Memories from 2016: Gen Z Reflects on a Decade of Culture

2016 feels like it was yesterday, so many defining moments in Gen Z culture have emerged in the last ten years. It’s hard to come to terms with just how much time has passed, but it has nonetheless.

From historical sporting victories to viral pop culture trends and even some strange national scares, the year was packed with memorable events. 2016 was an important year, beyond the fact that it’s been ten years. 

This year was a time of social media trends picking up, such as music being shared and used across many platforms, sporting records being broken, and social media overall became a daily routine for younger generations. 

For Gen Z, this was elementary school years all the way to the beginning of college. This year is when monumental moments occur in growing children and young adults. 

A developmental time for the younger generation who aren’t as young anymore. Students are looking back on how these moments shaped their families, memories and social media engagement. 

For Valerie Rodriguez, a junior at Elmhurst University, the memories of 2016 are tied to the simplicity of being younger and the connected nostalgia.

“I just liked being in elementary school with my friends, playing outside during recess and having it easy,” she said. At the time, life felt less complicated and centered around carefree activities. “Yeah, like I didn’t have a phone at 10. Yeah, just being with my friends.”

Sports brought excitement across Chicago that year, at least for Cubs fans. The Chicago Cubs’ historic World Series victory became one of the biggest sports stories in the country at that time due to the breaking of the ‘Billy Goat curse’. 

After 108 years without a championship, the Cubs finally brought home the title in a long-standing, late-night game. Many Chicago-area families watched the moment together as a community, crafting memories that have been integrated into today’s day-in-age. 

Junior Idalis Echenique remembers experiencing the celebration as a 10-year-old. “A memory that I have from 2016 would be the Cubs winning the World Series,” she says. 

“I remember that me and my family, we went to the parade that they had, and it was cool. We got to see the players on the bus, and there were a lot of people, and I know it was like a big moment because it had been a while since they won the World Series. So yeah, it was cool.” 

Not everyone celebrated the same way. Chicago is split up through their long-standing baseball rivalry between the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. Rodriguez, a White Sox fan, remembers the winning differently: “We were all watching it. But I’m a Sox fan,” she says. “I was mad that they won, so that’s how I remember it.” 

Pop culture also played a huge role in this defining year for Gen Z. First-year, Jarrett McClain remembers how music and the internet culture shaped 2016 to what it is today. 

The annual XXL Freshman Cypher introduced audiences to artists who would later become major stars, as they are currently, “This is where we saw artists like Lil Dicky, Kodak Black, Lil Uzi,” McClain says. “We started to see them kind of start to rise to fame in this moment.”

Music releases that year also left a lasting impression on their audiences, “I also think of great albums like Kanye West’s Life of Pablo,” McClain said. “It was really popular and it’s still something that we listen to nowadays. So, yeah, 2016 was definitely one of my favorite moments for music.”

Beyond music, travel, and sports, 2016 had its unusual trends and viral events. One of the strongest was the ‘killer clown’ sightings reported across the United States during the fall. People dressed as creepy clowns and were spotted in neighborhoods and near school zones. This sparked fear as well as internet speculation. This was heavily trending throughout X, which was called Twitter at the time. Although many incidents turned out to be pranks, this trend became a major topic online and even within the news. 

Entertainment and the arts were also thriving at this time, exceptionally. Movies, TV shows, and viral internet trends dominated social media. At this time, prior to TikTok’s popularity, there was Musical.ly. 

Trends began growing on this platform such as the mannequin challenge. This took the internet by storm, with this trend being filmed in schools, planes, and other public places. It created a community, not only online, but also between strangers when randomly asked to participate in the video. Doing so became a part of the trend. 

YouTube was also a popular platform during 2016, with a rise of streaming culture changing based on how people were using media. Some apps were trending as well, such as  Pokemon GO, which encouraged users to go outside and explore communities while playing games on their phones, creating communal engagement and a feeling of accomplishment through collecting new characters. 

2016 was a time for making memories, living in the moment, and it’s hard to believe that it’s been a decade. We’re growing up.