Recently, I was on Facebook when I noticed funny things that people around my Mom’s age do on Facebook. Mom is a Baby Boomer. Everyone knows a Boomer—we work with them, we know them from church, or we were raised by them. For four years, I worked with Boomers every Tuesday morning in my parish position. They have years of wisdom but can and will act like teenagers—this means they have no filter. Whatever pops into their head normally is spoken without thought. It’s hysterical. I use to tell the Boomers I worked with it was like being back in a high school classroom all over again.
After reading through my Mom’s posts, her friends from Jersey posts, and some of the Boomers I use to work with at the parish, I developed the list below. I hope you get a good laugh and can share it with the Boomers in your life.
1. Boomers post about everything
They often post multiple times a day and often multiple times an hour. They post on the weather, their grandchildren, pictures of them in daily mass, random photos of churches, their final scores on Wordle, and comments about being so old that they remember when rotary phones were first introduced.
2. Boomers get hacked
You know exactly what I mean…you see posts in your feed from them saying—don’t add me as a friend, I was hacked. Word of advice from a Gen Xer—don’t use the same password for all your accounts, including your checking and savings accounts. Nowadays the technology on computers will even suggest a strong password for you that will automatically be saved.
3. Boomers love to talk about what Facebook already says
Boomers share posts over, and over, and over again, that pop up on their Facebook feed (see first funny thing above). Before their time on Facebook, Boomers would be the ones forwarding every email that came into their inbox. Boomers that don’t have Facebook are still doing this today. You know them — Catholic Boomers love sending chain emails filled with prayers. Ok Boomer—thanks for the 10 emails in 2 hours.
4. Boomers share photos
Boomers share photos from their high school days. Most of us want to forget high school, but not the Boomers. They love sharing their black-and-white photos which often have creases from being in an old photo album. They often say—“remember when I caught that ball in the end zone back in 62?!” They don’t scan them either, they just take pictures of the pictures and post them.
5. Boomers love using Facebook Avatars
Nearly every Boomer I know on Facebook has an avatar, including my mother. They use their image to communicate, to post, and to express their feelings. Let’s be honest—the avatar is a little creepy! It reminds me of the Bruce Willis movie titled, Surrogates (2009), which is a creepy movie. If you part of the Boomer Generation or another generation and you are using one of these…just stop. It’s getting embarrassing.
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