17 Signs You Were Born In 1986, 1987, 1988 Or 1989

1. Despite the fact that you’re a late 80s baby, you relate to and identify yourself as a “90s kid” since that’s the decade you grew up throughout. Entering the 2000s you were about 13, tops, so that term is pretty fitting.

2. You’ve been told to shut up about being a 90s kid and having the greatest TV programming on numerous occasions. People are sick of hearing about how epic Nickelodeon was and why the peak, élite, BEST stretch of Nicktoons ever, belongs to your childhood. Though, in your defense, 1994-1995 90s television lineups in general were scary good and worthy of the excessive praise. It’s not glorification if it’s true.

3. This Nickelodeon Magazine commercial was seen and heard seemingly hundreds of millions of times and is forever rooted in your brain. Like, to the point where you remember it verbatim to this day, and that same weird, recollection holds true for various other TV show theme songs as well.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oel0zjpKCwE&w=584&h=390]

4. You used to take part in the retro form of social media creeping: incognito three-way phone calls. You’d remain silent while a friend would dial up your crush and ask them how they felt about you. Upon reflection, this was super staker-ish and uncool, but it was punishment enough hearing your love interest’s opinions of you if they weren’t flattering ones.

5. You can’t ignore how much lower you now have to scroll to reach your birth year when filling out forms online, which is a tiny (somewhat scary) reminder of how far you’ve come.

6. You know a solid amount of HTML coding which you learned in 2005-2006ish, thanks to your super customizable Myspace profile.

7. The patience you have for technology is unique because you’ve experienced 56k modems, dialup Internet, signing offline when someone had to use the phone, rewinding VHS tapes, waiting for the radio to play your song so you could record it, and life with no smartphones — so a frozen web browser or malfunctioning iPhone isn’t something you flip out about. When an app freezes you can restart it, when a cassette tape strip got tangled, that was possibly (probably) the death of it.

8. You’ve owned or still own CD singles, which were the best method of repeatedly playing a song 538,452 times until you were completely over it.

9. Being asked for your ID is no longer an inconvenience, but a request that you’re more than happy to accommodate.

10. You’ve heard people say that entirely too many members of your generation feel entitled and confuse not having to justify their actions with being unable to. Chances are you acknowledge that and agree, or perhaps you’re one of the people being described.

11. Somewhere you’ve got a dusty collection of Beanie Babies, pogs & slammers and/or Pokémon cards that could be worth a small fortune down the road.

12. Blowing into things will always be one of your first troubleshooting options when applicable. While the success rate is fairly low on anything other than video game cartridges, it remains an instinctual move.

13. Current horror movies lack creativity and fail to impress you which is likely a result of growing up on a steady Goosebumps diet (supplemented with Are You Afraid of The Dark? and X-Files). Don’t act like Say Cheese and Die! Or The Werewolf of Fever Swamp aren’t more inspired than the 27 Paranormal Activity movies.

14. Listening to full CDs all the way through for extended periods of time (e.g. weeks or months) is a thing you’ve done, or still do. Lost in the era of extraordinarily easy access to music is a desire to give the album you recently purchased several thorough listens. People want more and can have it quickly, so it’s often one and done, then onto the next.

15. You’re forever grateful for the program listings buttons on remotes after spending a chunk of your life watching the scrolling TV guide channel. Few things were more disappointing in 1998 than going to check the listings for channel 19 right as 20 was rolling in at the top.

16. You’re currently in a unique stretch of life where you’re young enough that it’s common to see people your age who are free spirits with few responsibilities, or parents who have families and a mortgage.  You’re currently in the 24-28 age range that, by tradition and society’s standards, is neither too old nor too young to be out drinking on a Wednesday night, or at home raising a child. It’s a great time to be a 20-something and if there’s something you want to do now and you’ve got no potential obligations not to (kids/a spouse), it’s important to make a move during this window before it closes.

17. You genuinely feel sorry for the current youth’s predominantly indoor lifestyle. It’s not like kids playing in their neighborhoods and hitting up ice cream trucks no longer exist at all, but it’s certainly an endangered hobby. Kids have iPads, laptops and whatnot, so who can blame ’em for swiping and tapping at screens instead of running around outside? Lucky for you, as part of the last generation to experience at least a partially internet-less childhood, we know exactly what kind of valuable experiences they’re missing out on.