def new_or_old(user_response):
    """
    helper function to determine if the user is generating a new or old event list and handle input errors
    :param user_response: string generated from user input (only '1' or '2' are valid inputs)
    :return: boolean to be fed into user_id_input
    """
    while True:
        if user_response == '1':
            return False
        if user_response == '2':
            return True
        print("Invalid response. Please type '1' for the former, and '2' for the latter.")
        break