Different generations tend to do things differently - Jack Rear unpacks 21 unique "boomerisms". Photo / Getty Images
Different generations tend to do things differently - Jack Rear unpacks 21 unique "boomerisms". Photo / Getty Images
The way we use (or fail to use) our tech is a sure-fire indicator of the generations – so which “boomerisms” are you guilty of?
The way we think about getting older has changed over the past few decades. New descriptors such as “midlife” and “young adult”, as well as the increased prominence of strict generational divides “millennial”, “Gen Z” and, of course, “baby boomer”, have changed the way we perceive our age.
Endless culture war discourse, pitting young against old, has made us forget just how fluid the ageing process can be.
To give an example, the hit 1980s American sitcom The Golden Girls focused on a cast of elderly single women who were very much in their twilight years. In 2022, And Just Like That…, a follow-up to Sex And The City,premiered, focusing on a cast of midlife women who were still working, earning and having plenty of sex. The main characters in each series were 55, showing just how much our idea of “old” has changed.
However, there are still areas where your age can start showing if you’re not careful. We asked under-30s what they consider signs of “boomerism” and how they do things differently…
If you’re holding your phone in one hand and using one finger of the other to type on your phone’s keyboard, that’s a sure sign you’re a baby boomer. Young people either hold the phone in both hands and text with their thumbs, or balance the phone on their little finger and type with the thumb of the same hand - yielding quicker results.
Trying to pay with coins to park the car
Do you have a change purse specifically for when you come to park your car? That’s a sign you’re a boomer. In 2024, young people pay for parking with an app on their smartphone. All well and good, unless you’re parking at a beauty spot in the countryside without phone reception…
Coins are slowly becoming a relic of the past, with many opting to pay for parking on their phone. Photo / Getty Images
Owning a cheque book
Many well-meaning parents and grandparents will pull out their cheque book for a relative’s birthday or Christmas present, but the truth is many young people have no idea what to do with these slips of paper. The decline of high-street banking meant, until recently, that cheques could never be banked. Nowadays banking apps enable us to scan photos of cheques and cash them virtually, but it’s still a convoluted process.
While it used to be the case that young adults would spend hours a day scrolling through Facebook, even having an account nowadays is considered cringeworthy. Findings from Savanta’s State of the Youth Nation Tracker earlier this year found that while 17% of British people “loved” Facebook, only 3% of Gen Z did. In contrast, TikTok usage is surging, with 47% of Gen Z saying they use it multiple times per day.
Miming a phone call
Imagine you want to indicate to someone that you’ll give them a call. If you raise a thumb to your ear and point your little finger out, that’s boomer behaviour. Young people who’ve grown up without landlines and those fiddly speakers and receivers simply hold a flattened hand to their ear, like a smartphone.
Printing tickets/boarding passes for planes
Perhaps it’s a marker of our relative trust in technology. If you’re the type who carefully prints off boarding passes, theatre tickets, or - God forbid - road maps, rather than trusting your phone to deal with it all, then you’re probably a boomer. If you’re storing all these documents in plastic wallets then there’s no helping you.
Printed boarding passes are almost obsolete. Nowadays, people trust their phone to deal with it all. Photo / Getty Images
Sending/expecting to receive thank you cards
These days the sending of thank you notes after birthdays or Christmas isn’t de rigeur. It’s not that we’re ungrateful, it’s just we express it at the time rather than afterwards.
Not wearing sunscreen
According to the British Skin Foundation, we should be wearing sunscreen practically any time we go outside. However, boomers haven’t taken this message to heart, especially the men. According to a survey by the organisation, 45% of over-50s admitted to not using sunscreen at all, even in summer.
Opening a car window
You pull up to the traffic lights and, lo and behold, there’s your friend in the car next to you. “Roll down your window for a chat”, you want to gesture. If you’re frantically winding the air, you’re a boomer. Gen Z simply jab the air beside them to indicate an electric window switch.
Gone are the days when we had to wind down the car window manually. Photo / 123RF
Turning the internet off
If you’re the type of person who turns off the Wi-Fi, you’re almost certainly a boomer. The savings you make from doing so are minimal. According to Which?, households only save about £20 ($42.54) a year by turning off their appliances instead of leaving them on standby.
Texting in general (ellipses at the end of texts, replying ‘Ok’)
There are almost too many strange boomer texting habits to name. Many choose to end clauses with random ellipses (is it to create a sense of intrigue…?). Or perhaps you’re the type who desperately needs to get the last word in, by responding “Ok” to text messages. Or do you illustrate every message with emojis? (For example: “I am in a traffic jam 🚗🚗🚗 and will be late 🕙 to get home 🏠 tonight 🌆”.) Young people have their own text-based neuroses: use of exclamation marks entirely too frequently to convey upbeat attitudes and enthusiasm; correct usage of fullstops strikes fear into the heart of an under-30, leading them to believe they’ve done something to anger or offend.
Ringtones/keyboard/camera noise
While young people might be glued to their phones, they take a “seen and not heard” approach. You’ll never meet an under-30 with a ringtone any louder than a subtle vibration. As for all the other noises that phones make; keyboard tapping sounds, camera shutter noises, text alert pings; turning them off is vital if you don’t want to seem like a has-been.
Caring about self check-outs and QR codes on restaurant menus
If you’re expending your energy to get angry about these things, you’re probably a boomer. Young people are so used to technology speeding things along while shopping or dining, they don’t even think about it.
Self check-outs and QR codes at restaurants are becoming common business practices. Photo / Getty Images
Being bad at taking selfies
Taking a selfie is one of the clearest means of working out which generation you’re from. If you never do it at all, you’re probably a boomer. If you have a thumb in the shot, or you’re looking at your screen rather than the camera, you’re Gen X. If you use the inner camera, you’re a millennial. If you’re turning your whole phone around to use the outer camera flawlessly, you’re Gen Z.
Having a landline phone
They’ve become obsolete. If you can’t reach a young person on their mobile phone, give up. The only use under-30s have for landlines is kitschy aesthetic value.
Turning your phone landscape to take a picture
While film, television, and computer screens have conditioned older generations to think of visuals in terms of widescreen formats, young people are much happier snapping and filming vertically. As more and more of our media is consumed via mobile phones, expect to see more major films optimised to be displayed vertically.
Being able to find something to watch on TV without planning
With the rise of countless online streaming services, there’s no reason for young people to watch anything “because it’s on”. If you can switch on the TV and find yourself happily watching The One Show or an old episode of Top Gear, you’re probably a boomer.
If you find yourself watching whatever's playing on the TV "because it's on", you're probably a boomer, says Rear. Photo / 123RF
Keeping a paper diary
Replaced entirely by iCal and Google Calendar, don’t expect to see a young person scheduling appointments in a physical book. Even so, W.H. Smith need not panic just yet. Diaries have found a new lease of life among the young as a mindfulness technique.
Holding on to paperwork for years ‘just in case’
Do you have a drawer full of old council tax bills, notifications from energy suppliers, and ancient receipts? If so, you’re probably a boomer. Email receipts, online accounts, and smartphone apps have rendered such things unnecessary.
For many boomers, owning an iPad came before owning a smartphone, hence the best camera you owned may have been more associated with your tablet than your mobile. Times have changed, though. The camera on your iPad is purely ceremonial: the most recent edition of the device has a 12-megapixel camera, four times less powerful than that of the latest iPhone.
