Life Timeline

For those born May 5, 1983.

Not your birthday? Find your timeline here.

1982
Before you were born

You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without CD players.

In October 2012, Megan Garber wrote about the CD player turning 30 years old.

1983
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was bombed.

In the April 1984 issue, John Keegan put the Lebanese civil war into context.

1983
Year 39

You were born in May of 1983. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 4 times as old as you.

The year you were born, James Fallows wrote about the economic, demographic, and social effects of U.S. immigration.

1996

Everett Collection

The teenage years

This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.

The Craft was released in 1996.

1998

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Contemporaries

In 1998, Mila Kunis, who was born the same year as you, began starring in the sitcom That '70s Show.

In February 2015, Christopher Orr wrote a review of the disastrous film Jupiter Ascending, which starred Mila Kunis.

1999
Half a life ago

Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after the euro.

In December 2011, Jim Tankersley wrote about how the euro's failure could cause another American recession.

2001
Coming of age

Around your 18th birthday, NASA launched the Mars Odyssey, a robotic spacecraft with the purpose of orbiting and exploring Mars.

In April 2016, Marina Koren wrote about the 15th anniversary of the Odyssey orbiting Mars.

2001

Jason Redmond / AP

The 9/11 Attacks

At 18 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.

2010

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

The Arab Spring

When you turned 27, 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.

2025
Forecasts

By the time you turn 41, the World Bank predicts that the U.S. dollar will lose its global dominance.

In February 2012, Charles A. Kupchan wrote about the world's emerging economies, and how the world will look by 2050.

Today
History in the making

History is happening all around you, every day.

The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these: