Damn, the 80s felt that recent?

No, because culture seems to change more slowly now.

Even in 1995, the 80s looked like a different planet. The fashions, cars, and even houses looked different.

The differences between 2003 and 2013, or between 2013 and 2023, are much less noticeable if you're just looking at fashion, cars, or cities.

We were much younger so 16 years ago did not feel recent.

Subjective time speeds up as we age, probably based on how long a give period is vs the rest of your life.

16 years was a much bigger % of your life then than it is now.

Think of 2 year old, a year ago was half their life !

The 2 y/o example isn't very good, I can only imagine that they'd perceive last year as pretty recent, compared to how I perceive last year.

I still hear the sound of cars going by when you stand on the sidewalk.