I'm 19, turning 20 in a week and have been playing since Red in '99 when I was 5.
Once I'd started playing, I was hooked and I haven't looked back since. After getting into the games, I started watching the anime and collecting cards a couple of years later. I stopped collecting the cards after around 8/9 months because after taking all of my cards to school (around 1,000 I reckon), the got stolen and I really didn't feel like starting my collection again so I didn't bother.
I also stopped watching the anime after a while. I don't think there was any particular reason, I think I just started to show more interest in other shows on TV at the time.
The games, however, have always been there. I haven't played any official games past R/S/E purely because I'm an old skool fan and therefore enjoy training the originals more so than "new age" Pokemon. I have come across a lot of the newer Pokemon from playing hacks and there have been some great new Pokemon but I don't think I'll ever play past R/S/E officially.