What is the maximum age that you have to start with something in order to be considered to have “grown up with it?”

[thePlinko]

This is a question that pops up for me from time to time. What age do you consider “growing up” with something?

For example, I never personally felt like I “grew up” with Zelda because I didn’t start playing it until I was 14 and in high school. I could say the same thing about my major interest in gaming in general for that matter. Despite that being such a big part of my life there were plenty of other things that I spent far more time with earlier, but at the same time I was still legally, physically, and mentally a child at the time so I could see some debate.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

I'd say about 12 or so to say you grew up with it.

At least, that's how I view it.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

minimum or maximum? if I'm understanding this right

anyways I'd say like middle school age for me, though I know some people still stay they grew up w/ something even though they were in high school

 

[thePlinko]

minimum or maximum? if I'm understanding this right

****

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I don't think it really matters. Saying that you grew up with something is like saying that you're a fan of something. Does it matter how long you've been a fan? How long do you need to be a fan before you're a fan?

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I don't think it really matters. Saying that you grew up with something is like saying that you're a fan of something. Does it matter how long you've been a fan? How long do you need to be a fan before you're a fan?

uh not exactly? growing up w/ something and actually being a fan are separate things, like if you watched a tv show as a kid but then realize it really wasn't that good later on and dislike it

my own thinking too is how I can technically say I grew up on the wii even though I didn't get one until middle school, but I definitely wouldn't say the same for the 3ds since that's late high school territory, whether I'm a fan of either is a different matter (I am but just using them as examples)

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

uh not exactly? growing up w/ something and actually being a fan are separate things, like if you watched a tv show as a kid but then realize it really wasn't that good later on and dislike it

my own thinking too is how I can technically say I grew up on the wii even though I didn't get one until middle school, but I definitely wouldn't say the same for the 3ds since that's late high school territory, whether I'm a fan of either is a different matter (I am but just using them as examples)

I guess it's more that growing up with something is a pretty loose term. If I was introduced to the Nintendo 64 when I was 15 did I grow up with it?

 

[thePlinko]

I guess it's more that growing up with something is a pretty loose term. If I was introduced to the Nintendo 64 when I was 15 did I grow up with it?

That’s kinda the point of this thread

 

[Jimmu]

I feel like this is probably a pretty difficult question for young adults to answer. I imagine you might have a different answer as to what this age of "growing up with something" may be if you are currently twenty and if we asked you when you were forty. At this stage of my life (I am 27) I feel like the answer is until around age 14.

 

[Vanessa28]

That's tough. Some people are fan of something and when they become parents they raise their kids with it. Others become fan later in life. I became a Zelda fan in 2007 when I was in my mid 30's. So it really depends.

 

[GrooseIsLoose]

I started with Skyward Sword at 14

 

[Ganondorf]

I guess I became an LoZ fan when I was around 8, when I was old enough to start 'getting' video games (controls, plot or otherwise), as before that, I had no idea what I was doing because I was just too young (for context, I was born in 1990). Anything I 'grew up' with, I guess was from 1998 to my early 20's, as I didn't consider myself an adult at 18 whatsoever. Brain was still baking, ahaha.

 

[twilitfalchion]

I'm of the mind that it's really anything pre-18. Because you're not an adult yet and are still technically growing. So, if I first played Zelda at 16, then I grew up with it because that's two years until adulthood. You could argue one way or the other, but that's how I see it.

 

[A Link In Time]

I think anything before high school counts as growing up with something for me. I feel like high school is already more preparing people for the real world and thus you have less time to get engrossed in something. Though that's another conversation about how old you need to be to experience nostalgia because I definitely still experience nostalgia for things from recent years even in my late 20s.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I do agree with Twi that as long as you were exposed to something before 18 years old, you "grew up with it" technically.

I voted 14 or younger though. I was 14 when Adventure Time, Regular Show, and The Amazing World of Gumball started airing. Those were the last few cartoons I avidly watched and tried keeping up with, and I do look back like I grew up with them. I didn't have any other media catch my interest back then, and I also don't remember expanding out to try any new games or anything at that time.

I wanted to watch The Legend of Korra when it aired, but I never got the time to stick with it. I watched a few episodes of the first season here and there, that was all.

I feel like I could've been able to answer this question better considering Steven Universe aired when I was 17 and close to turning 18. The show looked really interesting to me, and I watched a few episodes of the first season, but just like with Korra, I couldn't find time to keep up with it like I wanted to.