Hi you,
If your TikTok feed has suddenly turned into grainy selfies, purple sunsets, Snapchat filters, and outfits held together by chokers and vibes, you’re not imagining it. 2016 nostalgia is everywhere right now.
Not because that year was good.
But because it was lighter.
Before everything needed commentary.
Before every feeling required a takeaway.
Before connection felt like a performance review.
And yes — dating was different then, too.
Let’s get into it.
– Team Necterine
BEFORE EVERYTHING NEEDED A RUNNING COMMENTARY
Why 2016 won’t leave the group chat
2016 looked like flower crowns, ripped jeans, olive-green utility jackets, and millennial pink hair. It was Lemonade and Blonde. First seasons of Insecure and Stranger Things. Pokémon Go briefly convincing everyone to leave their homes and touch grass at the same time.
Culture felt communal. Messy. Slightly unhinged. But shared.
Your feed was mostly people you actually knew. Instagram Stories didn’t exist yet. TikTok wasn’t even a thought. You weren’t narrating your life in real time or bracing for how it would land. You just… did things.
And because the world hadn’t fully taught us how bad it could get yet, people were a little less guarded. Less optimized. Less defensive.
Dating didn’t feel easy. But it felt human.
FAST FORWARD
Monologues masquerading as intimacy
Somewhere along the way, dating stopped being a conversation and started feeling like broadcasting.
Voice notes instead of back-and-forths.
Long explanations instead of curiosity.
People walking you through their emotional process before you’ve even had a chance to respond.
We don’t talk with each other anymore — we talk at each other.
Dating now often feels like sitting through someone’s internal podcast — thoughtful, self-aware, emotionally literate — but strangely closed. You’re given the full monologue, then handed the mic and expected to do the same.
Instead of curiosity, we get presentations.
Instead of dialogue, we get updates.
That’s why so many connections feel transactional instead of alive. Everyone’s busy proving self-awareness instead of building chemistry.
And you can feel the fatigue everywhere.
This is why certain cultural moments hit harder than they should.
Like Bravo fans watching Amanda Batula finally leave Kyle and collectively saying, thank god. Not because breakups are aspirational, but because watching someone stop narrating their own unhappiness — stop justifying, softening, or explaining it away — is deeply relieving.
Or Buttons Girl, choosing one small, concrete action every day instead of spiraling into endless self-analysis. No manifesto. No rebrand. Just movement.
In a culture obsessed with unpacking every feeling in real time, here is your reminder that action used to come first — interpretation second. Which is exactly how dating used to work.
These moments resonate because they signal the same thing:
less talking, more choosing.
Less processing out loud.
More paying attention to what’s actually happening.
WHERE VIVRELLE FITS IN
Low Pressure Access, High Enjoyment
Vivrelle taps into that same desire for ease.
It’s a membership that gives you access to a rotating closet of designer bags and accessories — without the pressure of permanence or overcommitment. You try things. You enjoy them. You give them back.
No spiraling.
No sunk-cost guilt.
No performance required.
Honestly? Dating could learn from that model.
Elevate Your Everyday With Vivrelle
If you’re looking to take your style to the next level this new year, Vivrelle is an exclusive fashion and lifestyle membership that unlocks access to a vast, one-of-a-kind closet filled with thousands of hard-to-find luxury pieces, including:
– Handbags
– Jewelry
– Watches
– And even diamonds
With Vivrelle, you’ll always have your hands on the best that luxury has to offer.
Upgrade your wardrobe when you sign up with code FUTURE for 50% off your first four months of membership.
When dating feels intense early on, your instinct is to:
THE TAKEAWAY
Nostalgia isn’t the point. Relief is.
Missing 2016 isn’t about wanting the past back.
It’s about remembering what felt better.
Dating didn’t get harder.
It got louder.
More narration.
More self-justification.
More pressure to be emotionally fluent at all times.
So maybe the move isn’t to recreate 2016 —
but to reclaim what we lost.
Less performance.
More presence.
Fewer monologues.
More back-and-forth.
Connection doesn’t need a content strategy.
It just needs two people paying attention.
xoxo,
Team Necterine
