You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without VCRs.
In July 2016, Ian Bogost wrote about the history and obsolescence of VCRs.
Around the time you were born, the HP-35, the world's first handheld scientific calculator, was introduced.
In August 2011, Alexis Madrigal wrote about what your old graphic calculator says about technology.
You were born in January of 1972. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 3 times as old as you.
The year you were born, Sanford J. Ungar wrote about the Pentagon Papers trial, calling it "a decisive test of the federal government's capacity to control the disclosure of information stamped 'secret'".
Everett Collection
This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.
The Breakfast Club was released in 1985.
Patrick Hertzog / AFP / Getty Images
At 17 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.
Around your 18th birthday, General Manuel Noriega of Panama surrendered to American forces.
In August 1990, Charles Moskos wrote about women in the U.S. Army, including the hundreds of female soldiers who participated in the American invasion of Panama.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after Amazon.
In March 2016, Ian Bogost wrote about the next stage in Amazon's commercial revolution.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
In 1996, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who was born the same year as you, started his career in professional wrestling. He went on to becom a highly in-demand American movie star and entertainer.
In July 2014, David Sims wrote about Johnson's film career in his life out of the ring.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
When you turned 38, 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 53, 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:
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