was easier or better. Maybe it’s just that we weren’t as connected and weren’t doing as much online.” fate scroll. We weren’t as involved as we are now. ”

“I think that’s what a lot of us are nostalgic for when it comes to 2016. It definitely felt like there was more of a monoculture back then in terms of gathering places on the internet,” Maddox said.

The rare and fleeting fusion of having fun on the internet and putting down your phone for a long time to enjoy life is what inspired some to declare 2016. “Last year was a good year.”

“When people refer to this year as ‘the last good year,’ perhaps what we really mean is that it was the last time before a seismic shift occurred in American politics,” Maddox said.

Dustin Kidd, a professor of sociology and pop culture expert at Temple University, said recontextualizing the year as the last time things were good “finds solace in the culture of 2016 as a kind of final rejoice before modern politics overwhelms the culture.”

The US presidential election wasn’t the only important political event this year. The Brexit vote took Britain out of the European Union, destabilizing the continent’s political order and creating polarization among Britons. The social changes felt in 2016 “may be dictated by the election of Donald Trump, but it’s about the transformation of the entire political field and the process by which politics becomes culture,” Kidd said.

Maddox said the most striking thing about time-traveling to 2016 online is the polarizing reaction to the trend itself. Since then, the internet has gotten even messier, meaner, and angrier, and innocuous photos like the one from 2016 can prompt malicious comments.

“Nothing happens on the internet these days unless it becomes an issue for both parties. Nothing can happen on the internet today just by ‘being’,” she said. “For me, I think the amount of criticism of this trend is the reason it’s happening in the first place.”