Today's 21-Year Olds

I was speaking with a good friend this morning and somehow the topic of "things today's 21-year-old has never experienced" came up.

Today's 21-year-olds . . .

• never made a mix tape off the radio, probably never owned cassettes, and for certain never played records;
• have never owned a typewriter because they have always had a computer they could use anywhere at anytime, do not know life without the internet and wi-fi and may not know how to write research papers without it;
• may not have ever been to the drive-in;
• have never eagerly awaited the premier of Madonna's latest video on Friday Night Videos, adjusting the rabbit ears or the possibilities that exist with less than half a dozen television stations, and have never gotten off the couch to change the channels;
• may never have met a loved one at the airline gate;
• will probably never send or receive a love letter in the mail because so few people write them anymore;
• don't know the frenzy that ensued over the original Super Bowl Shuffle and so may not have gotten just how hideous the remake was in this year's Superbowl;

• probably had to have the original We Are the World explained to them and still haven't heard of many of the artists;

• has always had multiple ways to instantly connect via their cell phones, texting, and instant messaging;
• never relied on Liquid Paper for typo-free term papers;
  
• have never let their fingers do the walking in the Yellow Pages;
• have never waited a week while their photos were being developed;
• have had their whole lives - the good, bad, and ugly - chronicled on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. and have not experienced the benefits of making mistakes in privacy;
• have always known who was on the other end before they picked up the phone;
• know only a life with instant gratification whether it's dinner cooked in a microwave in 3 minutes or broadband internet connection rather than dial-up or no connection at all;
• have never used payphones or rotary dial phones and have certainly never gotten a busy signal;
• have never watched a film strip in class;
• have never eaten a McDLT where the hot side was hot and the cool side stayed cool;

• have never known a divided Germany;
• are too young to have seen Michael Jordan and Sweetness in all their glory . . . live;
• never driven on the Calumet Expressway, thrown change in the bucket at the Deerfield Toll Plaza, and never searched for 40 cents under the seats while driving 55 mph on the Northwest Tollway; and
  
• have never "told two friends, who told two friends, who told two friends, and so on".

And suddenly we felt really old.