In a sadly enduring “OK, Boomer” culture, how accurate and helpful is it to generalize about this—or any other—generation?
“Don’t trust anyone over 30.”
If that statement resonates with you in a gut way, chances are you are one of 76 million Americans like me who were born between 1946 and 1964, known as the Baby Boomers.
Never before in our nation’s history was a group of people defined so clearly as a generation and that’s understandable. We came of age during a post–World War II time of huge economic growth and surging mass communication, in which the medium of television vied with and eventually overtook print and radio as the major cultural conduit for American identity.
We were the very first cohort of children to be marketed to directly, via kiddie shows, Saturday morning cartoons, breakfast cereals, and advertisements urging us to convince our parents to buy us Mickey Mouse wristwatches, Lone Ranger and Howdy Doody lunchboxes, Barbie dolls, and Superman and Cinderella Halloween costumes.
In public school classrooms and auditoriums, many of us were thrilled to witness Alan Shepard become the first American astronaut to be launched into space and later, three more astronauts walk on the Moon. We were shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and five years after that, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
These are just some of the events that impacted Boomers’ formative years. Other events of equal impact can be ascribed to any previous or subsequent generation (think the Depression and World War II for the Silent and Greatest generations, personal computers and the energy crisis for Gen Xers, and social media and Sept. 11 for Millennials).
But our culture raises a bigger issue when we’re talking about any age-based group of people: Is it valid to make generalizations about them beyond the fact that they grew up at the same time? Do they all think and act the same? Do they all want the same things? Are they all equally healthy and successful?
What Makes a Generation?
According to Janine Vanderburg, CEO of the strategic consulting firm Encore Roadmap, “Technically, a generation is a group of people born within the same time period, within 15 to 20 years. I think it’s important to note that the idea of generations shaping behavior … is relatively recent in history.”
A case in point regarding Boomers’ overall behavior: We grew up in a time of great domestic social turmoil with the Vietnam War; Woodstock and the counterculture; nuclear proliferation; women’s liberation; and the Civil Rights and environmental movements. Many of us marched and protested. But many more of us didn’t. We were so diverse and huge in number that pundits and advertisers have tried to define the Boomers, but ultimately can’t. Still, they keep trying.
What’s behind this impulse to stereotype us?
“It’s a cultural shortcut,” says Vanderburg. “It’s easier to look at people in buckets, than to look at individuals and all that they might bring to the workplace or any other setting (their experience, insights, values, interests). And it’s great clickbait! Think of all the headlines that pit Boomers vs. Millennials in some way, suggesting that we are competing for jobs and housing.”
So, the false assumptions about attributions start to add up, justifying the “OK, Boomer” dismissals. All Boomers are selfish, greedy geezers who can’t handle technology and resist change. Let’s tackle each of these.
The Stereotypes Don’t Hold
First of all, research shows that as people of the same age group get older, they actually become more different from one another. That’s because our lives vary greatly in experience and challenges, as well as how we react to them. That’s why it’s absurd and demeaning to lump Boomers into a group called “the elderly.”
When it comes to the “selfish, greedy geezers” label, it just doesn’t apply. True, Boomers possess almost 52% of all wealth in the U.S., but it’s not equally distributed among us. One in 10 of us live below the poverty line. Only a little more than half of us have retirement accounts, and about 50% of us are working or plan to work past the age of 70—82% of whom list finances as a main reason. And selfish? Within the next 20 years, affluent Boomers will be passing down about $72 trillion in assets to their Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z heirs.
Can Boomers handle technology? According to the Population Reference Bureau, more than 80% of us use high-speed Internet, own a computer, laptop or tablet, and have a smartphone. And 80% of us are on social media at least once a day.
As for resisting change, we’ve had decades of experience accepting and adapting to all kinds of iterations of cars, appliances, economic upturns and downturns, physical changes in our bodies, and the loss of peers to illness and death. Resistance has always been an impossibility and the overwhelming majority of Boomers have a history of eagerly embracing—and creating—change.
What’s True About Generations?
This same form of takedown of Boomer stereotypes can be applied to any other age cohort. Are all Gen-Zers money-obsessed and lacking a work ethic? Do all Millennials feel entitled and are they really glued to their smartphones? Behind all generational stereotyping is lazy thinking that discourages us to examine and accept the statistics that would disprove any of these claims.
Adds Vanderburg, “[The] Pew Research [Center] made a huge statement about this whole issue when it announced last year that it would move away from generational labels in its research and instead look at factors like life stage, historical context and period effects.” In other words, our personal perspectives and behaviors are affected not so much by the chronological age we share with others but by whether we were children, teens, or adults when we experienced powerful social events.
Extensive studies done by Pew have led the organization to rethink how people should talk about generations. Its president, Michael Dimock, has offered these considerations:
“Generational categories are not scientifically defined.” Sources can differ in their time parameters for each generation, such as assigning 1950 to 1965 birthdates for Boomers. Furthermore, people themselves vary in how they self-identify. For example, many late Boomers may actually see themselves as members of Gen X.
“Generational labels can lead to stereotypes and oversimplification.” You’ve already seen proof that these impulses are problematic.
“Discussions about generation often focus on differences instead of similarities.” If we really think about it and look closely enough at the people of all ages whom we actually know, we find that we all care about being happy, finding meaningful work, supporting ourselves and our families, and staying engaged in the world.
“Conventional views of generations can carry an upper-class bias.” In every generation there are millions of exceptions to the stereotypes, mostly among marginalized subpopulations, such as minorities and low-income and poor people.
“People change over time.” If you’re a Boomer now who didn’t trust people over 30, have you changed your mind now that you’ve become one?
So, what’s the best way for us to understand whether we’re biased against any generation different from ours? Vanderburg offers an answer.
“My STOP and ASK rule: When a stereotypical thought about someone of another age pops into your head, STOP and ASK, ‘Why do I believe that? Is there another possible explanation?’
“Works every time.”
Jeanette Leardi is a Portland-based social gerontologist, community educator, and author of Aging Sideways: Changing Our Perspectives on Getting Older. She promotes older adult empowerment through her popular presentations and workshops in journaling, memoir writing, ethical will creation, brain fitness, creativity, ageism, intergenerational communication, and caregiver support to people of all ages. Learn more about her work on her website.