A recent study conducted at Brown University shows that, compared to the average American, males and females between the ages of 13 and 18 are significantly worse at recognizing items and events that occurred during the 1980s.

“It is quite remarkable”, notes lead researcher Dr. John Hall, “the current cohort of teenagers are four times as likely to not know what a Rubik’s Cube is compared to the previous cohort studied 10 years ago. It is almost as if they weren't alive during that period in time.” Dr. Hall then rambled on for a couple hours about the episode of Charles in Charge where Jamie and Sarah are given eggs to take care of for a school project.

In perhaps the most revealing example to come from the study, only 14% of teenagers were able to tell the difference between President Reagan and a Sony Walkman, even when they were told that President Reagan was a person and not a machine.

When confronted about the question, high school freshman Chad Young explained “I didn't think they had presidents or music back then.”

Amy Riggs was aware that music existed in the 80's, but still missed the question. “I listen to a lot of classical music, like Nirvana, they were the 80's, right? I just never realized people listened to music on tapes. It’s so weird. Why didn’t they just use an iPod?”

Only one student managed to make a perfect score in the experiment, Victoria Tyler, who says that she “only answered the questions correctly to be ironic.”

The findings are particularly interesting when compared to the controversial, and now infamous, “Billy Joel Study” which found that males in there early 20’s, who regularly attend karaoke, understand twice as many references in We Didn’t Start the Fire compared to their peers.

Benny Elbows is stand-up comedian and writer from Memphis, TN.