As the new year kicks up, many internet users plan to bring back retro memes, like Trollface, Big Chungus and Harambe. They plan to turn the clock back a decade earlier to 2016, in order to combat content slop like the ‘6-7’ trend. The reset is a big social movement, heavily pushed on social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, where users are trying to wipe the current slate of trends and start back at square one. The concept of resetting has ironically become a meme in and of itself. Many users on these social media platforms have been informed about this through people making fun of the idea.
According to forbes.com, “Some TikTokers view 2025 Brainrot trends as akin to content pollution, toxic waste pouring into the shared waters of the internet and are demanding that the clock be wound back to a better, simpler time.”
The idea took shape around November of last year, where user @joebro909 on TikTok came up with the idea of a meme reset in a sketch making fun of current meme life cycles on the internet. Someone took that idea and ran with it, and within days, TikTok and Instagram were flooded with accounts talking about seriously resetting memes and trends for 2026.
While the idea of resetting meme culture as well as social media trends is a novel idea, a big majority of the internet would have to be on board for it to happen. Internet culture could have a big shift, and it’s up to internet users to see this trend through, or watch it fade out like ideas before it.
