Millennials are getting old

0:00Astead Herndon:The Chainsmokers. Drake's One Dance. King Kylie. I don't know if I've ever been on a podcast before. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard. The internet has decided that 2016 was the best year ever. Summer of 2016. Why was it so good? Why do we all love it so much? It was even better than what you think it was. And I know because I was there. But what's behind all these throwbacks? Well, millennials are in their 30s and 40s now. And increasingly, our generation is having to wrestle with the realities of getting older. Now, that could mean more nostalgia. But it could also mean more anxiety about the years to come.

0:39Astead Herndon:Particularly in a society that seems less secure than the one our parents or grandparents grew up in. The millennial midlife crisis and what to do about it. That's up next on Today Explained from Vox.

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2:06Pokemon Go to Today Explained. My name is Deja Tolentino. I am an internet culture reporter, previously of NBC News, and I currently write a newsletter called Yap Year. Can we first just start with, like, why did this 2016 trend come back online? Where did it start? It's been building up since last year, especially on TikTok. It's been 10 years since 2016. Let's go back into the time machine. We were fidget spinning. In my opinion, the mid-2010s was the last time culture truly peaked.

2:41Astead Herndon:Gen Z is obsessed with 2016. We're seeing a huge shift in nostalgic content. People have been slowly bringing back 2016 trends, whether that's the mannequin challenge with, you know, the Black Beatles song. Or pink wall aesthetics and these really warm, hazy Instagram filters. People have been kind of, you know, romanticizing this time since like earlier last year in 2025. and when we entered the new year in 2026 there were a lot of TikToks saying that 2026 was going to be like 2016. It's 2026 it's like 2016 all over again it's giving 2016 vibes. Now that it's 2026 that means 2016 is back. Which I was curious about because it's kind of like what does that even mean?

3:33Yeah. I don't actually think people know what that means at all. Then you know a couple weeks ago, you see a lot of people on Instagram, especially like peak Instagram influencers posting themselves at their peak, really, in 2016. Heard we're going back to 2016. Scrolling through my camera roll, it feels like peaking into another lifetime. One, I lived entirely behind a lens. 2016, but same baby face. Peak 2016. Snapchat filters and all. Guys, I took 5 ,000 photos in 2016. By the time I get through looking through all of them, this meme will have passed. Which inspired then everybody to post their own 2016 photos.

4:13And this trend got really big. I mean, according to TikTok, searches for 2016 surged by 452%. Spotify showed a 71 % increase in 2016 playlists last year compared to 2024. And also big artists from 2016 have been making a comeback. And so in your newsletter, you've kind of tried to define what the 2016 mood board is. Can you just explain that for me? Like when we're thinking 2016 vibes, what do we mean? When I look at 2016, you see, you know, makeup gurus on YouTube blow up at this time. Hey guys, welcome to today's video. We are going to be chatting about... Hi guys, this is James Charles. Welcome back to my YouTube channel.

4:54Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. It's the girl Jackie Aina. And the makeup at the time is extremely maximalist. It's very, you know, full glam, full beat. very matte, very colorful, some neon wigs at this time. You know, you have the King Kylie of it all. This year is really about like the year of just realizing stuff. 2016, I think, was such a pivotal moment in internet culture. I think that is when we started to really enter this influencer era in full force. And prior to that, you know, we had creators, but we didn't have as much of this, you know, monetization infrastructure to make everything online an ad essentially.

5:42And so, you know, people were posting whatever they wanted to post. And then it also was the year that it changes algorithm towards a more algorithmic feed versus a, you know, friends-only chronological feed. I think people have missed that a lot, although, you know, I think people romanticize 2016 and forget a lot about what that year is actually like. The other question I wanted to ask you, though, is what do you think this says about 2026? If we're all looking back so longingly on 10 years prior, if there's this wave of nostalgia for a time before the algorithms ruled our lives, What do you think it says about people's relationship to the present?

6:27You know, as much as people are talking about 2016 right now, the entire 2020 so far, especially as an internet culture journalist, like I have observed throughout the entire decade thus far, almost every year, you know, people on TikTok, especially like young people, have been romanticizing the 2010s. I think in general, people associate the 2010s with a sense of optimism, especially, you know, post-2012. But I think a lot of people, especially young people, have been growing up at a time after the pandemic and in the 2020s, which has been such a tumultuous time in the economy and politics and in the world in general.

7:12and it feels really hopeless at times, that looking back at a time that literally looks so sunny and positive and wonderful and low stakes, I think it's really easy for people to become really fixated on this time period, even if that wasn't the actual reality, right? I mean, you kind of mentioned this, though, but it's not like in 2016 at the time, it felt like some rose-colored, sunny, perfect time, you know? I mean, I remember pretty tumultuous events, particularly in the political landscape, things like Brexit. The U.K. has voted to leave the European Union. I think about obviously the Donald Trump election and his winning of the primary was kind of roiling the country at the time.

8:00All we need is great ideas to make America great again. Why do you think people are only cherry picking the good parts of 2016 and ignoring what were real tension points of that time? I think that a lot of people are looking back at 2016 so fondly because it was one of the last years in which we engaged in a monoculture together and we had shared pieces of culture that we could remember. I mean, we could all remember Closer being on the radio like 24-7 at the time.

