It's impossible that you've missed the new trend that's taking social media by storm: 2026 is the new 2016. It's a nostalgia for a bygone era, a celebration of a decade well lived, or maybe even a denial of a crumbling world… On Instagram in particular, photo carousels showcasing everyone's lives, exactly ten years ago, are everywhere.
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A rich year for culture and the environment
Indeed, in 2016, there was some positivity. This year, France is happy to see laws enacted to prohibit waste in supermarkets and the ban on plastic bags adopted. A small step for France, but a big leap for the planet. Deep-sea fishing is also banned, and the hole in the ozone layer is closing.
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We see Thomas Pesquet leaving solid ground to join the International Space Station (ISS), the Olympic Games taking place in Rio, Snapchat filters are all the rage, the world discovers This is Us and Westworld, Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, I, Daniel Blake wins the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and Damien Chazelle shakes up cinema with the release of his film La La Land.
2016, a year to nuance
Yes, but. While social networks tend to make us believe that 2016 was absolutely idyllic, the year was far from being all sunshine and rainbows. 0-vin-francais-faire-plier-macron/">Donald Trump becomes President of the United States for the first time. The city of Nice is forever scarred by a truck attack on the Promenade des Anglais, just like Brussels, which suffers from coordinated attacks at the airport and in the metro, as well as Turkey and Germany. Ecuador is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake resulting in over 670 casualties, the “jungle” of Calais is evacuated, and David Bowie leaves this world.
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So yes, in 2016, there were good and beautiful moments. But the news was also incredibly violent. Do we really want to relive that year? Probably not. Besides, Marie Robert, a philosophy professor interviewed by Vanity Fair, says: « I am wary of romanticizing the past. Only seeing the sweetness of before, overlooks the fact that the sweetness of the after is being built now.» Perhaps in this "trend" there’s a lesson to be learned: let’s try, as much as possible, to make 2026 a better year, one that we can look back on in ten years with a kind eye.