Ten years ago, we experienced a time of cultural shifts, social media completely changed, the world was united through trendy apps like Pokemon Go, and “Closer” by The Chainsmokers was released. Today, there is a new movement promoting the return of all the old trends so well loved in 2016. 

At Tompkins, students have shown their love for the return to 2016 in a variety of ways, including having a 2016 themed pep rally last week, and bringing back some 2016 fashion and music choices. Junior Kady Le says she would want to bring back Bruno Mars to 2026, and have him return to his 24K Magic era. 

Bringing back old times is nothing new, there have been popular online throwbacks to the early 2000s and even to 2020 which was only a few years ago. Nostalgia is a key factor in this desire to return to the good old days, and the almost homesick feeling we get when we think about the past pushes us to attempt to recreate it. 

Bringing back old trends also looks different to each generation, in a few years there will likely be plenty of teens who want to return to the 2026 era and bring back trends today like making tiktoks, using Airpods like people use wired headphones today, or bringing back popular songs like how Lush Life by Zara Larsson is in the the Billboard Top 100, 10 years after its initial release. Teacher Stephanie Chronnister who began working at Tompkins in 2015 reflects on how different teenagers and life was back in 2016 versus today. 

Despite how different life was 10 years ago, people, especially teenagers, want to return to the comfortable times and bring back all the things that they remember so fondly, but it is vital to remember to keep moving forward and creating unique trends to help characterize this year as something special.