TikTok’s ‘but there was once a time’ trend explores our wilder, younger days

TikTokkers have jumped on a trend mostly used to show off their younger, wilder days.

Scrolling through your FYP on TikTok, you’ve likely seen the “there was a time” trend. The beats of the trend are consistent: 1) you show someone or something as they are now, 2) you say “…but there was a time,” 3) you show how they were. For lots of folks, this means showing that while, yes, they are now a parent with a 9-5, they were once a partier (or something of that ilk). For others, the posts can take on a more melancholy tone, where they remember something they miss. And, of course, there are some TikToks following the trend that are just weird and silly.

Here are a few about being settled now, but people who hit the bars back in the day.

But there are other kinds of posts using the trend, often with different TikTok sounds. Here’s one about missing playing hockey.

Or there are parents posting their kids growing up.

Or there are jokes about good dogs.

Or there are people posting their previous careers.

Or, as these posts hint at, there are some folks using it to post about relationships that ended or people they have lost.

In short, the trend explores all the ways time changes us. And for many folks, that means losing their wild side.