26 Times Students Said Things That Reminded Teachers That They're Getting Older

Most days, I feel pretty young. I like to think I'm a 30-something teenager. However, spending just an hour or two with my nephews and noticing the way they see the world is all it takes for me to realize that I am, in fact, getting older.

So with school starting up and fall just around the corner, I was curious if teachers have these kinds of moments, too. So I asked teachers in the BuzzFeed Community to share the moments with students that made them suddenly feel older, and their responses are so hilarious and so true. Here's what they had to say:

1."I had a student the other day refer to 1992 as 'the late 1900s.' I hate that they aren’t actually wrong."

2."A student of mine called his friend a boomer, and I asked what that made me. Without hesitation, he looked me up and down and said, 'Prehistoric.'"

—Adam, 22

3."I was talking to a student, and I said I liked her belt. She thanked me and said it was Y2K. Another teacher with us asked what that was, and I said I thought it was a brand. The student looked at us and said it was a fashion style, like from the 2000s. This other teacher and I said that the 2000s was when we were her age, not a fashion style."

—nickigrant

4."I told my class I played soccer when I was their age. One student asked, in all seriousness, 'Wait, soccer was invented when you were a kid?'"

5."A student asked if it was nice growing up in the 1990s, 'back then.' I stared blankly at him for a moment, then said I was born in 1998. I have, like, NO memories of that."

—sgbloveshorses

6."Not only do I teach elementary school, but I work with kids entering pre-K and kindergarten during the summer. I told one kid that if she liked a song that we were singing so much, I could send her a link to the CD it was from. She looked at me and went, 'What's a CD?'"

—skipnees

7."Every April 30th, I put up the Justin Timberlake meme that says 'It’s Gonna Be May.' My students don’t understand, nor do they know who NSYNC is. I teach high school upperclassman, and I’m only 34."

8."I work at a university. One of my students asked me how old I was, and at the time, I was 26. She said, 'OMG, try not to worry, you don’t actually look 26.' LMAO."

—Lola, 30

9."In a university seminar (18-year-olds), we were discussing regulation of the press and the extent to which they thought celebrities should have rights to privacy in tabloids. I was then informed that 'nobody' would get celebrity news from a newspaper, tabloid, or gossip site anyway as 'they' always go straight to the source itself (the celeb’s social media accounts). They could not seem to fathom that someone would read a tabloid for celebrity gossip, even when I said I did. I was also shocked that not one media student had ever heard of Survivor, The Land Before Time, or David Lynch."

—moviemania562

10."My students asked me, 'I love reading old books. What was, like, the Harry Potter of your generation?' I was 8 when the first book was published in the UK. They did not believe me when I said that Harry Potter was the Harry Potter of my generation."

11."I wore an old pair of Doc Marten boots that I’d had since I was in school, and one of my students said that it was great that their generation had influenced my fashion choices. 🙃"

—libby77

12."We use earphones with cords in our computer lab, and they kept getting tangled (guess who has to do the untangling). Anyway, I finally asked the kids if they knew how to put earphones away, and they said no because they're used to wireless earphones. I'm only seven years older than my learners, but I felt so old in that moment."

—indieseed

13."Last June, in a language class of 17- and 18-year-olds, we were playing a game in which students were assigned a famous person and have to guess who they are with clues from their peers. One student was assigned 'Madonna,' and they couldn't figure out the answer. Turned out at least 60% of the class had never heard of Madonna. I've been teaching 22 years, and that's the oldest I've ever felt."

14."I'm the student council advisor at my school. During our first student council meeting, the students thought 'generations' would be a good homecoming dress-up idea, so the seniors would be senior citizens. Then a sophomore said, 'Yeah, and the juniors can be millennials! You know, middle-aged.' She was completely serious, and I just about died laughing."

—Shaina, 32

15."This made me feel both old and 'awww.' We were talking in my high school class, and age came up. I made a joke about their slang, probably the word 'drip' which, when I hear, 'blah blah got drip,' it makes me want to recommend penicillin. One of my dears says, 'C'mon. You aren't that old. You're younger than my mom, and she's 50!' I am, in fact, 51."

—Thea, 51

16."I teach theater at the university level. I read a contemporary play with my students that jumps around in time, with some scenes taking place in the '90s and early '00s. The students began talking about how the way people talked 'back then' was so corny. I literally could not detect any difference whatsoever. Then a student shared with the group that they wished they’d been alive in the '90s because it was 'a simpler time.' I nearly passed out from rage."

17."My coworker and I were quoting 'Sugar, We’re Goin Down' by Fall Out Boy, and one of my 10th graders was staring at us like we were insane. She had never heard the song. Because it was released three years before she was even born. Also, my incoming ninth graders this year were born the year I graduated high school. So…that’s definitely…something."

—yogiwitch

18."When asking grade school kids, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' There were no answers like fireman, doctor, veterinarian, astronaut, policeman, etc. It was answers like video game professional, famous internet person, code-writer, Minecraft programmer, YouTube star, and 'influencer.' Very different from when I grew up. It made me feel very old (and a bit sorry for these kids)."

—James, 48

19."My high school students don’t know who Oprah is. No idea. 😭😭"

20."I work in a preschool, and we have picture books for each letter of the alphabet. The V book has a picture of a video tape. I had to explain that was how we watched movies before streaming."

—melissapowers

21."I teach ESL (English as a second language) so there’s both a generational gap and a language barrier. We were reading a text about technology and communication, and we came to a section talking about landlines. One student raised his hand and asked if those were the things in the ground that blow up when you step on them. He meant a landmine. And none of them believed me when I told them every house used to have a landline that was the house phone."

—magsaloo

22."Last year, 2022, I had a 6th-grade student try to explain to me who Eminem was. I had to politely tell her that I’d been listening to him since his first album came out when I was a 6th grader."

23."I told my class I was in middle school during 9/11 and watched the footage live on TV. They asked me if it was in color."

—mealoneinthedark

24."Last year, a 5th grader asked me what a fax machine was. They stared at me unable to process what I was describing and couldn’t understand why we would ever need a machine like that."

—cltqueenb

25."Had a 5th grader two years ago bring his iPod Nano to class (I’m a music teacher) and said 'Look, it’s vintage!' I’m only 24 and had a Nano when they came out, but I felt ancient instantly."

26.And finally, "I was explaining the meaning of 'antique' to my middle school English learners. I told them, 'Antique is something old, but valuable.' One of my students said, 'Oh. Like you, Ms. X?' I took it as a compliment."

—Lorna, 60

Can you relate? Share your story in the comments!