One decade, ten years, 120 months, 520 weeks and 3650 days ago, the Earth made a full rotation around the moon and changed our calendars to 2016 and the rest… was history.
In many ways, 2016 is viewed by many as “one of the greatest years.” Between the aesthetics, the music, the clothing, the attitudes, the atmosphere and the trends, this year is engraved in the minds of young millennials and older Gen Z. But what about these things sets 2016 so far apart from other years?
2016 is seen as a time of simplicity and innocence. With social media on the rise, it held aspects that are missed by many. Social media now has gained the verb of “doomscrolling” which was not even a thought years ago. With popular apps at the time like Tumblr, Vine, Instagram, Musical.ly (now Tik Tok) and Twitter (now X), everything posted was handmade unlike the current status of social media where a generous portion is AI generated.
Users were satisfied with the short and simple content on the video-based apps and the newly mainstream concept of “memes.” Most video memes originated from “Vine.” While they could be listed, there are hundreds upon hundreds of Vines that still live rent free in the minds of the past users. On the apps that had the ability to have photos, GIFs and text options like Tumblr, Pinterest and Twitter, memes started to grow and branch off into many different things with the next being as entertaining as the last. These memes ranged from “Ermagerd Girl” to “Pepe the Frog” to even “Grumpy Cat.”
While social media was taking off, another form of media was entering a new era; music. Music has existed for thousands of years and will more than likely be around for thousands more, but the music that hit the charts running in 2016 marked a time in history.
Grand View alum and current head coach of the men’s and women’s tennis team, Jacob Redman, was attending GVU at the time and a fresh 21-year-old.
“I think the EDM [Electronic Dance Music] world was starting to make its way into pop radio and collabs,” Redman said. “I think that was when my music interest started to change.”
Artists like The Chainsmokers, G-Eazy and Major Lazer, in a way, own the ears of 2016. Many other artists released music during this period. Rihanna, for example, released her eighth studio album, “ANTI” and has not released anything since. This left Rihanna fans stuck in 2016 waiting for her return to the studio. Similarly, Frank Ocean released his second studio album in 2016 and has not put anything else out either, leaving his fans high and dry like Rihanna. Besides Frank Ocean and Rihanna, Ariana Grande released “Dangerous Woman,” Drake released “Views,” Future released “Evol,” Kanye West released “The Life of Pablo” and the genre-defying album by Beyoncé, “Lemonade.”
While there was plenty of other music released during 2016, these were some of the biggest names and albums that hit the charts. This music is not forgotten and reigns supreme still ten years later.
For those in high school during 2016 like GVU alum, Blake Haney, Sports Information Director at GVU, said he rocked the little iPods but was more of a television and Disney Channel guy.
“I was still watching Disney Channel for a while, too long probably. ‘Shake It Up Chicago’ was all that,” Haney said.
Dani Gronek, Director of Accessibility Services at GVU, was in her late college years during 2016. When asked what celebrity embodies 2016, she said, “I feel like Ariana Grande and her big sweater and tall boots. That to me is 2016 in a nutshell.”
Music festivals were also at their peak with Des Moines having its spot on the scene. While Gronek was completing her schooling in Cedar Falls, she made the trip to Des Moines, Iowa for the music, as many did.
“515 Alive was in its prime,” Gronek said. “It was still when it was the downtown one, and they had MGK as headliner and Zeds Dead. It was a big deal.”
Redman, who lived in the area, spent his weekends like college students do; out on the town.
“The spot was the Court Avenue scene but some bars that don’t exist anymore. Hush was around and silent disco was being a thing,” Redman said. “The silent disco popped off that year, and everyone was doing that for six months and then it went out.”
One of the big differences from concerts now and in 2016 is the camera out, flash on, at these shows. If you were to go to a concert tomorrow and look around, you would mostly see people on their phones recording.
Talking about technology and social media, though, the shift in these topics has been drastic in the last decade.
Gronek said, “There wasn’t the pressure to digitalize your whole act. You were just there in the moment more which I appreciated.”
With social media at the bottom of the mountain, finding its footing in 2016, many apps had their moments. Snapchat being one of them. In 2016, everyone was raving about the Snapchat filters.
“Everyone used the Snapchat filters all the time like dog ears, the rainbow and the flower crown,” Gronek said.
Social media has climbed over the last decade and is almost overused in 2026. Though in 2016, there was no term “doomscrolling.” With time, this term has taken over the lives of young minds and has completely reshaped how teenagers go throughout their days like what they eat, who they spend time with and even what they wear.
The trends in fashion between 2016 and 2026 are both completely different and similar. Where people would wear skinny jeans in 2016, now the trend is baggy or even super baggy jeans. Where people would wear chokers in 2016, now the trend is chains and crosses. But the thing is, in the ten years between 2016 and 2026, fashion trends were created, went mainstream and died all within this time frame. For example, the “VSCO Girl” trend, which included oversized tees, Nike shorts, Hydro Flasks and scrunchies. This was a huge trend during the late summer of 2019 and into 2020, bleeding to the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine.
The quarantine in 2020 was the defining event that changed so many mindsets. It was a setback that no one saw coming and has changed the way so many distinct aspects of the world from large things like the economy to tiny things like motivation.
With this break of social function, many years later, people look back to pre-shutdown and reminisce to 2016 where everything seemed much simpler.
For most of whom lived their young adult lives in 2016, their experiences live in their head rent free.
Haney sums up the 2016 mindset very well.
“Sometimes I look at things I did, and it is just like, dude, I would never do that, but it was fun. And I appreciate that part of me. That was just like, I am just going to be who I am, be a goofy dude, and it’s okay. I don’t really care what people think about me, but I wasn’t thinking about what other people think about me either,” Haney said.
With there being so much that has changed from 2016 to 2026, what remains the same is that change is good and pushes us to be our best selves. Be the change.
