A Dozen Differences between You and the Class of 2019

As I watched this year’s crop of college freshmen descend on campus, buried in smartphones, earbuds in, heads down, I started thinking about how different their life experience has been from those of generations past. A lot has changed over the years. Let’s take a look at the world in which these 18-year-olds have grown up.

For students in the Class of 2019:

The Internet has always been here.

They’ve never known a world without mobile phones.

They weren’t even born when Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl last played in the same band.

Wi-fi is expected, everywhere. (I’m waiting for a student to tell me it’s guaranteed in the Constitution.)

The Internet has always had its own awards show, The Webby Awards.

They’ve always been able to go online to get CNN.

They’ve never known a world without Harry Potter.

Hybrids have always been an option for car buyers.

In spite of their obsession with coffee, “Java” has always referred to a computer programming language.

Netflix has always been around. So has Amazon.

They were only preschoolers when the attacks of 9/11 happened.

They have no idea what you’re talking about when you refer to the white Ford Bronco or the Unabomber.

Do you think any of my smartphone-obsessed students would believe that on my college dorm hall, there was one payphone available for 50 students? Or that the only way to take a picture was with a camera?

Are you feeling old yet?

The opinions expressed here are solely those of Donna Krache.

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