You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without mass-produced personal computers.
In June 2015, David Sims wrote about how Apple and IBM convinced people to buy home computers in the 1970s and '80s.
You were born in June of 1978. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 4 times as old as you.
The year you were born, Adam Smith™ wrote about the economic questions he was left with after traveling to the Middle East with the United States Secretary of the Treasury.
Around the time you were born, the infamous serial killer David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life by the Supreme Court.
In October 2014, Julie Beck wrote about the public's fascination with serial killers.
Patrick Hertzog / AFP / Getty Images
At 11 years old, you saw the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
“It was thought that all borders between men had similarly disintegrated, and we were all destined to be free and empowered individuals in a global meeting place,” wrote Robert Kaplan 20 years later.
Nickelodeon
This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.
Clarissa Explains it All premiered in 1991.
Around your 18th birthday, the United Nations made an oil-for-food aid agreement with Iraq.
In September 2016, Uri Friedman considered the relevance of the United Nations in the contemporary world.
Lucy Nicholson
In 1996, Kobe Bryant, who was born the same year as you, made his debut in professional basketball with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In April 2016, Matt Vasilogambros wrote about Kobe Bryant's last game for the NBA.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after Harry Potter.
In November 2010, Alyssa Rosenberg wrote about why it was so difficult for readers who grew up reading the series to say goodbye to Harry Potter.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
When you turned 32, you saw the rise of the Arab Spring.
People across the world rediscovered the power and peril of revolutions, as Laura Kasinof found in Yemen.
By the time you turn 42, scientists estimate it will no longer be possible to keep global temperatures from rising at least 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In December 2015, Robinson Meyer wrote about why scientists had accepted this fact.
History is happening all around you, every day.
The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these:
Tell your story.
