Life Timeline

For those born August 15, 1992.

Not your birthday? Find your timeline here.

1991
Before you were born

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

In February 2015, Julie Beck wrote about what is lost when websites change or disappear.

1992
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, New York City's public transit system, MTA, voted to ban cigarette ads.

In September 1965, Elizabeth Drew wrote about the cigarette lobby's successful efforts to stop states from regulating cigarette advertising.

1992
Year 30

You were born in August of 1992. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 6 times as old as you.

The year you were born, Jack Miles wrote about economic tensions between Latinos and African Americans highlighted by the L.A. Riots.

2001

Jason Redmond / AP

The 9/11 Attacks

At 9 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.

2004
Half a life ago

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

In May 2012, Stephen Marche wrote about how Facebook and other social-media platforms were making people lonely, even as they connected them to others more than ever before.

2005

Star Max via AP

The teenage years

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

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was released in 2005.

2010
Coming of age

Around your 18th birthday, U.S. President Barack Obama declared the end of combat operations in Iraq.

In June 2014, Peter Beinart wrote an autopsy on Obama's disastrous Iraq policy.

2010

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

The Arab Spring

When you turned 18, 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.

2013

Danny Moloshok / Reuters

Contemporaries

In 2013, Selena Gomez, who was born the same year as you, starred alongside James Franco and Vanessa Hudgens in Spring Breakers.

In March 2013, Richard Lawson wrote about the presence of Disney stars in a comedic crime thriller.

2035
Forecasts

By the time you turn 42, 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.

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: