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.