The discussion about the negative stereotypes of baby boomers have been quite popular on the web. In fact, the internet really doesn’t hold back when criticizing their outdated values, poor advice, and disdain and ignorance towards others.
Boomers are the ones that hold high positions in governments, many major corporations, and mass media outlets. They have a lot of power and influence in this modern-day world. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the younger generations find the internet, the place where everyone’s voice is valid, to be the most appropriate spot to vent about the shortcomings of boomers. And they’re plentiful.
The list below consists of various tweets regarding toxic boomer behavior. Most of them bemoan boomer attitudes towards work and money. And, rightfully so. Scroll down to see the very familiar worst of the worst.
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My dream reality show is politicians trying to survive for minimum wage for at least 3 months <3
Don't forget! These politicians would have to do such a thing with NO access to their own money/wealth, or help from their wealthy families and friends.
Load More Replies...Hello folks. First, we have YOUR GRANDMOTHER on "Do It Yourself, Dad!" He's going to have to work 8 AM to 8 PM at the local McDonalds, getting $7.25 per hour, dealing with obnoxious customers, a s**t boss, and having the added bonus of having all of his misery filmed for the world to see. Will he do it folks... oh, look at this, he's running out of the arena and going to his car. HE'S! LEARNED! NOTHING!
Someone please make a reality TV show where people feel entitled to criticize an entire group for reasons of pure jealousy.
Boomers have TOXIC ATTITUDES toward jobs and work???? Wait—I’m a hard-working boomer, guys!
Right? Like " just go into the business and apply". Would love to see how that works out for them.
Boomer here and oh, boy, do I feel the pain of those who have to listen to boomer advice on job hunting. My bank was bought out in 2008 and I learned really fast about how to job hunt. At the same time, it was still difficult to find a job then, any job, but I still had to put up with my boomer brother and his job hunting advice: "Just go in everywhere and pick up an application." "Just keep calling every day until you hear back." "They want experience, so list every job you've ever had since high school." "Go back to college, get a degree, and then apply." And on and on and on. All the while telling me how useless I was to society by not working, how lazy I was to be receiving food stamps and unemployment while job hunting. My boomer cousin and my mom couldn't understand why I was on the computer day and night, filling out applications and taking those stupid personality tests. My mom hadn't held a job since 1952 and my cousin and brother hadn't applied for a new job in 20 years.
I got my Accounting degree just before I turned 60 because I was tired of being in menial jobs and treated like I don't have a brain. I got my degree through WGU, which was crazy affordable. I interviewed using my "boomer" techniques and got a job right away. In fact I've worked up and never been out of a job. I love my job and the people I work with. There's always an excuse for not bettering yourself. Nobody will hand it to you. If you don't want to work for minimum wage, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Boomer rant over.
Well, pin a big rose on you! I'll just rush right over to the college and give them the $50,000 I've saved from working a minimum wage job over the years and then I'll just parade me, my gray hair, and the degree around for a couple hours. Should get a job offer from these we-hire-old-people companies in no time. College will be more than two full years of my salary but is completely doable, as long as I don't eat, pay bills, or pay rent, but hey, what's a little sacrifice now and then? Seriously, dude, I've moved twice to get a new job to better myself, I've gone above and beyond wherever I've worked, and don't job hop. My reward has been to be tossed out with no help when a store closes down or let go when my company was bought out. I've spent over $400 commuting to a company to take tests that MIGHT get me a job interview, I've taken sent out over 1000 applications with only 9 responses back, and I was told by many people about the ageism at work in today's job market. So get real!
Load More Replies...If you're a Boomer about to post in this thread, ask yourself this first : shouldn't I be out, threaten someone who is working retail right now instead?
Of course, generational misunderstandings or, as commonly called, generational gaps are not new. Though they have been identified in the '60s, it’s certainly been a thing in our society for millennia. Older people were always disappointed in younger folks for one reason or another. The youth, in turn, often complained about the outdated attitudes of the generations before them.
As the world progresses, new issues arise and new priorities emerge. The older values become irrelevant and subject to scrutiny. If the people that hold them also hold the power, criticizing them becomes the only solace.
Without a mobile you're practically doomed this days. Almost everything from buerocracy to job-research (and applying) is handled online and via phonecalls.
