Boomers and their video calling obsession?

[Finlesswonder]

Anyone else noticed this? Work and family members, if they're a boomer then 9 times out of 10 they try to video call you. I think they discovered this during lockdown and have now become obsessed
I'm a millennial btw

I think this is your family. Also, be wary of putting all 'boomers' in the same category. Post war baby boom was 1947 to about 1964 so a span of nearly 20 years. And I never video call (I'm 66). Fed up with the anti-boomer feeling going round at the moment.

Well mumsnet won't challenge or delete ageist posts so here I am !

Exactly. @Finlesswonder MNHQ tell us to challenge lazy generalisations like yours so some of us are doing as we've been advised to do.

It's not an insult to refer to generations. If someone started a thread called "why do millennials struggle to answer the phone?" I wouldn't be thinking "OMFG how offensive, #NotAllMillemnials, I don't have an issue picking up the phone, in fact I LOVE picking up the phone!".

So you agree then, that not all those of the same generation (whatever that generation may be), act in the same way....which makes the whole premise of your OP rather pointless by your own logic.

I had someone in my gym changing room on video call with the screen pointing in my direction. Nothing great to look at I must say but I did challenge her. She was very apologetic but madness in a changing room.

Before I form an opinion I just need to know was it a Boomer?

Seriously that's bloody thoughtless and ridiculous.

Before all these generational labels became popular, I don't remember such derisory attitudes towards older people. Yes, anyone under the age of 20 thought anyone over the age of 40 was ancient. But there didn't seem to be these repeated, faux confused questions about the ineptitude of those older than themselves. Sigh, us young people are just going to have to guide them, maybe give them a list in BIG writing of all the do's and don'ts. Wouldn't want them intruding into busy young 'uns lives with all their stupid video calling and other assorted tech related faux pas.

Christ, it's just so bloody patronising and reductive. Some people won't understand, I guess, until they're the ones taking the brunt of it in a few years' time. I'm not in the baby boomer generation, but not a kick in the arse off it. I remember my mum getting a mobile phone in her late sixties and sometimes she sent me texts, like 'I'm at Joyce's house', when I hadn't even asked her. It was funny and might have elicited an amused eye roll from me, but I didn't automatically assume that all mothers in their sixties were sending their daughters similar texts.

And there you go again with your offensive insults.

It's really not difficult to not be offensive.

Baby boomer= not offensive. Been used as a term for 50 years and counting. Some baby boomers are twats. Some aren't.

Boomer= neologism coined with the sole aim of insulting baby boomers.

Millennial= not offensive. Some millennials are twats. Some aren't.

Millennial Snowflake = offensive.

If you try, just a little bit, you might get it.

Some millenials now have teenagers and are therefore becoming the older generation. They better get ready ....

I am not a baby boomer, I am younger. I still think your premise is offensive and just plain silly. How can you say that everyone born in the same year or decade has the same views and habits? It's a ridiculously silly thing to say. My son doesn't agree with everything his friends say and do and they all have different hobbies and interests.

And in office jobs it's normal to use programs like Zoom and Teams with your camera on, whatever your age. So even if it were a "Boomer" thing to do video calls outside work, why would that be weird when it's the norm inside work?

It's not an insult to refer to generations. If someone started a thread called "why do millennials struggle to answer the phone

It isn't an insult if you ask something like "did all Gen X watch Howards Way when they were at school" because that is something that is tied to a certain generation/you needed to be a certain age to be at school when it was on TV (the first time).

The phone example is silly because it is implying they are stupid and can't answer the phone because of their age,

Really, rather than doubling down on this, think a bit more carefully about your inbuilt bias and learn from what you are being told.

What this thread shows us is just how fragile boomer egos seem to be. @Finlesswonder

It's a huge comfort to me as a baby boomer that I can look back on the years when I was between 28 to 43 years old and think well, that was a blast. I filled every moment with living this wonderful life and, even when times were hard, not once did I waste my precious youth tip tapping away on-line taunting 70 year old women with insults and ill conceived generalisations.

81% of voters think you're being unreasonable OP and still you plod on. Better a fragile ego than an overinflated one.

Perhaps a poll for Boomers to vote in their favoured form of communication? I suppose some of the poor dears would not understand the question though.

I don't judge people by when they were born but the OP is ridiculous whenever she was born.

Cuneiform tablets. Carrier pigeon. Morse code at a push. Social media might be iffy though 😆

It must be hard for some people on this thread to know that Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in 1955 and thus as boomer as a boomery thing with added boomerness. Generous with it, too.

I am a millennial but I much prefer video calls because I have hearing loss and need to lip read.

Mate we have had plenty of insults aimed at ‘millennials’. We are more than prepared 🤣

But this will be from people younger than you. You will be the old people.

But this will be from people younger than you. You will be the old people.

Personally, I don't believe in labelling 'generations' this way and assuming members of a cohort share characteristics like the OP suggests.

We got this don’t worry 😉 GenZ been having a go at our jeans choices for a while now

Don't forget that as well as buying their houses for tuppence halfpenny, they could also afford to eat at The Ritz every night. Them were the days! 😁The generalisations are unbelievable.

Although the question ‘Why don’t millennials age?’ Is trending, and I’ll absolutely take that generalisation while they ridicule our clothing and emoji usage

I think this may play a role. All the over 70's I know have a degree of hearing loss.

Maybe ask yourself why you felt the need to pose such a stupid ageist question... What makes you 'qualified' to comment on "Boomer ego" anyway? You clearly haven't got the first clue about what makes humans tick at all with your ridiculous generalisations and stereotypes. It just make you look rather dim and prejudiced.

It's nothing to do with "ego". It's just not very nice to be denigrated because of when you were born. It's utterly ignorant, in both senses of the word.

Back in the day, people had respect for generations older than themselves, unless an individual was an arsehole. Sad that we appear to have left those days behind. But then we didn't have stupid people slinging casual insults on social media at a generation based solely on their age!

All the over 70's I know have a degree of hearing loss.

That's because people who are in their 70s now were in their 20s when heavy metal was the latest new thing and bands competed to be the loudest.

My great aunt was convinced that it was the wind that caused hearing loss. When I was a teenager in the 1970s her advice to me was to always wear a headscarf. I didn't and am now a bit deaf. That might have been the Ramones and Motorhead concerts rather than the lack of headscarf though.