You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without Macintosh computers.
In June 2012, Megan Garber wrote about how Apple computers, once thought to be virus-immune, can now get PC viruses.
Around the time you were born, an international treaty regulating the extradition and rehabilitation of prisoners, known as the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, went into force.
On April 2013, Abby Ohlheiser wrote about the case of the U.S. wanting Mexico to rearrest a drug kingpin to be extradited.
You were born in May of 1985. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 4 times as old as you.
The year you were born, John Keegan wrote about the history and geopolitical significance of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
Everett Collection
This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.
Can't Hardly Wait was released in 1998.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after the International Space Station.
In our January/February 2015 issue, Charles Fishman wrote about the oddity of daily life on the station and the value of its continued operation.
Jason Redmond / AP
At 16 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.
Around your 18th birthday, U.S. President George W. Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
In the January/February 2004 issue, James Fallows wrote about the failures of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Phil Noble / Reuters
In 2003, Keira Knightley, who was born the same year as you, starred in the first Pirates of The Caribbean film.
In December 2013, Christopher Orr wrote about why the Keira Knightley scene is the worst part of Love Actually.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
When you turned 25, 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.
By the time you turn 39, 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.
History is happening all around you, every day.
The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these:
Tell your story.
