Nevertheless, there’s a sturdy argument to be made that that is a picture rehabilitation undertaking for a interval that, by its finish, was being dubbed the “worst yr ever” because of the relentless tempo with which it churned out unfavourable and controversial headlines. Maybe it isn’t the yr in totality that the memes are craving for, however reasonably what they understand as a preferable time to be on-line.
It has beforehand been proposed that the time it takes for folks to fondly keep in mind a sure period and for that to be expressed in well-liked tradition—i.e., the nostalgia cycle—has been shortened by the web. It was as soon as perceived to be roughly 20 years, as with some 90s vogue tendencies being impressed by the 70s, for instance. Now, with the overwhelming quantity of content material at everyone’s fingertips, it encourages extra area of interest tendencies and a sooner recycling of the previous, corresponding to with youthful Gen Z people appreciating the fashion of early 2010s Tumblr.
The 2016 fad is extra ephemeral than this, centered extra strongly on recapturing an emotion than an aesthetic. The punchline to any 2016-focused meme is at all times a sense of light-heartedness and happiness. It isn’t pointing to any particular occasion or reminiscence however establishing a sort of retrospective utopia—a world that was on trip each single day, attempting to broaden their Pokémon assortment on Pokémon Go.
This case of rose-tinted glasses just isn’t merely coincidental, however aligned with how web tradition operated throughout this era. Whereas this time might have supplied the world with a nonstop reel of dangerous, contentious, and ‘faux’ information, it was, in some ways, a relatively nice period to be chronically on-line.
Social media nonetheless had points, however on the identical time, it was extra impactful than ever earlier than. It was the artistic heyday of Twitter and Tumblr sh*tposters, and viral celebrities and budding influencers having fun with their fifteen minutes of fame had been nonetheless a novelty versus an business. The star of the “D**n Daniel” Twitter movies that celebrated his private fashion was interviewed on Ellen, gifted with a lifetime provide of Vans.
The yr of 2016 was, additional, the ultimate yr of the ultra-short-form video platform Vine, and when Snapchat was on the peak of its reputation. They had been each locations that promoted a zany, easy, personable sort of humor that felt lots much less rehearsed than the extra “skilled” or automated choices of immediately, that are so continuously dismissed as “slop”.
Including to this was the truth that memes had been having fun with a degree of mainstream foreign money that they had by no means had earlier than, with a bunch of classics which have an outlined place within the meme corridor of fame, both first showing this yr or reaching new ranges of recognition.
A Know Your Meme roundup of the yr’s hottest memes introduced it was a “golden age of the meme tradition”, because it loved heightened societal influence. It cited the truth that memes had begun to infiltrate the political sphere, corresponding to Barack Obama performing a “mic drop” throughout a speech, and that 2016 had been the primary time that “memes” had been extra continuously searched on Google than “Jesus” or “God”. The article contained entries corresponding to Harambe, the gorilla who confronted an premature finish on the Cincinnati Zoo, the catchphrase “Don’t Speak To Me Or My Son Ever Once more”, and Pepe the Frog.
Regardless of the strengths perceived in hindsight, because of the angle of the present web panorama, the 2016 web was not free from critique. In a retrospective of on-line exercise throughout this era, author Leigh Alexander condemned the web as “a spot on your buttoned-up self, with the untidy entrails of your actual life shoved below the mattress”, on account of elevated ranges of focused harassment utilizing a person’s digital footprint. Additionally condemning the rise of extremism on social media and the extreme consumption of on-line media in what would later come to be identified as “doomscrolling”. She lamented of our web utilization that “we wish it to cease, as a result of we are able to’t appear to cease it ourselves.”
Alexander’s evaluation means that though varied cultural and technological developments and regressions have occurred within the years since, in some methods, the unfavourable points of the web haven’t modified very a lot in any respect. That mentioned, she claims that “We nonetheless say ‘IRL’ to tell apart between speaking digitally and speaking in individual, however the truth is that the web turned the first web site of actual life.” In 2025, we’ve reached a degree the place this distinction isn’t made, and consequently, this time, the place there was not less than a facsimile of separation between the 2 is given added clout.
Maybe the attraction of the 2016 web lies in its finality, appearing because the official consultant of an period lengthy gone but nonetheless in residing reminiscence. It has been argued by historians corresponding to Brad DeLong that 2016 marked the tip of the “lengthy 20th century” within the USA, which started within the 1870s with the emergence of globalization and firms, and was concluded by the election of Donald Trump on an isolationist platform.
The thought of 2016 as a remaining chapter may be translated into the memetic nostalgia of current years. It was a candy spot pre-generative AI, each different platform was a buying channel, and each artistic enterprise was “content material”, whereas additionally being post-breakthrough of on-line tradition into the mainstream.
Nostalgia has existed all through almost each time in historical past, however on this second, web tradition has determined to pine for this explicit yr. 2016 gives meme creators a touchpoint that may attraction to a number of generations of digital natives.
This ranges from those that are reminded of their childhood to the older display addicts who miss a time when, regardless of the fact, it felt a bit extra like their social media utilization served to entertain them and never the slender pursuits of a small and ugly sliver of society. With nearly a decade between every now and then, it’s fulfilling to reminisce about how good we (sort of) had it, and create potential engagement bait within the course of.
