One Love Boomer

Task 9, February 28 to March 7

“I got pneumonia when I was six. My mom made me walk it off.” Anonymous Baby Boomer

I’ve been talking and writing a LOT about seniors/boomers lately, both on this substack and on our podcast (shameless plug. Watch and subscribe)

Why? Frankly, out of anger. Why the anger? Because of TikTok. Why TikTok? Log on and type “boomer” into the search bar, and you will find 10,000 short videos that, at best, goof on seniors; at worst, vilify and ridicule us. Now, it’s certainly their right to express their opinion, and it is mine right to clap back.

AND I’m plenty aware that boomers aren’t perfect and we MAY be less than magnanimous towards the generations that followed us, and we MAY have messed up the environment a teeny bit, and MAY be contributing to the housing shortage, and there MAY be a few boomers who led less-than-exemplary lives (i.e. Jeffrey Dahmer, John Gotti, and lately, Bill Belichick…),

BUT what about Steven Spielburg, Oprah, and Bernie Kosar for Christ’s sake?

SO, here’s five stereotypes that the after-boomers try to pin on us, and my replies, culled from hours and hours of intense research fueled by anger, Costco mixed nuts and Trader Joe’s Masca del Tacco Susumaniello, just $10.

Boomers are greedy: It took quite a while for baby boomers to start giving some of their money away (another criticism dating back to the 1980s) but today the generation donates the most charitable dollars in the United States. Boomers currently contribute 43 percent of all donations, according to the consulting firm Bridgeworks, with 72 percent of the generation donating an average $1,212 in annual gifts.

Boomers are selfish: millions of boomers are serving as mentors, teachers, and volunteers, demonstrating that they are eager to give time and energy to worthy causes. Twenty-six percent of boomers volunteer, according to a 2018 study published by Up With People Volunteer Abroad, close being Generation X’s rate of 29 percent and ahead of millennials’ 22 percent.

Boomers are digitally ignorant: A 2019 survey of Chief Information Officers of more than 4,000 information workers found that workers over the age of 55 were less likely than their millennial coworkers to find technology in the workplace stressful. Beyond that, remember that many of those who blazed the digital trail including Apple founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates were or are boomers.“They are adopting technology at an impressive rate,” according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey that found that 82 percent of U.S. Baby Boomers owned smartphones, 64 percent used social media and 70 percent of Baby Boomers are active internet users. Boo-yah!

Boomers hoard money: In 2021, Federal Reserve Data showed that Gen Xers passed baby boomers in share of household net worth as the former hit their prime earning years and invested wisely in the bullish stock market. Those numbers indicate that Gen X is now wealthier than boomers.

Boomers had it easy: An economist would know that the United States experienced recessions during 1969-70, 1973-75, 1980, 1981-82, and 1990-91—all of these periods during baby boomers’ prime earning years. Boomers persevered!

So, there you are.

Task: the next time some non-boomer gives you crap, remind them that we invented the bong, put the lights in refrigerators, and gave the world flared jeans.