Happy Post-Valentine’s Day! It may be early in the year, but if social media unleashed a much-loved viral trend in the first weeks of 2026; without a doubt, it would be the posting of photos from 2016. No matter where you turned, social media celebrities, influencers, and our FB and IG ‘friends’ had joined the global bandwagon, with their choices of 2016 images. There was no escaping how popular this trend had become; and while I’ll confess to having taken the plunge, I’m motivated to analyze why this nostalgia “fix” had struck such a nerve. I have not joined the latest caricature craze of February.

Was it just nostalgia for it’s own sake; or was this a yearning for a time that was simpler and more innocent, an attempt to gloss over the tumult of last year, or of the decade that has passed?

2016 is pre-Covid, no shadow looming of any global health crisis; and in the USA, it was the last year of President Obama’s second term, while here in the Philippines, it heralded the start of President Duterte’s term. Elsewhere in the world that year, we had the Summer Olympics in Rio – where Hidlyn Diaz collected a Silver medal, and we had the Brexit vote in the UK.

In popular Culture and Entertainment, 2016 saw Stranger Things as the streaming hit of the summer, and let’s be cognizant of how the TV series had it’s own 1980’s nostalgia theme. Pokémon Go was the rage, bringing both kids, and the ‘young at heart’, outdoors. In Taiwan, a massive, chaotic traffic jam occurred when Snorlax was found. And yes, I can well imagine how so many would be wishing that in 2026, it could only be Pokémon Go causing chaos across the world.

While the Broadway musical officially opened in the previous year, 2016 was the year of affirmation for just how big a hit was Hamilton. It romped away with 11 Tony Awards, and Lin-Manuel Miranda delivered an emotional speech that touched on how earlier that day, a lone gunman had killed 49 people in an Orlando gay nightclub. My youngest son, is a big Hamilton fan; and back then, had memorized the lyrics and raps of several of the songs, such as My Shot.

In 2016, social media influencers were a relatively fresh phenomenon; and quite often, they were genuinely interesting, with content that provoked, inspired, and were harbingers of where content with traction was going to take us. Today, more often that not, they’re mere peddlers, monetizing their following with regurgitated sponsored content, and affiliate marketing.

The popular memes of 2016 were rich in humor, fun, and irony; not like today, when it’s often used for hate-mongering, and inciting non-tolerance. Back in 2016, some of the more popular memes had to do with Steve Harvey, and his big faux pas during the December 2015 Miss Universe, which saw Pia Wurtzbach eventually crowned. That 2016 was an election year here, meant an uptick on the memorable witticisms of Miriam Defensor Santiago, and her trademark Stupid Is Forever – the Senator passed away in September of 2016.

Mind you, let’s not view the year through rose-tinted glasses, or while donning a Raspberry Beret. Besides the aforementioned popular Senator, we lost several major icons and personalities that year. In music, there were David Bowie, Prince, and George Michael. In the world of cinema, Carrie Fisher, Alan Rickman and Gene Wilder ‘left the movie set’. In Sports, the most notable loss would be Muhammad Ali.

In 2016, two Presidents were impeached – in Brazil and in South Korea. And I’m pretty sure, those two won’t be looking back a decade later, and thinking how 2016 was a wonderful year. What’s coincidental is how the two are both women Presidents; Dilma Rousseff, and Park Geun-hye.

In July of 2016, the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) arbitral tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines. The nine-dash line of China was declared to have no legal basis. But the sad truth is that a decade later, we have not found a way to enforce the ruling.

So while there is much to “heart” about 2016; like almost every year, it is a mixed bag of the wonderful and the sad. There’s gain, and there’s loss. There’s joy, and there’s pain.

And it makes me wonder about this trend; of whether those joining up have real reasons for doing so, or are just suffering from FOMO – fear of missing out.

It reminds me of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014, and how so many across the world would participate in the challenge without acknowledging how it all began in the name of a neurodegenerative disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The aim then was to raise money for research of the disease, and for awareness. The funds raised that year were astronomical compared to previous years; but even back then, I doubted that ALS would became a household word.

So, is it inspiring and empowering to look back at 2016? Obviously, if we look at the rapturous response elicited during the first weeks of the year, the answer is a resounding Yes. My only thoughts on the matter would hinge on the notion that I fervently wish we don’t just look back, but think about the near future, and face the challenges of 2026 with resolution, clear intent, and firm conviction.

Enough of this ‘escaping’ to the past! Let’s move forward, with grace, faith, and hope. Here in our nation alone, there’s so much to fix and put right. Time really is of the essence – I was struck with the observation that 2040 is closer to today, than 2010 is. Think about that for a moment, and realize there’s no time to vacillate or waste.