Scientists have studied the “kids these days” attitude and why it has become an ubiquitous saying for many elders. The reason is twofold. One part is that often that we compare kids to our current selves.
“Authoritarian people especially think youth are less respectful of their elders, intelligent people especially think youth are less intelligent, and well-read people especially think youth enjoy reading less,” states the 2019 study.
So, because right this moment we feel like we are more intelligent and outgoing, or less addicted to screen time, we believe that we were also like that in the past. This is a form of memory bias that influences how we see others.
In fact, the way we see others can be quite harsh. That’s the second part of the phenomenon actually, the fact that we tend to see other people’s flaws easier than ours. Mix the bias with the judgmental nature and you’ll get a typical image of the ever-complaining elderly.
Who made the decision not to teach cursive anymore? It's not like the kids were taught but refused to learn it... it was dismissed for whatever reasons, that's not the kids' fault.
To be perfectly clear, baby boomers were, in a way, the ones to make generational distinction so clear. They rejected the values of their parents and started deeply questioning authority during the Vietnam War. Their views also influenced culture and we see it all reflected in less restrictive fashion and more experimental music. Baby boomers were the most radical generation.
I’d like to see a boomer try this and see if it gets them a job
So, how did we get to a place where calling someone a boomer is basically an insult? According to author and journalist Francis Beckett, it’s their own fault. In his book “What did the baby boomers ever do for us?” he argues that they sold themselves out by focusing on money.
They prioritized their personal wealth to the well-being of other generations. “The children of the '60s betrayed the generations that came before and after,” he claims, and left “the true legacy of the swinging decade in ashes.”
Boomers: "go to college" Also Boomers: "college is LiBErAl indoctrination!"
🎶Back in my day we didn't need no feel good pills and no psychiatrists, we just drank ourselves to death... and god damnit we liked it!🎶
The sentiment of putting money first is obvious in most of the advice they give to young people. It is always related to people not working hard enough to make money. They spout that everything was much harder for them and that they made do. They claim that younger generations don’t know what hard work is, even though, back in the day, they were the ones dubbed the “Me generation” who had everything handed to them on a silver platter.
Boomers are going to experience a rude awakening when climate change forces us to choose between the 19 year old mom who needs water and meds for her kid in LA versus an 80 year old who can't help irrigate the crops. Things are going to get bad and $2 million in the bank won't help.
Average college tuition in 1970 was 360$ per year, translating roughly to 2300$ today. Current average college tuition in 2020 was close to 10k$. In 2023, it's 12k$, and 28k$ if we consider only private colleges. That's TUITION, the overall cost is about double that. Average hourly wage in 1970 was 4,70$, 37$ today. Average hourly wage in July 2023 is 33.74$. Tuition increase: 5 times as much. Average pay, basically the same, if not slightly lower.
My local newspaper did an article this week on WTF happened to our real estate market recently. Home prices have nearly doubled in the last 3 years and there are 0 available rentals. Turns out that several recent factors are the straw that broke the camels' back, but the real problem is we haven't built enough homes to keep up with population growth for almost 40 years. The boomers built their dream homes then tightened zoning laws to strictly limit how many new homes could be built around them and nearly eliminate multifamily homes and apartment buildings. The handful of home that can be built each year are mostly higher end "McMansions" because that is what the zoning laws favor and what developers can make the most profit on.
It is important to note that they did work a lot. They are known for a strong work ethic and giving their all which is admirable. They are quite competitive and motivated to do everything on their own. And while that sounds great, there are some drawbacks to this attitude.
Believing that the work clothes you wear somehow correlates with your ability to do your job well is like believing that chainsaws are men's tools while blenders are women's tools.
It's really funny when you tell about people and don't mention they're black for example, and they start with, you didn't tell he was black why didn't you? Well it's not a character trait nor got it something to do with the story, so why does your racist a*s care about that?
The younger generations, boomer children, saw how overworking yourself can lead to personal issues. They saw how prioritizing money left little time for family and life and they didn’t find that appealing. This, together with the fact that the salaries these days don’t compare to what they were when boomers were trying to make it, deters people from being so money focused. People know that they won’t get the same no matter how hard they try, so, instead, many prioritize a comfortable work-life balance.
