Getting Older, Aren't We?

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year's incoming freshmen. Here the year 2000  list:

• The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1983.
• They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably did not know he had ever been shot.
• They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
• Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
• There has been only one Pope.
• They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War.
• They have never feared a nuclear war.
• They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
• Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
• Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
• Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
• Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
• The expression you sound like a broken record means nothing to them.
• They have never owned a record player.
• They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Ping-Pong.
• They may have never heard of an 8 track.
• The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
• As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 33 cents.
• They have always had an answering machine.
• Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV. They have always had cable.
• There has always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.
• They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
• They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
• Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
• Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
• They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
• Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
• They have never seen Larry Bird play.
• They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
• The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII and the Civil War.
• They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
• They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
• They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
• They never heard: Where's the beef?, Id walked a mile for a Camel, or de plane, de plane!
• They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
• The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.
• Michael Jackson has always been white.
• Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
• McDonalds never came in Styrofoam containers.
• There has always been MTV.
• They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter

Do you feel old yet? Pass this on to the other old fogies.