While habits are inherited from one generation to the next, others are abandoned, reinforcing a generational divide. From family gossip to the way they message people online, here are some boomer habits that young people often don’t understand.
Worrying about young people’s weight
As social media is making the younger generation more self-conscious than ever, boomers and older generations don’t reinforce these issues of maintaining or losing weight for appearances. Boomers are constantly feeding their children and grandchildren, no matter their health or weight. Whether through their stash of hard candy or a feast-worthy dinner, boomers, and grandparents are always trying to win over young people through their stomachs.
Sharing photographs
In the age of social media, the younger generation has an abundance of photos to share with people. If it’s not on Instagram, it’s on someone’s Google Drive. However, boomers cherish their memories in the form of photographs. They didn’t have the convenience of taking pictures of anyone, anywhere, at any given time. Taking the camera out to take photos of a social outing was rare, and indicated that it was a special occasion. These photographs are some of the few evidences of their fond memories.
Blunt Messages
The younger generations are well-versed in internet slang. Whether they use acronyms, emojis, or memes, the younger generation can communicate with each other in what looks like hieroglyphs. But the boomer generation takes a much more formal approach when sending messages online. Using perfect grammar and punctuation, boomers message others as they write a letter. However, younger people may misinterpret this as rudeness.
Liking Their Own Social Media Posts
Young people don’t understand why a person would like their own social media posts. But for boomers, the option to engage online and reinforce their views is always taken. Since boomers take many things literally on social media, constantly engaging with their online friends when online and commenting on photos at any chance, the option to like your post is hard to resist.
Listen to Old Music
With genres changing and new artists appearing, we now have more options than ever when listening to music. Boomers, on the other hand, enjoy listening to the music of their time. This is because it provides a great feeling of nostalgia. The zeitgeist or the spirit of a particular time can sometimes only be captured through music. Listening to nostalgic music can help people deal with stress, increase happiness, and even counter memory issues.
Driving Slowly
Boomers are in no hurry to get anywhere. While the younger generation may be susceptible to the perception of others, they may drive faster or even spend thousands on their cars as a result. Boomers can appreciate the simplicity of their older yet reliable vehicles without worrying about the perception of others on the road.
Family Gossip
As you age, family becomes more important than ever. The boomer generation loves to discuss the life events of extended family members, no matter how significant. Whether someone has started a family, got a job promotion, or got a parking fine, the boomer generation enjoys keeping up to date and sharing the details of a family member’s life.
Strange Selfies
Much like the blunt messages on social media, boomers tend to upload selfies from strange angles without cracking a smile. While this is a form of self-expression and sharing on social media, the boomer generation isn’t caught up in self-validation like younger generations are. Because of this, they can be straight to the point in their honest profile pictures, essentially saying what you see is what you get.
Enquiring about Starting a Family
Every young person knows how annoying it is to be hounded by an older family member about starting a family. Boomers and older generations are used to starting entire families in their teen years or early twenties. However, younger people are starting families much later in life, which leaves boomers questioning when they’ll finally get to meet their grandchildren or great-grandchildren.
Birdwatching
Today’s age of endless scrolling, streaming services, and pinging notifications on our phones leaves people frantically overstimulated. But boomers who have escaped the social media craze can appreciate more wholesome things in life, such as birds. Whether they go birdwatching in the park or from the comfort of their own garden, boomers can embrace the tranquility and visual stimulation that birdwatching brings.
Getting up early
Getting up early for young people is difficult unless they have no choice but to leave for school or work. But boomers and older generations with nothing but time on their hands can get up early in the morning. This can be attributed to their appreciation of the peacefulness of the morning before the world wakes up and starts churning out noise, pollution, and urban bustle. Studies also show that sleep duration is reduced due to aches, pains, and frequent urination among older generations.
Going to sleep early
Boomers go to sleep the same way as they get up, early. This is rooted not only in physical changes but also in social changes. Having ingrained habits such as reading or simply going to bed for the sake of sleeping and not scrolling, boomers can sleep earlier more easily than younger people can. Boomers have avoided a bad habit that young people have such as social media scrolling before bed. Screentime before bed can not only make us stay up later but also affect our sleep quality, making it harder to get up earlier and making people stay up later.
Soap operas
Soap operas, like music, can bring a great sense of nostalgia for boomers and older people. This is because some soap operas have been around for decades. Soap operas bring plenty of familiarity for boomers, with recurring actors appearing on the same shows for years.
Refusing technology
There are many instances of boomers refusing the assistance of technology. Whether it’s by ignoring the GPS or avoiding useful apps, boomers can feel a sense of pride in doing things deemed more traditional. It is especially easier for them to resist technology when they are used to carrying out duties and activities without ever having needed the assistance of technology.
Watching TV re-runs
Much like soap operas, watching TV re-runs can bring familiarity to boomers. Whether they’re watching old re-runs of Clint Eastwood movies or TV shows such as Taxi, watching something with a distinct feel and resemblance to their younger days can bring plenty of joy and feelings of nostalgia.
Listening to the radio
While radios and vinyls are making a comeback among the younger generation for their vintage aesthetics, boomers can appreciate them due to their personal attachment to radios. Whether they listen to the radio to hear the newest songs on their analog radio or break news segments, radios can embody a different time and feel for boomers.
Writing letters
As a generation engaged in many tasks with a hands-on approach, many boomers are tactile. To tactile people, writing a letter by hand is much more fulfilling than merely texting or typing out an email. The sense of accomplishment of completing a letter, personalized with someone’s unique handwriting, makes the process more unique.
Cooking from scratch
Whether it’s their favorite dessert or their signature meal, boomers like preparing food in a hands-on capacity. Boomers and older generations often inherit unique family recipes, still written in books, and prefer this method over googling recipes or buying ready-made foods at the local store. Cooking meals and dishes passed down through generations, with the hope of passing the torch to the young ones, shows someone’s pride in their family heritage. Studies show that over time, people in the US are spending less time cooking and more time eating out.
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