8:42I think a lot of people romanticize 2016 because it is the last time they remember unification in any way, right? Not that people are politically unified at this time, but it feels like the last kind of moment of normalcy before this entire decade of turmoil. As much as there was so much change and disruption happening in 2016, whether that's Donald Trump, whether that's Brexit or even the rise of like Bernie Sanders. We can do much, much better as a nation. like feeling the burden there's so many you know people who are so excited about that i think there was a feeling of disruption that could be mistaken for general optimism and in a way it is optimism right but it is this hope for something different to come that began in 2016 that did not materialize in maybe the ways that people wanted them to but i think a lot of people can remember that feeling and the shared culture that we all had that nobody really is able to share in these days.

9:54I love that point because originally I thought, you know, this is just millennials trying to post when they looked hotter, right? But I do think that what you're saying makes a lot of sense. You know, I think up until maybe it's that election or certainly I think the years that follow, you could kind of tell yourself a story of shared universal values, of a shared national identity, of a shared political identity, I think the last decade has really disrupted. I can see how that plays into the nostalgia for 2016 and that time. But I got to say, at the same time, I do wonder about particularly young people living in such nostalgia.

10:33Like, I'm 32. I can't imagine 10 years ago, me thinking that the best years were behind me and not in front. Am I just being old or like does some of this feel like a generation that's been raised on remakes and sequels you know uh uh you know looking back instead of looking forward yeah and i have you know noticed this retroactive obsession for like i said the entire 2020s and especially as young people, you know, I'm 27. Like I shouldn't be like, yeah, like being 17 was the best years of my life. I swear to God, everybody, like it gets better. Um, no, I, I've always been worried in a way that like culture is too obsessed with looking back.

11:29Right. Because a lot of, you know, in a lot of respects, it is too obsessed with looking back because when you consistently cherry pick through the 2010s, which is something that, you know, Gen Z online has been doing for the past six years at this point. There, first of all, you run out of stuff. Like there's really not a lot of difference at some points, like between like 2013 and 2012. Like there, you run out of stuff, you run out of references and you also are unable to imagine a better future forward. And that is always really concerning. That is always an indication that there's a loss of hope.

12:14But I think that this year, it seems like the energy online is interested in creating something new and introducing friction and moving forward from this constant need for escapism that the internet has provided us for the past 10 years. I have seen that kind of rise, you know, alongside this nostalgia that has been so widely publicized and widely talked about. I think people are ready for new things. I think people are ready to move on from, like, constant escapism that the Internet and social media brings, including constant nostalgia. I think that'll take time, obviously. — Deja Tolentino writes about internet and culture for the newsletter Yap Year.

13:05Astead Herndon:Now, if hearing people that are nostalgic for the chain smokers or feeling the burn makes you feel old, well, you might just be old. That's coming up.

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17:21Astead Herndon:We're back with New York Magazine's Emily Gould. So if millennial nostalgia is a growing trend, That means millennials themselves must be getting old. And it's true. Emily wrote a piece for New York Magazine about how the oldest millennials are reaching their first big milestone in aging. Emily, what is that milestone? There's this study coming out of Stanford about aging cliffs that happen at age 44 and age 60. Those are the ones they know about so far. And long story short, basically, the data that this study has come up with is showing that all of the cells in your body, every organ, every muscle, all those cells are degenerating faster.

18:06Like you're aging in hyperspeed during the year that you are 44.

18:13It got so much press when it came out and I think it was because just the idea of 44 being the age that you really become middle-aged resonated for a lot of people regardless of whether they were feeling it in their own bodies or their own souls I just put the call out for anyone who had had particularly dramatic health or life things happened to them during the year that they were 44 And I was shocked by the responses that I got. Things like all of a sudden I couldn't see. I went from having 20-20 vision to needing glasses overnight. I stopped being able to drink. I'd have a glass of wine and be hungover to like, I don't recognize my own face in the mirror.

18:56I had no wrinkles. And all of a sudden my face is like sliding off my skull. So this put the fear of God into me. I had not yet turned 44 when I was doing this research. And so I started to think about like, OK, I know myself. I'm not going to overhaul my whole life. I don't have the budget. I don't have the stamina. Can I do any incremental changes that will make 44 go more smoothly?

19:23You know, the people you were talking to, how were they trying and were they trying to mitigate the effects of aging and how has that changed in recent years? I was more interested ultimately in talking to people who seemed really at home in themselves as older people and also who had a spirit of youthfulness. And I would always chalk that up to nothing that is visible on the exterior and nothing that comes from, you know, a cream that you can smear on your skin or like a pill that you can take or an injection that you can take. more than anything else, just open-mindedness and being willing to be wrong about things, being willing to change your mind even as you get older is the key thing to remaining youthful in spirit.

