They say the generation gap has always existed, but that doesn’t make it any less cringeworthy when you experience it firsthand. There’s something about Boomer habits and mannerisms that just makes millennials’ eyes roll straight into the backs of their heads.
From their exotic slang and outdated sayings to their cringeworthy attempts at using tech, Boomers always seem to find new ways to inadvertently drive us up the wall. And don’t even get us started on their obliviousness to basic societal norms!
While part of us has to respect the OGs for paving the way, their habits and mannerisms can really make our skin crawl sometimes. You know exactly what we’re talking about – all those little quirks that make you think, “Oh no, Boomer, WHY?!”
Here are 15 utterly maddening Boomer habits that make millennials want to disappear into their phone screens.
Using Cringeworthy Slang
Whenever Boomers try to use slang from decades past, millennials can’t help but cringe hard. It’s like nails on a chalkboard when your dad busts out “groovy” or your mom says something was “the bee’s knees.”
We get it, they were young and hip once upon a time too, but that lingo is just so painfully outdated and cringeworthy now. Hearing archaic 60s and 70s slang still unironically used makes us want to melt into a puddle of secondhand embarrassment.
Signing Emails
We love you Boomers, but the habit of signing emails with your full name is such an unnecessary formality in this digital age. It’s laughable getting a simple message from “Grandpa Bill” that just reads “Hi grandson, How’s school? Love, William R. Johnston.”
Umm we already know who it’s from based on the email address – all that John Hancock extra is overkill. Unless it’s some ultra-professional correspondence, signing with your full name and middle initial is a weirdly antiquated custom that doesn’t need to happen anymore.
Typing With One Finger
There’s a special kind of impatient hell reserved for millennials subjected to watching a Boomer slowly peck away at a keyboard or phone screen with a single index finger. Seeing older folks one-finger type is like watching an arthritic tortoise write a novel.
Using all fingers is Typing 101 – that laborious peck-peck-peck dance should be a relic of the past, not a present-day work practice. Please Gran, learn to use more than just your index finger!
Printing Out Emails and Attachments
Nothing raises millennial office blood pressure quite like having a Boomer coworker invariably hit “print” on every single digital file they receive. The loud, obnoxious whirring of the ancient printer, the wasteful use of paper and ink – it’s just so painful and unnecessary in the 21st century to treat ephemeral PDFs and email attachments as physical artifacts.
Those documents are already in a perfectly tangible format. There’s simply no need to kill entire trees and drain our toner supplies over simple on-screen content.
Loud Cellphone Conversations
There’s clearly a time and place for taking phone calls, but far too many Boomers blatantly ignore those unspoken etiquette rules by having loud conversations at the worst possible moments.
We’re just trying to peacefully enjoy a quiet dinner out or bus ride, and all the sudden BAM – an oblivious Boomer sitting nearby launches into an ear-splitting conversation about their bunion surgery or describing their latest bowel movement in grotesque detail at maximum volume.
Writing In All CAPS
MAYBE OLDER FOLKS THINK USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS MAKES WHATEVER MESSAGE OR POINT THEY’RE TRYING TO CONVEY MORE SERIOUS AND IMPACTFUL, BUT THE REALITY IS THAT WHEN BOOMERS SEND EMAILS, TEXTS, OR SOCIAL POSTS IN FULL CAPS, IT JUST COMES ACROSS AS SUPER ABRASIVE AND LIKE THEY’RE LITERALLY YELLING AT THE RECIPIENT FOR NO REASON. Reading that format strains our eyes and gives the impression of unwarranted hostility right off the bat.
Leaving Voicemails from the 1800s
Kids and millennials today have grown up in the age of lightning-fast texting and near-instant message transmission, so having to actually call someone’s number and decipher a rambling, 5-minute longwinded voicemail from Aunt Carol feels torturous.
She’ll wind her way through 12 digressive verbal detours that cause us to inevitably miss half of the key points she was actually trying to convey, resulting in us having to call her back anyway to get her to repeat herself slowly and directly.
