The movie E.T. is 41 years old. The average age in the U.S. is something like 39. That means that not just some, but MOST people in the country WERE NOT BORN YET when E.T. came out.
Bonus points for revisiting this old thread and making some comments so that the analytics guys wonder why the old E.T. plushie thread is still hopping.
A friend heard that there was a sneak preview of a new Steven Spielberg film at a theatre a few cities over. Not a big one, kinda out of the way. You had to queue up about 3 hours before. My daughter would have been just been 3 (and you are off on how long ago it came out - June 11, 1982) so it would have been a few days before the 11th
So the friend, my partner, my 3 year old and myself waited in line. We had brought cards and were playing something, who remembers what, and the 3 year old was doing what 3 year olds do, run up and down the line talking to anyone who would talk to her
The movie fascinated her (and my friend who saw it in the theatre like 37 times or something) She wanted ET everything. We walked through a pet store and saw bubble eyed Ryukin fish and she just had to have ET fish. So she got ET fish.
@Cerridwyn I saw it the night it came out, 10 days before I turned 10. I still remember we stopped at the drugstore beforehand and on the counter they were selling Reese’s Pieces and how it caught my eye, before seeing them in the movie later that evening.
Maybe E.T. returns and everyone is middle-aged and they all overcome a few disappointments and failures and rediscover life’s magic and pass that emotional fire to the next gen?
We saw Poltergeist and E.T. back-to-back as they were both in theaters at the time. And I’m glad we saw them in that order, as the other way around would’ve been most disturbing.
What I find distressing is that I was in my 20s when Star Wars came out.
I was 4 when ET came out. I have very faint memories of my brother and sister being taken to see it, but my parents told me I was too young to see a movie about aliens.
All I know is my initials are ET, and as a child one of my earliest core memories is from a parent laughing about my initials at a kindergarten event. We were doing something with making cookies and we were putting our initials on them. I’m sure the parent was not intentionally being mean about it, but it was seared into my memory as one of the first times I had someone laugh at me publicly. Thank you for listening to my childhood trauma.
Yes I bought one of the ET dolls, I was actually the first order you can check the original post!
What you’re reporting is actually most likely the median age and not the mean age. I know because multiple searches trying to find the mean age all come back quoting the median age as 38.9.
So, because [my] inquiring mind wanted to know, I asked Google why that happened.
This is the response:
“When searching for the “average” age of the U.S. population, most sources will cite the median age instead of the mean age because the age distribution in the U.S. is not perfectly symmetrical, meaning a significant number of older people skew the mean age, while the median provides a more representative “middle point” of the population where half are older and half are younger; making it a more accurate indicator of the overall population age.
Key points about why median is preferred over mean for age distribution:
Skewed distribution:
When a population has a skewed age distribution (like the U.S. with a growing elderly population), the mean can be significantly influenced by outliers (very old people), while the median remains relatively stable, providing a better representation of the “typical” age.
Ease of interpretation:
The median age is simpler to understand, as it directly tells you the age at which half the population is older and half is younger.
Focus on age trends:
When analyzing population aging trends, the median age is often more useful as it shows shifts in the overall age structure without being heavily impacted by extreme values.”
It still didn’t report the mean age…
@PhysAssist Fwiw, I wouldn’t know how to interpret the mean age. What would it mean signify? (no pun was intended, and since this is Meh, someone may have come along and quoted Irk thoughts on that)
But the median makes sense to me. It’s the middle point. “Half” the population is older than that, and “half” is younger. (I use scare quotes on those because there’s a non-zero portion of the population which “is” that age… due to low accuracy and rounding.)
Yes, I’m looking at one of our stupid E.T. plushies while pondering this.
Bonus points for revisiting this old thread and making some comments so that the analytics guys wonder why the old E.T. plushie thread is still hopping.
@jouest Done!
@heartny topping the charts of the forum. Well done, everyone.
I remember @jouest
A friend heard that there was a sneak preview of a new Steven Spielberg film at a theatre a few cities over. Not a big one, kinda out of the way. You had to queue up about 3 hours before. My daughter would have been just been 3 (and you are off on how long ago it came out - June 11, 1982) so it would have been a few days before the 11th
So the friend, my partner, my 3 year old and myself waited in line. We had brought cards and were playing something, who remembers what, and the 3 year old was doing what 3 year olds do, run up and down the line talking to anyone who would talk to her
The movie fascinated her (and my friend who saw it in the theatre like 37 times or something) She wanted ET everything. We walked through a pet store and saw bubble eyed Ryukin fish and she just had to have ET fish. So she got ET fish.