20:17You were taking on this process as you were about to see your 44th birthday. How did it affect how you were approaching that age in general? Part of it was just psychologically I wanted to get my mind around the idea that our culture feeds us, which is that aging is a problem to be solved. And it's something, you know, the anti-aging industry is a billion-dollar industry. They're constantly selling us products that are going to, like, fix the problem of aging. Botox Cosmetic, the only FDA-approved treatment for the temporary improvement of both moderate to severe frown lines and crow's feet. Powered by purified peptides to significantly decrease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in just two weeks.

20:57Visibly improve lines and wrinkles after seven days with high-performance retinol technology. And I knew I didn't want to think about it like that. I wanted to think about, like, how do I get to a place where, like, I'm an old person who's happy with my life rather than a young person trapped in an old person's body. Yeah, no, that's real. And I think just, you know, talking to people who are much older than me was one of the most important ways that I ended up getting there. It definitely seemed as if throughout the piece there was a kind of mental aspect to approaching aging or in staying young that you were identifying.

21:38You know, are we talking like the secret, like positive thinking? Like, what do we mean when we say that there was a frame of mind that some of those people got in that allowed them to be more comfortable with aging? I'm going to contradict myself because I was just talking about staying youthful, you know, as something aspirational. But something else that I think is aspirational is accepting the age that you are and being grateful for the good things that come with aging. One of them, ultimately, I mean, this really resonated with me was when one of the women who I interviewed toward the end of the piece, Kim France, talked about how when you're younger and you've experienced a big trauma, whether it's a, you know, grief or loss or just a crisis in your life, something really life altering, something where there's a clear before and after in your life.

22:34Not everyone is going to have shared that experience. But then as you get older, everyone has had that experience. And it's nice to be able to have that camaraderie. There's an understanding about as a consequence of time, you've had one of those experiences and you can share those more easily than if you're, you know, particularly someone who might feel a sense of shame about that earlier in your life. Yeah, or just feel like you are alone in it, have no one to talk to among your peers, you know. And so that, I don't know, that sounded good to me. Yeah, yeah, that does. I mean, is there any way that we think millennials might age differently than other generations?

23:14I'm thinking about the ways that millennials have experienced more economic insecurity or the ways that, you know, it hasn't necessarily seemed like, as your piece lays out, that we've achieved the life markers that other generations have in the time that was traditionally set. Is that going to matter as millennials get older in terms of how we age? I mean, I almost don't want to think about it because it's so dark, you know. We just don't have a house to age in. Yeah, that's kind of where I was going with it in my mind. I mean, I don't know. I definitely don't have any of the financial stability markers that my parents did at my age or even that some of my peers have.

24:02But that's because of choices that I've made, such as living in the most expensive city in the world for my entire adult life. I chose that. I own that. I don't own anything else, literally. Literally, we are so used to things collapsing around us and to not having certainty and to not having stability. We have really been forced to roll with the punches. And most of us, I mean, hopefully, have developed a kind of resilience that I think will really serve us well with whatever is to come in our own bodies, in our own minds and in the world around us. It's funny because you mentioned kind of resilience among millennials, where we were just talking to a Gen Z-er who was saying that they define millennials as optimistic.

24:48That feels to me a little at odds with what we're used to talking about, which is us seeing a generation who has seen kind of structures and institutions collapse around them. Like, in the end, like, it does feel like a dueling story about the same generation. Like, are we optimistic? Are we doobers? Are we doers? Are we slouches? Like, what are we? It may be the making huge generalizations about people who were born over a 10-year period of time is just like not an exact science. I do think that it depends on the day, you know, like we all have both of those wolves living inside us. You know, in your piece, you asked the question, would it be healthier to accept our certain decay and mortality than rage against the dying of the light or dewy glow, throwing as much time and money as possible into anti-aging measures?

25:38Now, do you feel like you have an answer to that now about which one of those is healthier to accept? I mean, clearly, clearly it's healthier to accept the inevitable dimming of your dewy glow. But at the same time, it's like, I'll get back to you in 10 more years when I'm 55. And we'll see how I'm feeling about all of this stuff when I'm like, actually old. No, I love the line where you said staying young is in some part a matter of appreciating the opportunity to get old. Like, it felt to me like that kind of staying in the present that I was talking about, where in some ways it just speaks to that mindset shift you're identifying where, you know, it's only an anxiety-driven thing if it's not seen as an opportunity that not everyone gets.

26:34I mean, staying optimistic, it's hard. It's very hard. I feel crazy even suggesting it, like, right now. But of the old people who I've had the privilege of knowing, the ones who are able to just, like, look out the window and say, it's a nice day outside. You know, I'm looking at the blue sky. I'm looking at the clouds. Like, those are the ones. I'm like, I want to be you when I'm 80.

27:08Astead Herndon:Emily Gould is a novelist and feature writer for New York Magazine. Check out our show notes to read her piece, Falling Off the Aging Cliff at 44. Today's show was produced by Danielle Hewitt, edited by Amina Alsadi, fact-checked by Andrea Lopez Cruzado, and engineered by Bridger Dunnegan and David Tattashore. I'm Asted Herndon, and you can hear me again tomorrow on our second-ever episode of Today Explains Saturday. This week, we're getting a pulse on Trump voters. All signs point to them softening their support. But what does that really look like? This will be right here in your feed tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.