Taking Selfies at Unflattering Angles
No amount of squinting or skin smoothing “beauty” filters can compensate for the reality that the selfie arm’s length from below is never, ever a flattering angle. And yet far too many clueless Boomers still don’t understand this universal truth and continue taking photos this way, then bombarding family group texts with 10 different bungled pouty tries.
Mom-Cringe Dance Moves
While we absolutely love that our hip Boomer moms are cool enough to still enthusiastically get down and groove at weddings, parties, and family functions well into their later years, that doesn’t make their drunken, eccentric dance moves any less cringeworthy to witness.
The dizzying array of painfully dorky electric slides, running man thrusts, lawnmower pivots, and bellbottom pop-locking on display is enough to make any self-respecting millennial literally facepalm
Passive-Aggressive Emoji Usage
Rather than mastering modern communication etiquette norms and having direct discourse, too many Boomers seem to cling to passive-aggressive emotional crutches and catty umbrella symbolism.
Few things make millennials’ skin crawl harder than receiving a terse, confrontational message finishing with a pouty-face emoji that reeks of unspoken subtext. We expect more mature openness and transparency from grown adults, not these kinds of vaguely bratty little gestures.
Reply-All Email Trainwrecks
Most modern offices and workplaces have at least one Boomer coworker who clearly lacks basic email competency and Reply-All discretion, leading them to mistakenly and inadvertently blast irrelevant conversations and update chains to thousands of employees across the entire company by mistake.
While we try to be sympathetic to tech illiteracy, the resulting tidal wave of Reply-All chaos with everyone futilely responding “Please remove me from this thread!” is maddening.
Living Life as a Billboard
Sure, we get that Boomers are incredibly proud of their kids, grandkids, and familial journeys. That’s awesome! What’s not awesome is their strange habit of turning seemingly every last household item, clothing article, and possession into an embroidered or printed billboard advertisement announcing things no one else really needs or wants to know.
Having “Go Brittany! Lincoln High Badminton Champs 2003!” and “The Sanders Family Cruise 2007” printed in all caps across shirts, hats, totes, towels AND car decals is just…a lot.
Tech Support Questions
Look, it’s understandable that many Boomers didn’t necessarily grow up immersed in the world of computer technology, smartphones, and Wi-Fi like younger generations. That knowledge gap is perfectly fine.
What’s not so fine is when they lob head-scratching silly questions and troubleshooting requests at millennial IT support and computer technicians — things like “My computer won’t turn on unless I unplug it first from the wall” or “How do I make the videos go full screen again?” With patience wearing thin, the techs on the other end often have to resist the strong urge to clap back with retorts.
Narrating the Obvious
There’s nothing more grating and condescending than having a Boomer narrate and commentate on visible events unfolding right in front of your eyes.
We can clearly see that Dad is struggling to loosen that stuck pipe fitting under the sink – we don’t also need a breathless play-by-play of the obvious: “This…darn…thing…won’t…turn! Almost…got it now!”
Like an overzealous sports broadcaster, too many Boomers seem to think we need these audible cues and descriptions to discern what’s happening in plain sight.
Ignoring Text/Typing Norms
From random capitalization of words in the mIDDle of sentences, to ignoring spacing etiquette by running everything togetherLikethisWithNoBreaks, Boomer texting and typing habits routinely flout standard norms in ways that are sloppy and simply maddening to behold.
Is it really so difficult to utilize the shift key appropriately before starting new sentences? Or leaving a single tap of the space bar after punctuating to separate thoughts? Having to decode paragraph-length messages with zero spacing or Caps deployed for no apparent reason makes things exponentially harder to read and comprehend quickly.
No matter how much we love and respect our elders, their dated dispositions and stubborn obliviousness to basic modern-day cultural norms and etiquette will likely continue fueling generational roasts for years to come. From outdated slang to hilariously inept tech skills, there’s a steady stream of Boomer cringe that keeps on giving.
That said, part of life’s beautiful cycle is the gradual shedding of antiquated behaviors and assumptions to give rise to evolved cultural mores and sensibilities. And hey, we millennials will doubtless have our own suite of cringeworthy habits that infuriate Gen Z in another 20 years. The generational baton gets passed on and on.
