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

think they discovered this during lockdown and have now become obsessed
Yeah, not at all patronising and ageist...... Apparently Boomers are so incompetent with technology they'd never heard of videocalls until 2020 and are now so super excited by it they can't stop using it.

And stop the wide eyed disingenuous 'OK Boomers' reply to what do we call various generational groupings. You know it's used as an insult.

You have heard of Tim Berners -Lee? That 'Boomer' guy that invented the internet? Bet he videocalls ALL the time since 2020. Not to mention all the older people who in their working life have have to successfully adapt to a vast swathe of new technology at an every increasing pace. Including Teams - where someone calls me at work and I can see their face - is that a videocall too or doesn't that count? But never mind, you keep on with your snarky comments.

By the way isn't 'Voice note' just new slang for a voicemail? You know, you talk and it records and someone listens to it later. Gosh this newfangled technology is so confusing....

[Not a post war baby boom generation, am a Gen X, if it really matters...]

@WhiteLily1 but they’re not all calling the OP, which was the poster that you’re quoting’s point. She maybe knows a handful of people that are 60+ and only one or two of them will be wanting to call her. Unless you’re receiving calls from everyone else’s family that’s on here, what a bloody weird way to misunderstand a post.

Another millennial here and am very grateful video calling technology exists, we favour video calls with our boomer/gen x/millennial family members (and my 90+ nan when my sisters visit her too), it's great that they get to see and hear their only grandsons/nephews. Admittedly we live abroad so that may affect our pov.

Also very very rarely use voice notes, my millennial sisters, millennial husband, millennial friends and I prefer to type our messages.

The thing is though, most of us will only be going on quite a small sample I imagine.

I regularly have contact with maybe 5 baby boomers. I can’t tell much from that, even if they did all use video call.

Saying they all do, and equally giving anecdotes of ‘my dad is a boomer and has never made a video call so there’ is all bollocks.

My mum is still obsessed by Skype 🙈

I thought video calls were more of a millennial thing?

Of course we love using FaceTime etc! When we were young it was either carrier pigeon or nothing.

I didn’t mean to quote you @minipie. Apologies.

OP is just being deliberately goady

I must see your face

Must

Argh

I only videocall with DM in her nursing home (we have a fortnightly family call with her DGC at Uni when I visit DM) or weekly with DD2. Everything/one else is by text. If my phone actually rings I jump 6ft in the air!
And Foff with voicenotes!

Especially as my mum hasn´t been silent in her life...and if she was, you knew something was up...

What a horrible post.
Jesus

By the way isn't 'Voice note' just new slang for a voicemail? You know, you talk and it records and someone listens to it later. Gosh this newfangled technology is so confusing....

No, it’s different. You don’t have to call to send a voice note. You send it like a text. My friend group sends them quite a lot and we all like them. If it’s anything more private, we use WhatsApp so we know they’re always ok to listen to wherever we are.

This. I’m in my 40s and I avoid wherever possible

@Finlesswonder
No, not all 'Boomers' do that. Definitely generalising going on here.
That's everyone born from 1946-64 and I'm sure most don't do that.
If you don't want to take the call then don't.

What I meant was I hear the term 'boomer' from DS, which I think he's picked up from YouTube. He uses it to mean anyone older than him, so essentially adults, and as an insult meaning inept and antiquated in their use of technology.

I was wondering if OP was using the term 'boomer' in a similar way, therefore not understanding it's meaning, and intending it as and insult to those older than her.

FWIW my 'boomer' parents prefer phone calls and sometimes texts. They never video call. What a weird thing to think people of their generation do without exception

My boomer aunt aged 74 has just sent me a voice note ... she always was a trail blazer. 😂

Also there are a few Baby Boomers still in their 50s (well, 59 anyway).

Well said. I've always said that I'll know I'm officially old when the strains of "Anarchy in the UK" issue from the local residential home.

Very late Boomer here too, email/text/phonecall, preference depending on what it's for. I can confirm my ancient crone mates are pretty similar, the exception being Facetime etc for grandkids at a distance.

A LOT has changed during my adult life and as @Brefugee says, we've pretty much had to embrace it and get on. We all have our preferences because y'know, human, improbable as that seems to some.

Gen x here... what's wrong with video calls?
I'm glad that my older relatives have embraced video calls even if it's sometimes painful trying to connect 😂 take it as a compliment that someone wants to see your face.
Also, My DGS was born during the pandemic so video calls are the norm for him. He and I regularly have breakfast together over FaceTime or his parents will video call me so that I can play or sing with DGS while they get on with other stuff!
If you don't like video calls OP, then don't answer them... simples.

I don't know why you are so derogatry about video calling anyway. During the pandemic it was a life line to so many and will continue to be so for the housebound etc.
Why are you laughing at people who use it Are you superior if you don't?
What's your point?

@Finlesswonder
Categorising people by age group is ridiculous. How can all people born within an 18 year span be remotely comparable.
Just a stupid lazy marketing ploy.
You're just trying to insult people older than you. It's a ridiculous as telling young people (eg Millennials) to give up their avocado on toast so the can get on the property ladder.

My apologies, 60-80, but the rest of my comment still stands. Don’t know anyone in that age group who video calls.

Actually I've had an idea. Let's split the Baby Boomer generation. The older end can be "the "Summer of Love generation" (aka "the Summers") and the twiddly little very late 1950s/early 60s bunch can be "the Punks".

I for one vastly prefer that to the lazy use of "boomer" which has become an insult in almost every instance.