Silent Generation
This 1950s toy became a huge craze after kids spun it around their waist.
What is the Hula Hoop?
This Detroit record label helped define the sound of the 1960s with artists like The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder.
What is Motown?
This term was used for kids who wore house keys or let themselves in after school while parents were still at work.
What is a latchkey kid?
This early social network let users customize profiles with music, backgrounds, HTML, and a public ranking of friends.
What is MySpace?
This app grew from Musical.ly and became known for algorithm-driven short videos, sounds, dances, and trends.
What is TikTok?
This TV sitcom starring Lucille Ball became one of the defining shows of early television.
What is I Love Lucy?
This failed 1961 invasion by CIA-backed Cuban exiles was intended to overthrow Fidel Castro.
What is the Bay of Pigs?
This gray Nintendo handheld launched in North America in 1989 and was often bundled with Tetris.
What is the Game Boy?
This ultra-thin Motorola flip phone became a mid-2000s status symbol before smartphones took over.
What is the Razr?
This Epic Games title features the Battle Bus, building mechanics, skins, emotes, and live in-game events.
What is Fortnite?
This 1957 Soviet satellite launch shocked America and accelerated the space race.
What is Sputnik?
This 1962 crisis brought the United States and Soviet Union close to nuclear war after missiles were discovered near Florida.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?
In the Seinfeld episode “The Statue,” this character plays a detective and confronts the man suspected of stealing the statue.
Who is Kramer?
This 2004 teen comedy set at North Shore High School gave pop culture “The Plastics” and “on Wednesdays we wear pink.”
What is Mean Girls?
This sandbox game from Mojang is built around mining, crafting, Creepers, Redstone, and block-based worlds.
What is Minecraft?
This Wisconsin senator became the face of 1950s anti-communist investigations before being censured by the Senate in 1954.
Who is Joseph McCarthy?
This CBS news anchor, often called “the most trusted man in America,” became a defining TV voice for many Americans in the 1960s and 1970s.
Who is Walter Cronkite?
This cable channel launched in 1981 with the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” as its first music video.
What is MTV?
This instant-messaging platform made screen names, away messages, buddy lists, and the door-opening sound part of online life.
What is AIM / AOL Instant Messenger?
This term describes temporary digital communication, like photos or messages that disappear after being viewed.
What is ephemeral messaging / disappearing messages?
This 1960 televised presidential debate is often remembered as a turning point for TV’s role in politics.
What is the Kennedy–Nixon debate?
This 1967 film followed Benjamin Braddock after college and helped make “Mrs. Robinson” a lasting Boomer-era pop culture reference.
What is The Graduate?
This 1989 film told students to “seize the day” under the guidance of teacher John Keating.
What is Dead Poets Society?
This peer-to-peer service made MP3 sharing mainstream and became the symbol of the music industry’s fight against online piracy.
What is Napster?
This slang term describes something awkward, embarrassing, forced, or painfully uncool.
What is cringe?