You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without Pokémon.
In July 2016, David Sims described the path from Pokémon Red and Blue to Pokémon Go.
Around the time you were born, Peruvian commandos stormed the home of the Japanese ambassador to Peru, freeing 71 hostages and killing the rebels holding them.
In Demember 1997, Robert D. Kaplan wrote about democracy at the end of the Cold War.
You were born in April of 1997. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 7 times as old as you.
The year you were born, Robert D. Kaplan wrote about the troubling long-term prospects for democracy in a post-Cold War world.
Jason Redmond / AP
At 4 years old, you were part of the generation most shaped by 9/11.
The conflicts and displacements touched off around the world by the attacks have been reverberating for the majority of your life. “This ‘war’ [on terrorism] will never be over,” wrote James Fallows, a few years after the towers fell.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after Twitter.
In August 2015, Kalev H. Leetaru considered whether Twitter was living up to its lofty aspirations.
Freeform
This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.
Pretty Little Liars premiered in 2010.
Kevin Parry / Invision / AP
In 2010, Max Burkholder, who was born the same year as you, began starring in the TV show Parenthood as a child with Asperger syndrome.
In December 2014, Emma Bryce wrote about her brother's use of technology to cope with his autism.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
When you turned 13, you witnessed the revolutionary fervor that transformed the Arab world in 2010, a movement led by your generation.
When 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire, he ignited a tinderbox of protests that continue to roil the Middle East, and kindled the beginnings of democracy in Tunisia.
Around your 18th birthday, the ancient city of Nimrud was destroyed in Iraq by ISIS.
In September 2015, after ISIS demolished another ancient city, Leon Wieseltier wrote about the deeper significance of the physical destruction.
By the time you turn 37, NASA says it will send humans to explore Mars.
In August 2015, Alakananda Mookerjee wrote about what new Mars colonists would be able to eat—and how they'd grow it.
History is happening all around you, every day.
The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these:
Tell your story.
