I’m rewatching all of Friends with my 14-year-old daughter. We are on season 2. Here is a running, but incomplete, list of all the things I have needed to explain to her:
— Rebecca Makkai (@rebeccamakkai) April 16, 2022
I have a few younger friends (24-27 years old) and I’ve had to explain these things:
- Burning CDs
- How much 9/11 changed the US and the world
- What the Berlin Wall was
- The TV show All in the Family and how it altered culture at the time
- The X-Files*
- How very pervasive casual homophobia used to be
- How difficult it used to be to find information
- VCRs
I am sure there are more, but those things are nearly completely unknown or forgotten by Gen Z. I like having younger friends, though. Helps me see the world with different eyes.
*Because I said to my friend, “We’re like Mulder and Scully!” And she was like, “Who the hell are Mulder and Scully?”