When social media stopped being social by Lamyaa Hegazy

Songs, trends, and aesthetics from that year are resurfacing as people try to channel the vibes of that era. But the more I see people romanticizing 2016, the more inauthentic and rehearsed it all feels. This collective nostalgia we are feeling isn’t for the sounds and colors of 2016. 

What we are actually yearning for is a time when social media was actually social. 

Nowadays, every post on social media feels like it's trying to sell you something. Sometimes it’s a product, but a lot of times it's trying to sell you an entire way of living, like the 7am club, the clean-girl aesthetic, or a mindfulness rebrand. 

As social media got louder and louder, ordinary people like us got quieter on various platforms. Maybe this shift was inevitable. Feeds today feel extremely polished. Where there used to be blurry photos, random selfies, and silly captions, there are now carefully curated feeds that feel very impersonal. Everyone is aware that they are being watched and so, people are hesitant to post. They wait until they are absolutely certain that their photos are placed in the correct order for the photo dump and until they’ve selected the perfect caption that makes it look like they aren’t trying too hard. Even then, they only post at times when many people are online to maximize the amount of likes they get. I’ve been guilty of doing these things too. As a result, we are no longer getting glimpses into the lives of those around us and social media isn’t as casual as it once was. Ordinary moments are packaged in an appealing way before they are shared, just so they can exist successfully on social media. When this becomes too much for some, they resort to watching, instead of sharing and interacting. Connections and friendships that could have formed end up lost in all of the noise. 

It’s not just that connection is fleeting, it's that connection is being replaced by consumption. The line between sharing and advertising is as blurry as ever. Even when nothing is being sold outright, every post is trying to do something. Many current creators aim to build a certain image for themselves or push a certain lifestyle. Now more than ever, social media is shaped by algorithms and so, people do anything to maintain visibility and relevance. With all of this noise, genuine and casual sharing sometimes feels out of place amidst the big and loud content. 

So maybe when people say that they miss 2016, they actually miss how easy it was to take pictures, share moments, and connect with one another. We all miss when posts weren’t polished and when our feeds weren’t constantly force-feeding us things. The platforms may have changed, but what we are missing isn’t gone. Perhaps our instincts to bring back the 2016 vibes will also push us to start sharing more freely and stop filtering our lives so much.