August is the time of year when the  Mindset List comes out.  Published annually by Beloit College, the list puts events and general knowledge to the age test - specifically the age of the incoming freshman college class.  This year's incoming  freshmen were born in 1995; so if it happened before then, it's ancient history to them.

The class of 2017 have had a very different life experience than many of us in the generations above them.

For this generation, Dean Martin, Mickey Mantle, and Jerry Garcia have always been dead.

Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents' weekend.

As they started to crawl, so did the news across the bottom of the television screen.

As their parents held them as infants, they may have wondered whether it was the baby or Windows 95 that had them more excited.

As kids they may well have seen Chicken Run but probably never got chicken pox.

Having a chat has seldom involved talking.

Gaga has never been baby talk.

They could always get rid of their outdated toys on eBay.

They have known only two presidents.

Their TV screens keep getting smaller as their parents' screens grow ever larger.

PayPal has replaced a pen pal as a best friend on line.

Rites of passage have more to do with having their own cell phone and Skype accounts than with getting a driver's license and car.

A tablet is no longer something you take in the morning.

Threatening to shut down the government during Federal budget negotiations has always been an anticipated tactic.

Spray paint has never been legally sold inChicago.

Captain Janeway has always taken the USS Voyager where no woman or man has ever gone before.

While they've grown up with a World Trade Organization, they have never known an Interstate Commerce Commission.

Courts have always been ordering computer network wiretaps.

Planes have never landed at Stapleton Airport in Denver.

Thanks to Megan's Law and Amber Alerts, parents have always had community support in keeping children safe.

With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.

Java has never been just a cup of coffee.

In their first 18 years, they have watched the rise and fall of Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriquez.

They have never attended a concert in a smoke-filled arena.

There has never been a national maximum speed onU.S.highways.

Their favorite feature films have always been largely, if not totally, computer generated.

They have never really needed to go to their friend's house so they could study together.

They have always been able to plug into USB ports

Their parents' car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.

 

 

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