The insults are getting old, people. This baby boomer defends her savvy generation

Is boomer bashing the new national pastime? Spend any time on social media and you might think so. The latest meme I witnessed was one that said, “You know if your parents are boomers if they think a text is an email” (or vice versa).

Umm, excuse me. Email was ubiquitous by the mid ’90s when the oldest boomer would have been in their 50s, and texting achieved its ever-present status in the early 2000s. This means most of today’s boomers were or are still fully engaged in their careers, and I can assure you that they, make that we, know the difference between a text and an email.

I’m a boomer and proud of it, mainly because there’s nothing I can do about my age so I’m certainly not going to bemoan it. But I will say when I tell people I’m a boomer they try to talk me out of it.

This is because I’m on the younger end of boomerism, and this apparently qualifies me to be rebranded as “Generation Jones,” which is a demographic category for people born roughly between 1954 and 1965. The only problem is this social cohort is referring to the younger boomers. Thus, I’m still technically a baby boomer.

Let me just say it is so on brand for people born between the mid 1950s to early ’60s to embrace a generational refresh. We’ve always thought we were kind of special. Sorry, not sorry.

That said, I’m still very happy to be a boomer apologist. I will quickly come to the defense of anyone being boomer bashed. This is because no one should have to endure insults from people because of their age.

I know it’s trendy to hate on boomers, and most certainly with 76 million baby boomers in the United States some will be jerks, and I’m talking expert level jerks. Because someone who is a jerk in their 70s was most likely a jerk in their 30s, so that means they’ve had 40 years to hone their jerkdom into something atrociously epic. My feeling is that aging doesn’t turn you into a bad person, but it can intensify someone’s personality defects.

This is my roundabout way of saying don’t hate the entire generation because we’ve got some advanced jerks in our midst. Now, I realize this cuts both ways. Nothing — and I mean nothing — makes you sound old, bitter and sad like criticizing the “younger” generation.

For instance, all zoomers (members of Generation Z born in the late 1990s or the early 2000s) aren’t emo snowflakes. I’m the mother of zoomers and I believe the Gen Zers are going to change the world. Will we, the boomers, be alive to see it? No, but you’re just going to have to trust me on this one.

Also, while you’re thinking about trusting me, can I ask you to do one more thing? Remind yourself that with age comes wisdom but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be open to new ideas.

We boomers don’t know everything and if there is one thing that keeps you young it’s being a lifelong learner. We owe it to the younger generations to be role models for how to have wisdom based on life experience but also always be willing to be educated on innovation in all aspects of humanity.

The good news for boomers, at least, is that the bashing might be waning. Generation Alpha is starting to get some serious heat. Apparently some Zoomers find them immensely irritating, or at least that’s what I’m seeing on TikTok. Ah, the beat goes on.

Reach Sherry Kuehl at snarkyinthesuburbs@gmail.com, on Facebook at Snarky in the Suburbs, on Twitter at @snarkynsuburbs on Instagram @snarky.in.the.suburbs, and snarkyinthesuburbs.com.