"Money can't buy happiness" came from a study that said AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT money can't buy happiness ANYMORE. That saying was always correct, but it was taken out of context.
The American Dream was always just that. A dream. It never really existed, unless you were a white heterosexual man. If you were a woman, a person of color, or any form of LGBTQ+, that dream was never for you
But now, when boomers look at how protective younger generations are of their time and the small pleasures in life, they don’t see the changed system that disadvantages young people. Instead, they see laziness and lack of commitment. They sacrificed a lot to get to where they are, so why can’t others do it? They mistakenly conclude that younger generations prefer short-term goals to hard work and perceive them as entitled.
Most Boomers won't be furious over how you spend your money, as long as you're willing to accept the consequences of your actions.
This intern c**p has to go, its exploitation pure and simple. As a mid fifties lady I can tell you I never heard of such a thing when I was starting out in the working world. Heck, I complained if I was paid jnr rates at 19, especially if co workers doing the same job in their 20s were paid more than me...and I won those arguments ffs. What is happening today with low paid and interns jobs turns my stomach frankly, it modern slavery and disrespectful to humans on an intrinsic basic level.
This post misses the point too. "We didn't light it. But we tried to fight it". Just because bad stuff already occured isn't an excuse to continue to let bad stuff keep occurring.
When “OK Boomer,” a phrase that was named a “rallying cry” by the New York Times, became popular, boomers were really upset. They claimed that that is blatant ageism. But again, that is not the case. The “OK Boomer” phrase is supposed to criticize the ignorant attitude, not the generation itself.
If I saved $5/week, I'd saved $260/year, and that'd be $2600 in 10 years. That doesn't get me very far.
Where's witness2thefact to argue that boomers are great and invented TV and telephones and never complain?
Meat and seafood has become a luxury that fewer and fewer can afford.
“Facts don’t win arguments, especially intergenerational ones,” writes Jenna Farbis in her opinion piece on the expression. “I could spend all day explaining that young people are suffering because we are inheriting a destroyed economy, but boomers would still blame our economic problems on the money we spend on avocado toast. And no amount of scientific evidence will sway climate change deniers. The best we can do is say “OK, boomer” to dismiss ignorant arguments and then continue to work toward our goals.”
Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
All in all, the animosity between the generations is definitely there. And it certainly might be the case that the injustices paired with biases are taking it to the next level. And while seeing through the differences is important, the boomer ignorance that is represented in this list makes it very hard.
OK, I´m ready to get downvoted for this, but...I´ve been following this site for many years and I´ve noticed just how vastly the content has changed. It used to be full of educational articles, historical photos, new facts and comics to make you laugh. I see less and less of such content compared to articles such as "Boomers vs whatever other generation", "Person triggered by...", "Why Americans are...", etc. I usually skip these because they are repetitive and they just trigger a lot of bias and just add to the overall bad mood spreading across the internet. It´s "us against them" and BP has not been doing a great job trying to rather make it "all of us". This article in particular is very manipulative because it wants to make you think that most if not all "boomers" (geez, I hate this term and I am only slightly over 30) are the bad guys, but I can assure you that none of that stuff mentioned here is what is the mindset of my parents or anyone from the older generation I know.
Unfortunately, conflict and anger makes people want to engage more. It's why the 24-hour news cycle is all doom and gloom: it makes people tune in and stay. But super bad for people's mental health. I have to be careful which articles I read on here (and I don't look at the news at all lol)
Load More Replies...2023 and the world is filling up with even more hate, discrimination and utter vileness. I'm sick and tired of articles like this, generation against generation. This is how troubles started throughout the years, one group blamed and things escalating. We are all human (unless you feel differently), we are on this planet together.
Old versus young. Rich versus poor. Mothers versus childless. Men versus women. America versus the world. These lists are irresponsible and the surrounding “articles” are even worse. What is happening here? What is the message? Are we to baselessly vilify anyone who is not our demographic clone? I can’t do that.
This is as bad as the constant posts about "Ha, ha look how stupid and awful Americans are!"
CAN WE PLEASE STOP THIS BOOMER PREJUDICE NONSENSE. There are intolerant, entitled people in every age group. This is ageism pure and simple and generalizes an entire generation based on a few people who grew up in the 50s and 60s in North America and had advantages that I can assure you right after the Second World War did NOT exist anywhere else. You wouldn’t find it acceptable to post prejudicial statements en masse against a racial or religious group. Please stop this, it’s annoying, inaccurate and creates nothing but toxic feeling between generations.
