Beloit College Mindset Lists

Differences in age fascinate me. Not just generational differences, but even just a couple years in either direction changes perspectives. The Beloit College Mindset List gave me an interesting perspective on my age...or at least how these dudes perceive my age. I originally learned about the annual list from the director at Southfield Public Library. Shortly after that, I was browsing Overheard in the Office and came across this hilariously relevant conversation

called "When hipsters go to work in offices." It goes:

Intern #1: So I'm supposed to go through her Rolodex after lunch and add all of them into Outlook.
Intern #2: What's a Rolodex?
Intern #3: It's this round thing that has a bunch of cards and you put people's contact information. My grandma uses one still.
Intern #2: Wow! I never heard of that, I totally want one!

Ugh, hipsters.

The Beloit list comes out annually and goes back to 2002. I looked up my first graduation year, 2004, and was actually kind of disappointed. Some statements are pretty bold, but I'm not sure they are accurate enough to be so bold. Perhaps I'm a little bit defensive.

Here were a couple of my favorites from the Class of 2004:

• #20: Watergate is as relevant to their lives as the Teapot Dome scandal. (Funny, All the President's Men was one of my favorite books and I read that sometime in 2001.)
• #29: The year they were born, the New York Times announced that the "boom in video games," a fad, had come to an end. (Ha.)
• #38: They have never heard a phone "ring." (Not true - my iPhone "rings")
• #50: They feel more danger from having sex and being in school, than from possible nuclear war. (Ummm, really?)

So here are some from this year that caught my eye. Or make me feel old. Whatever.

• #6: Salsa has always outsold ketchup. (wtf!? when the hell did this happen?)
• #19: They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P. (Oh, come on now. They know that.)
• #52: They have never been Saved by the Bell. (Madness!)
  
• #70: Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power. (Yeah they have.)