This Mom Had To Explain These 28 Things From "Friends" To Her Gen Z Daughter, And It'll Make You Feel Old AF

BuzzFeed
·3 min read
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If you're older than 40, you'd probably really enjoy rewatching Friends in 2022. It's a reminder of ~the good ole days~, back when smartphones didn't exist and people had to memorize each other's phone numbers (cue nostalgia).

Warner Bros. / Via giphy.com

But if you're in your teens, watching the show for the first time would probably be so confusing. Clearly, things are super different now, so there are bound to be certain references on the show that would make no sense to someone born after it aired.

Well, this was all confirmed when Rebecca Makkai, a Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist, tweeted that there were dozens of things she had to explain to her Gen Z daughter when they watched Friends together:

Here are all the things Rebecca had to explain to her 14-year-old daughter while they watched the show — it's a great reminder of how much has changed since the show first aired:

1. "Milk cartons used to have pictures of missing kids."

A man eating a bowl of cereal next to a carton of milk on the table with a "Missing" poster on the carton
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2. "Who Dudley Moore was."

3. "Who Joan Collins is."

Headshot of Joan Collins in a bejeweled outfit
Arturo Holmes / FilmMagic

4. "What pagers were, and how they worked."

5. "That you could see people off at the airport gate."

6. "That you could meet people at the airport gate."

An empty departures gate at an airport
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7. "The fact that if this apartment were real, it would be worth millions of dollars."

8. "What Bloomingdale's is."

9. "Who Demi Moore is."

Smiling Demi Moore in a strapless top on the red carpet
Michael Tran / AFP via Getty Images

10. "That 'Eddie Moskowitz' is a Jewish name."

11. "How perfume samples work in department stores."

12. "Why secretaries answer office phones."

The back of a woman's head as she sits in front of a phone and computer at a desk
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13. "What 'VD' is, and how stock photography works."

14. "Who Hank Azaria is, and the fact that Minsk used to be in the USSR."

Hank smiling, sitting in a chair, and wearing a suit
NBC / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images

15. "What a green card is."

"She knew what a green card was, but not the common '80s/'90s TV trope of marrying someone you didn't love for a green card. Weird how common a plot device that used to be."

16. "What the Ice Capades are."

Superimposed images of a woman doing a pirouette on the ice
Mara Vivat / Corbis via Getty Images

17. "Who Mr. Roper was."

18. "Why people used to hold up lighters at concerts."

Warner Bros. / Via giphy.com

19. "How to responsibly split a restaurant check."

20. "What a hickey is."

Close-up of a hickey on someone's neck
Ngọc Hà / Getty Images/EyeEm

21. "What a kickback is."

22. "People didn’t used to carry EpiPens."

23. "Could anyone please explain the difference between a pager and a beeper?"

Close-up of a pager in someone's hand
Steven Puetzer / Getty Images

24. "What 'great rack' means."

25. "What 'closure' is."

26. "People used to memorize each other’s phone numbers."

The number 555-3260 on a napkin along with the outline of lips with lipstick
Jeffrey Coolidge / Getty Images

27. "People don’t always remember what they did while drunk."

28. And finally, "you could call your own answering machine to get your messages."

Warner Bros. / Via giphy.com

And yes, Rebecca is well aware that plenty of these things still exist, but "young COVID teenagers just might not be super into hickeys or professional office culture," she said.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!