Boomer Generation

[Boethius]

What is up with the Boomer generation? I don't ask this as a way of "dumping" on the Boomers. More I have in mind some of the difficulties I feel in relating to Boomers in conversation. I often feel like they talk "over" me and make all sorts of assumptions about me or about where I'm coming from, and that trying to "correct" them on these assumptions generally feels like such a waste of time that I just don't bother. I don't sense this sort of interpersonal dynamic at play when speaking with younger people (especially when speaking with those 25 and under) since it seems like they have a better sense that what is true for them may well not be true for others. Can this sort of thing be explained by Spiral dynamics -- perhaps many Boomers are still centered at Orange whereas a lot of young people have already been forced into the more multicultural Green stage of development? Or maybe this is all just in my head and I'm projecting too many things onto the Boomer generation. If it helps I am a 36 year old Millennial. Thoughts?

[hoodrow trillson]

It might be part projection and you trying to be right.  I've caught myself there many times.  One tip is that you have to speak their "language" ie: speak louder than them and over them, interject, show that you're not going to back down in what you believe in--aka similar to how they are.  Just don't actually become that person lol.

I'd advise to just acknowledge that Boomers grew up in a time with no internet or having information at your fingertips.  The things they believed were passed on from others and so on.  Similar to us but we can look up shit online to debunk whatever we feel might be bullshit.  Though it's a double-edged sword because we now have echo chambers which do far more damage.  They had to live more in the "now" since mostly everything had to be done face to face or on the phone.  However, don't be too critical of Boomers, you might find yourself to be a Boomer one day as the years keep passing by.  You think you will agree with young people forever but things happen and life challenges change you and give you a different perspective to what you have now.

 

[Boethius]

1 hour ago, hoodrow trillson said:

One tip is that you have to speak their "language" ie: speak louder than them and over them, interject, show that you're not going to back down in what you believe in--aka similar to how they are.

Man, I hate doing this. I can't help feeling like a child talking back at his parents when doing this, lol. I find it's easier to just "accept" whatever assumptions the person in question is making about the situation and then respond to those. But of course that means I'm almost accepting the role of being a child, instead of acting like the adult that I am.

[hoodrow trillson]

1 hour ago, Boethius said:

Man, I hate doing this. I can't help feeling like a child talking back at his parents when doing this, lol. I find it's easier to just "accept" whatever assumptions the person in question is making about the situation and then respond to those. But of course that means I'm almost accepting the role of being a child, instead of acting like the adult that I am.

Lmao, trust me i know what you mean.  But it's okay to "act" and see it as using their language of expression.  Just don't become that act because it's very easy to see success in actually speaking with Boomers and you begin thinking that's actually the "real you".  

[Boethius]

1 hour ago, hoodrow trillson said:

Lmao, trust me i know what you mean.  But it's okay to "act" and see it as using their language of expression.  Just don't become that act because it's very easy to see success in actually speaking with Boomers and you begin thinking that's actually the "real you".  

OK. I will experiment with the sort of advice you've provided. Thankfully I don't feel like I'm living my life (personally) in a way that's subordinate to the assumptions that so many Boomers tend to posses. More it's been something that arises when I am in a mixed-generation group of people -- the Boomers always have the loudest voices in the room and hence seem to be the ones who set the course for the group at large.

Anyways, thank you for your insights!

[snowyowl]

@Zeitgeist  I'd agree that as many people get middle-aged they become more inflexible in their thinking. Boomers made up the young generation during the 1960s, and were misunderstood in their day in the same way @Boethius is now. I'm a boomer myself (just), and I was brought up with a lot of attitudes which are now completely obsolete like racism, homophobia, support for the empire, looking down on single parents and divorcees etc, even though they made no sense to me. As a youth it was assumed I was inexperienced and the older generation knows best. But I guess they had the same thing from their parents who were brought up on Victorian values. 

[soos_mite_ah]

David Hoffman has a lot of videos about understanding boomers. I'd highly recommend checking it out. 

[Forestluv]

On 3/30/2021 at 3:24 PM, Boethius said:

If it helps I am a 36 year old Millennial. 

In 40 years the younger generation will be talking about how the old Millennials are out of touch. 

I'm GenX and can relate to both Boomers and Milennials. Yet two generations is a much bigger gap. 

Similar to Boomer's I lived part of my adult life when there was no internet, cell phones or computers. In middle school, we had air raid drills with sirens blaring that the Russians were about to bomb us. In high school, It's virtually impossible for Milennials to truly understand what life was like and how it shaped us. However, I grew up after the Vietnam war. My dad was impacted by it. When he describes what it was like, I know it was different - yet I can't fully imagine what it was actually like.

Since you are only one generation removed, you can sorta imagine what life was like before the internet because it wasn't so widespread when you were a child. Yet you were only 7 yrs old when the internet arose. 

And in 40 years, the younger generation will not be able to imagine what it's like to live without the "Nafliton". They won't be able to understand how we are being shaped in a world without the Nafliton. 

[snowyowl]

In a way, we should be glad that 'generations' change so much faster now, compared with historically, it gives hope for faster improvements. If we lived in mediaeval times, or the ancient world, change was slower and you were mostly limited to following in your parents' footsteps. So look on the bright side.

[Preety_India]

Millenials are thousand and 1 percent better than boomers. 

Boomers are lazy and annoying. 

 

[snowyowl]

@Preety_India  that's a big generalisation, what's led you to this conclusion? I'm aware this is contextual to each country's situation: over here (UK), boomers grew up in a post-WW2 situation with rationing, shortages, increasing public services, lots of work rebuilding the country, the cold war, national service, lots of factors different from millenials. 

I'm aware too that many developing countries are going through a baby boomer era right now with high birth rates; I wonder what the generational groups look like for them?