Why has BP continued on a path of passive aggressive hate? You see it against Boomers here and if you keep reading BP you find they have an axe to grind against quite a few things including a certain handful of countries. It wasn't always like this, and BP seems to slowly becoming a site of hate and intolerance.
Agree 100%! Stop this nonsense about generations being categorically this or that.
Load More Replies...Be they 21 years old or 60, queer, cishet, abled or neurodivergent, POC or Scandinavian, pushing any group of people to the margins by generalizing negative qualities about them is socially toxic behaviour, cynical beyond reproach and just plain ugly. Criticizing any easily compartmentalized segment of society says more about the person doing the criticism than it does about the people being dragged. Holding people accountable for their actions is crucial to the function of society. Over-generalizing an entire group of people based on any arbitrary metric (such as this post & those retorting in the comments against the Ys-Zs) is just fücking gross. And bitter. And spiteful. And resentful. Yuck!!!!
Another polarised post. The world via the internet is just turning into a pigeon holed toxic dump where c**p happens and then it says "Oh look what's happened?" like it's a surprise... Who are these 'Boomers'? Or these 'Amercians'? Or these 'Women without children'? Or 'People without jobs'? Seriously, from a site that constantly shoves down peoples throat about faux acceptance for minor celebrity virue signaling causes it's amazing how many of these 'them and us' bile articles there are...
I am one of these "Boomers" that you are referring to, and I would like to tell you that you are way off the mark. I would never do some of the horrible things you accuse us of doing. I do notice that you are being the bigot you accuse us of being, just because of age. It's sad, actually.
These articles are getting as old as most of the tweets in them. There's one in there from 2013. That was TEN years ago.
" AM I THE A**HOLE" ; for suggesting that bored panda has lost its edge? Lost its creativity? Probably lost all its good employees over the past three years.
Jesus Christ what is with the people commenting on every single post with just hateful post after hateful post? Glad they're downvoted into oblivion. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Of course young adults of today are the first generation to complain about the previous one, and in the future their children and grandchildren will admire the way they do everything correctly.
Please stop with the Boomer hate already! We haven't done half of what you accuse us of, and the other half, you can blame on the Republicans, even the ones your age.
Funny how the issue with the article is how they are actively naming who has these outdated and poor ideas instead of that they still exist...
Baby boomer here. We had two children. We paid, no loans for their three degrees, and our own degrees. Five degrees, no debt. It was obvious that our children taking on debt like that was a trap for them. We marched for peace, the earth, women’s rights, exploited agricultural workers, veterans, worked with head start, supported planned parenthood, ERA, equal pay. It’s a long list. Our parents came home from WWII and had babies, a lot of babies. After WWI France had lost 33% of their male population. When I was first married I couldn’t have a credit card, own a home, buy a car without a male relative co-signing. Men at work grabbed my body regularly. I guess men still do that.so no gain there. I couldn’t get birth control without my husband’s permission. I don’t like tattoos but, hey, they’re not on me. My daughter got one on her foot which she hid for a year. She says it’s a caterpillar. To me it looks like the agricultural map of Bolivia. Your hatred for us is devastating.
OK, I´m ready to get downvoted for this, but...I´ve been following this site for many years and I´ve noticed just how vastly the content has changed. It used to be full of educational articles, historical photos, new facts and comics to make you laugh. I see less and less of such content compared to articles such as "Boomers vs whatever other generation", "Person triggered by...", "Why Americans are...", etc. I usually skip these because they are repetitive and they just trigger a lot of bias and just add to the overall bad mood spreading across the internet. It´s "us against them" and BP has not been doing a great job trying to rather make it "all of us". This article in particular is very manipulative because it wants to make you think that most if not all "boomers" (geez, I hate this term and I am only slightly over 30) are the bad guys, but I can assure you that none of that stuff mentioned here is what is the mindset of my parents or anyone from the older generation I know.
