Shane Hewitt and The NightshiftShane Hewitt and The Nightshift

Why 2016 Became the Internet's Nostalgia Cutoff

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Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift

Shane Hewitt & The Nightshift is your late-night companion for real talk, bold ideas, and unfiltered conversations that matter. Hosted by Canadian rad 
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The 2016 nostalgia trend hit your feed this week. Instagram prompted you to post a photo from 10 years ago. You scrolled through old albums, found pictures of yourself at summer camp or working retail or figuring out college. Maybe you posted it. Maybe you just looked and remembered how different life felt then. The question nobody's asking: why 2016 specifically when nostalgia usually runs on a 20-year cycle?

The hosts note Happy Days in 1974 looked back to the 1950s. That 70s Show premiered in the late 90s. The pattern holds at roughly 20 years, yet here we are celebrating 10. One theory: social media needs content. People aren't posting like they used to. Everyone reposts Reels that disappear. AI generates half the feed. The platforms are running out of updates, so they prompt you to mine your archive. Pokemon Go gets mentioned as the last time the internet felt genuinely calm and unified.

Discover why this nostalgia cycle broke its own pattern. Learn what changed between 2016 and now that makes 10 years feel like a lifetime. Consider what you did regularly in 2016 that you wish you still did.

Originally aired on 2026-01-16

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Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift

Shane Hewitt is known for his engaging and relatable on-air personality, which captivates listeners. 
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