There’s nothing quite like watching our beloved Baby Boomers navigate the modern world. While they gave us classic rock and revolutionary social movements, today’s rapidly evolving landscape sometimes leaves them hilariously bewildered. From their endless battle with technology to their unshakeable faith in Facebook “facts,” these moments perfectly capture the generational divide that has us millennials and Gen Z-ers both laughing and face-palming simultaneously.
1. Plastering Passwords All Over The Office
When a Boomer finally decides to upgrade their phone, they don’t just write down their passwords—they create an elaborate system of sticky notes plastered across their desks, monitors, and even their coffee mugs. The technicolor display of login credentials becomes such a workplace hazard that IT has to intervene with emergency “digital security workshops.” Despite their best efforts, the sticky note system persists because “adding an extra exclamation point to Password123! every month is foolproof.”
The creative solution to password management inevitably extends to helping colleagues, with proud demonstrations of this “foolproof” system at every opportunity. The younger employees can only watch in horror as the rainbow of sticky notes multiplies across the office, spreading like a security breach waiting to happen. Any mention of password managers is met with firm resistance because “writing it down is the only way to be sure.”
2. Zooming Into Social Media Posts
When a Boomer navigates social media, their screen becomes a masterclass in extreme close-ups. Every attempt to read comments results in accidental selfies posted as responses, usually featuring intense squinting and dramatic angles of their forehead. Their signature move involves holding the phone at arm’s length while gradually moving it closer to their face, unknowingly documenting the entire journey in a series of photos.
The situation inevitably escalates when they discover the zoom feature on their tablet, leading to a gallery of increasingly magnified screenshots of random text messages shared as standalone posts. Despite repeated offers to adjust their display settings, they insist that “getting up close and personal” with the device is the only way to really understand what’s happening on social media. Their determination results in an unintentional art gallery of partial words and pixelated fragments that their friends loyally comment on with confused enthusiasm.
3. Forwarding Every Viral Warning Email
Bets are off when a Boomer discovers the forward button because they immediately appoint themselves as the unofficial guardian of internet safety. Their inbox becomes a command center for sharing every single warning that comes their way, from messages about drinking cold water causing cancer to urgent alerts about Facebook charging membership fees. Each forward comes complete with added commentary in bright red Comic Sans font, despite countless explanations about fact-checking from their tech-savvy children.
Their dedication to spreading awareness reaches such heights that they create elaborate filing systems for different categories of warnings, from Nigerian princes to obscure computer viruses. Weekly email blasts become so notorious that family members start group chats dedicated to discussing the scientific impossibility of their latest shares. Yet trying to explain that Bill Gates isn’t actually tracking email forwarding habits to give away his fortune only results in another mass forward about the dangers of skepticism.
4. Calling Instead Of Texting
If a Boomer needs to communicate, they steadfastly refuse to send even the simplest message via text (according to The Bank of Central Florida, phone calls are the preferred method). Their signature move involves leaving three-minute voicemails about single-word questions, usually followed by multiple follow-up calls to add forgotten details. The family group chat remains a ghost town of unread messages while their call log resembles a marathon runner’s training schedule.
Their commitment to verbal communication reaches new heights when they need to share a photo, resulting in individual calls to each family member to describe every pixel in painstaking detail. When finally convinced to try texting, they approach it like formal dictation, speaking each letter out loud while typing with one finger, creating messages that take longer to compose than the average podcast episode.
5. Signing Text Messages Formally
When a Boomer does embrace texting? They elevate it to an art form by treating each message as a formal piece of correspondence, as noted by CNN, requiring their full name, date, and often a brief note about their health. Their signature blocks, including landline numbers and full mailing addresses, often end up being longer than the actual messages. Family members learn to scroll past three screens of contact information just to read “OK, see you Sunday.”
Their commitment to formal texting etiquette reaches new heights when they begin adding “P.S.” sections to messages about rescheduling coffee dates, followed by “P.P.S.” additions with updates about their garden. Any attempt to explain that text signatures are unnecessary only results in them adding “Sent from my iPhone (but I prefer talking on my landline)” to their already extensive sign-offs.
6. Refusing To Trust Online Banking
Boomers take a stand against online banking—according to Primeway Federal Credit Union, they’re terrified of being scammed. Monthly trips to the bank become ceremonial journeys, with them proudly standing in line for an hour just to deposit a pension check, deliberately ignoring the ATM’s existence five feet away. Their dedication to “doing things the proper way” turns them into minor celebrities among the bank tellers, who keep special pens ready for their arrival.
Their skepticism of digital transactions leads to increasingly creative workarounds, like driving across town to hand-deliver a $5 payment for their share of a streaming service subscription. When banks announce reduced lobby hours, they respond by creating detailed spreadsheets of their monthly banking schedules, color-coded by transaction type, and present them to branch managers as evidence that “traditional banking isn’t dead yet.”
7. Writing Facebook Status Updates Like Letters
Forbes reports that Facebook is the most used platform for people aged 55 and older, with users spending an average of one hour and 48 minutes daily on social media networking. This time investment is reflected in their posting style: When a Boomer posts on Facebook, they transform status updates into full-length epistles, complete with formal greetings and “Sincerely” signatures. Each post begins with “Dear Facebook Friends” and includes detailed weather reports, regardless of the actual topic at hand. Despite gentle explanations about social media’s casual nature, they insist that proper communication requires proper formatting.
Their dedication to epistolary social media reaches its peak when they begin adding postscripts to their own comments, creating nested layers of additional thoughts that rival Russian nesting dolls in their complexity. Family members start competitions for spotting the most letter-writing conventions in a single post, with bonus points awarded for weather-related segues and mentions of how Facebook “isn’t as good as it used to be when it was more like proper mail.”