Unfortunately, conflict and anger makes people want to engage more. It's why the 24-hour news cycle is all doom and gloom: it makes people tune in and stay. But super bad for people's mental health. I have to be careful which articles I read on here (and I don't look at the news at all lol)
Load More Replies...2023 and the world is filling up with even more hate, discrimination and utter vileness. I'm sick and tired of articles like this, generation against generation. This is how troubles started throughout the years, one group blamed and things escalating. We are all human (unless you feel differently), we are on this planet together.
Old versus young. Rich versus poor. Mothers versus childless. Men versus women. America versus the world. These lists are irresponsible and the surrounding “articles” are even worse. What is happening here? What is the message? Are we to baselessly vilify anyone who is not our demographic clone? I can’t do that.
This is as bad as the constant posts about "Ha, ha look how stupid and awful Americans are!"
CAN WE PLEASE STOP THIS BOOMER PREJUDICE NONSENSE. There are intolerant, entitled people in every age group. This is ageism pure and simple and generalizes an entire generation based on a few people who grew up in the 50s and 60s in North America and had advantages that I can assure you right after the Second World War did NOT exist anywhere else. You wouldn’t find it acceptable to post prejudicial statements en masse against a racial or religious group. Please stop this, it’s annoying, inaccurate and creates nothing but toxic feeling between generations.
Why has BP continued on a path of passive aggressive hate? You see it against Boomers here and if you keep reading BP you find they have an axe to grind against quite a few things including a certain handful of countries. It wasn't always like this, and BP seems to slowly becoming a site of hate and intolerance.
Agree 100%! Stop this nonsense about generations being categorically this or that.
Load More Replies...Be they 21 years old or 60, queer, cishet, abled or neurodivergent, POC or Scandinavian, pushing any group of people to the margins by generalizing negative qualities about them is socially toxic behaviour, cynical beyond reproach and just plain ugly. Criticizing any easily compartmentalized segment of society says more about the person doing the criticism than it does about the people being dragged. Holding people accountable for their actions is crucial to the function of society. Over-generalizing an entire group of people based on any arbitrary metric (such as this post & those retorting in the comments against the Ys-Zs) is just fücking gross. And bitter. And spiteful. And resentful. Yuck!!!!
Another polarised post. The world via the internet is just turning into a pigeon holed toxic dump where c**p happens and then it says "Oh look what's happened?" like it's a surprise... Who are these 'Boomers'? Or these 'Amercians'? Or these 'Women without children'? Or 'People without jobs'? Seriously, from a site that constantly shoves down peoples throat about faux acceptance for minor celebrity virue signaling causes it's amazing how many of these 'them and us' bile articles there are...
I am one of these "Boomers" that you are referring to, and I would like to tell you that you are way off the mark. I would never do some of the horrible things you accuse us of doing. I do notice that you are being the bigot you accuse us of being, just because of age. It's sad, actually.
These articles are getting as old as most of the tweets in them. There's one in there from 2013. That was TEN years ago.
" AM I THE A**HOLE" ; for suggesting that bored panda has lost its edge? Lost its creativity? Probably lost all its good employees over the past three years.
Jesus Christ what is with the people commenting on every single post with just hateful post after hateful post? Glad they're downvoted into oblivion. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Of course young adults of today are the first generation to complain about the previous one, and in the future their children and grandchildren will admire the way they do everything correctly.
Please stop with the Boomer hate already! We haven't done half of what you accuse us of, and the other half, you can blame on the Republicans, even the ones your age.
Funny how the issue with the article is how they are actively naming who has these outdated and poor ideas instead of that they still exist...
Baby boomer here. We had two children. We paid, no loans for their three degrees, and our own degrees. Five degrees, no debt. It was obvious that our children taking on debt like that was a trap for them. We marched for peace, the earth, women’s rights, exploited agricultural workers, veterans, worked with head start, supported planned parenthood, ERA, equal pay. It’s a long list. Our parents came home from WWII and had babies, a lot of babies. After WWI France had lost 33% of their male population. When I was first married I couldn’t have a credit card, own a home, buy a car without a male relative co-signing. Men at work grabbed my body regularly. I guess men still do that.so no gain there. I couldn’t get birth control without my husband’s permission. I don’t like tattoos but, hey, they’re not on me. My daughter got one on her foot which she hid for a year. She says it’s a caterpillar. To me it looks like the agricultural map of Bolivia. Your hatred for us is devastating.