Stop romanticizing 2016. Please

Ah yes, our society has somehow made it to 2026. Truly a miracle, if you ask me. At the beginning of this new year, a trend seemed to spark over on Instagram: the “2016 is the new 2026” trend. If you aren’t aware of this due to you being chronically offline, (1) I am jealous of you, and (2) people post pictures of themselves from 2016 with all of its glitz and glam. Fake mustaches and galaxy patterns EVERYWHERE, unicorn frappes, and that one Snapchat filter that made you look like a dog. And everyone is like “OH MY GAWWDD, it was SO much better back then.” News flash, IT WASN’T. Y’all are just blinded by the tragic bliss of 2010s nostalgia. Here are my reasons why 2016 was fucking terrible.

Harambe. You don’t mean to tell me that everyone forgot about their favorite primate from 2016, Harambe? What happened to the “#neverforget” and “#dicksoutforHarambe” that everyone posted on their Twitter.com account? Honestly, rest in peace Harambe, you would’ve loved iPad kids.

Killer Clowns. Oh yeah, did we forget about the LITERAL KILLER CLOWNS roaming around the states?? You couldn’t go down one street at night without seeing some guy in a cheap, dirty-ass Walmart clown costume holding a machete. Back when I was in 2016, you had to BRIBE ME with those Scooby-Doo gummy snacks to get me to go to school. It’s a no for me, chief.

Charlie Charlie Challenge. Not only did we have killer clowns roaming our streets, but literal children were COMMUNICATING WITH DEMONS?? I remember the kids in my fourth-grade classroom clumsily setting up the paper and pencils to conversate with demonic deities during inside recess. Maybe it’s because of this challenge that we summoned a worse Charlie into the world. 

Family vlogging. If you thought regular vlogging was bad, then you are sorely mistaken. Introducing family vlogging! Now for the low, low price of a small amount of clout on the internet, you can expose not only your life, but the lives of your children as well! What could go wrong with that?

2016 Election. The beginning of the end of American politics (maybe, idk, I was ten) :(. Instead of running for president, Trump should’ve just stayed on Epstein’s Island with every other celebrity. “Make America Great Again,” yeah right.

In the end, nostalgia is the new drug that we are all in withdrawal from. While I do wish for a simpler time, when Twenty One Pilots was at their peak and the most I had to worry about was getting my math homework done, we can’t forget about the tragic losses and dumb trends of 2016. Honestly, time hasn’t felt real since 2016, and it deserves to be released from its misery. Rest in piss 2016, you deserve to be forgotten.