8. Maximizing Every Browser Window
Watch a Boomer organize their computer screen and see how it becomes a digital version of their garage workshop, with every window maximized to full size and stacked in mysterious layers that only they can navigate. Their desktop transforms into an archaeological dig site of browser windows, each containing a single tab they refuse to close because “you never know when you might need it again.” The IT department starts using their computer’s task manager as a stress test for new hardware.
Their unique approach to digital organization comes to light during video presentations, where finding a single window becomes an unexpected tour through their collection of maximized screens from the past month. Despite repeated introductions to browser tabs, they insist their system makes perfect sense, likening it to their filing cabinet at home where every document gets its own drawer, regardless of size.
9. Printing Every Email For “Safe Keeping”
When a Boomer decides to archive their emails, they single-handedly keep the printer ink industry afloat with their steadfast belief that every message needs a physical backup. Their home office evolves into a paper-based timeline of digital correspondence, meticulously organized in color-coded folders that they insist are “more reliable than any cloud.” The local office supply store starts ordering extra ink cartridges just to keep up with their weekly visits.
This reaches epic proportions when they decide to create a “hard copy” of their entire email history, including spam messages filed under “Suspicious Correspondence for Future Reference.” Any suggestion about switching to digital archiving launches them into a detailed presentation about the importance of having “real copies you can touch,” complete with demonstrations of their complex filing system that includes subcategories for email signatures and promotional footers.
10. Recording TV Shows With Their Phone Camera
If a Boomer misses their favorite shows, they devise creative solutions involving propped-up phones recording TV screens, creating shaky footage that inevitably includes running commentary and occasional background noises. Their proud declarations about “figuring out this streaming thing” become a source of both entertainment and mild concern for their tech-savvy children, who repeatedly try explaining DVR and on-demand services.
The situation peaks when they attempt to host movie nights featuring their phone recordings of various documentaries, complete with shadows occasionally passing across the screen and ambient household sounds in the background. Despite numerous introductions to legitimate streaming services, they maintain that their method is superior because they can “add personal touches to the viewing experience” through impromptu narration.
11. Fighting With Self-Checkout Machines
Boomers hate to see a self-checkout machine because the grocery store transforms into an impromptu theater. Their running commentary includes the greatest hits like “Back in my day, cashiers were PEOPLE” and “This robot is stealing someone’s job AND my patience!” The real entertainment begins when the machine politely asks them to place items in the bagging area, triggering a philosophical debate about the nature of spatial awareness.
Their resistance to automated checkout evolves into elaborate performance art, complete with exaggerated sighs and impromptu lectures to fellow shoppers about the decline of human interaction. Store managers start scheduling their breaks around these shopping trips, gathering to watch the latest showdown between human determination and machine efficiency. Despite countless offers of assistance, they remain convinced that these machines are just the first step in a robot uprising that can only be prevented by stubbornly insisting on human cashiers.
12. Battling The Printer
Every morning, they approach the machine with the caution of someone diffusing a bomb, muttering about how it “never acted this way in the good old days of dot matrix.” The daily ritual includes pressing every button on the control panel, regardless of what the screen actually says to do.
The situation inevitably gets even more hilarious when they call for an emergency department meeting to discuss the printer’s “increasingly hostile behavior,” complete with a PowerPoint presentation documenting their theory that the machine deliberately jams during important deadlines. The younger staff’s explanations about paper trays and drivers fall on deaf ears, as the only acceptable solution is sweet-talking the printer and giving it a gentle pat.
13. Fighting With Voice Assistants
When a Boomer confronts a smart speaker, it becomes dinner party entertainment as they address it like a hard-of-hearing distant relative at a family reunion. Their interactions typically involve progressively louder repetitions of “ALEXA, WHAT IS THE WEATHER?” each time getting more specific about which weather and where, as if the device needs geographical context clues to understand their request.
The situation escalates as they create detailed logs of their “conversations” with the device, documenting each successful and failed interaction with the diligence of a scientific study. Explanations about normal speaking volumes only convince them that the device is “developing an attitude problem,” leading to formal introductions at the start of each command, just to be polite.
14. Saving Everything To The Desktop
A Boomer’s desktop becomes a digital version of their kitchen junk drawer, with hundreds of icons overlapping in a chaotic mosaic they insist is “perfectly organized.” Their system involves creating new shortcuts for every file, resulting in a screen that looks like an abstract art piece composed entirely of tiny document icons. IT departments started using screenshots of their desktop as “Where’s Waldo?” training exercises.
Their unique filing system comes to light during company presentations, leading to five-minute explorations of various folders titled “New Folder (1)” through “New Folder (47),” each containing duplicate shortcuts to the same documents. Despite numerous offers to help organize their files into proper folders, they maintain that having everything “right there where they can see it” is the only sensible way to manage digital documents.
15. Taking Screenshots By Photographing The Screen
If a Boomer needs to capture their screen, they literally photograph their monitor with a digital camera. What’s worse is, that they proudly share photos that include not only their screen’s reflection but also their own concentrated expression visible in the background. Their method for sharing these screenshots involves printing them out, scanning them back into their computer, and then attaching them to emails as PDF files.
The process reaches peak efficiency when they create dedicated photo albums titled “Computer Pictures” on their desks, complete with handwritten notes about which screenshot went with which email. When introduced to the actual screenshot button, they remain skeptical, arguing that their method is more reliable because “you can actually see that someone took the picture.”