Ah memories
And yes, she had ET plushies of various sorts
@Cerridwyn I saw it the night it came out, 10 days before I turned 10. I still remember we stopped at the drugstore beforehand and on the counter they were selling Reese’s Pieces and how it caught my eye, before seeing them in the movie later that evening.
@Cerridwyn So did you get her the ET so-called “plushie” that’s being sold here?
@Kyeh no at her age she would disown me
@Cerridwyn Well, I have plushies (Irk plushie, for one!) and I’m a lot older than she is
but I agree about this one.
@Cerridwyn I think I just remember catching it on TV when I was like five. Goof stuff though.
I’m also old enough to remember this ad campaign on air before E.T. (get off my lawn!)
@ExtraMedium there’s something worth mentioning about how the meme of record for this concept is a Family Guy spoof of this ad and not the ad itself…
@f00l
A sequel would be most welcome if it were as good as the original
@f00l ET SMS Home.
ET WhatsApp Home.
ET Facebook Home.
Not much opportunity for a good sequel there.
Maybe ET Zoom Home or ET X Home?
@mehcuda67
Maybe E.T. returns and everyone is middle-aged and they all overcome a few disappointments and failures and rediscover life’s magic and pass that emotional fire to the next gen?
(After all, Spielberg!)
/giphy Spielberg
@f00l @mehcuda67 ET GO home.
@blaineg
Hey Scrooge! How’re ya doin’ there???
Happy holidaze! Best wishes!
/giphy E.T. the Extraterrestrial
@blaineg
Oh well giphy sux at the moment.
@blaineg
@f00l Ok, that freaky ET can stay.
@f00l Rolling Stone sexualizing their covers as usual
We saw Poltergeist and E.T. back-to-back as they were both in theaters at the time. And I’m glad we saw them in that order, as the other way around would’ve been most disturbing.
What I find distressing is that I was in my 20s when Star Wars came out.
@stolicat what preview week or I guess opening week at the Chinese Theater in LA was the bomb
Nope…I was around…hope new gens find it awesome l8ke we still do!
POPSOCKETS! SPROCKETS! DAVY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
I was 4 when ET came out. I have very faint memories of my brother and sister being taken to see it, but my parents told me I was too young to see a movie about aliens.
@OnionSoup to be fair, pale government facility screaming ET was pretty horrifying.
/showme ET being very scary and making 4 year olds sad.
All I know is my initials are ET, and as a child one of my earliest core memories is from a parent laughing about my initials at a kindergarten event. We were doing something with making cookies and we were putting our initials on them. I’m sure the parent was not intentionally being mean about it, but it was seared into my memory as one of the first times I had someone laugh at me publicly. Thank you for listening to my childhood trauma.
Yes I bought one of the ET dolls, I was actually the first order you can check the original post!
What you’re reporting is actually most likely the median age and not the mean age. I know because multiple searches trying to find the mean age all come back quoting the median age as 38.9.
So, because [my] inquiring mind wanted to know, I asked Google why that happened.
This is the response:
“When searching for the “average” age of the U.S. population, most sources will cite the median age instead of the mean age because the age distribution in the U.S. is not perfectly symmetrical, meaning a significant number of older people skew the mean age, while the median provides a more representative “middle point” of the population where half are older and half are younger; making it a more accurate indicator of the overall population age.
Key points about why median is preferred over mean for age distribution:
Skewed distribution:
When a population has a skewed age distribution (like the U.S. with a growing elderly population), the mean can be significantly influenced by outliers (very old people), while the median remains relatively stable, providing a better representation of the “typical” age.
Ease of interpretation:
The median age is simpler to understand, as it directly tells you the age at which half the population is older and half is younger.
Focus on age trends:
When analyzing population aging trends, the median age is often more useful as it shows shifts in the overall age structure without being heavily impacted by extreme values.”
It still didn’t report the mean age…
@PhysAssist
I’m just average, only somewhat less so.
Age just average for an older f00l.
/giphy average
@PhysAssist Fwiw, I wouldn’t know how to interpret the mean age. What would it
meansignify? (no pun was intended, and since this is Meh, someone may have come along and quoted Irk thoughts on that)But the median makes sense to me. It’s the middle point. “Half” the population is older than that, and “half” is younger. (I use scare quotes on those because there’s a non-zero portion of the population which “is” that age… due to low accuracy and rounding.)
@PhysAssist TL;DR
@PhysAssist @xobzoo
It’s mean to be median.
It’s median to be mean.
/giphy mean median
@PhysAssist @xobzoo
/giphy median mean
@f00l @PhysAssist @xobzoo
Taylor Swift - Mean