Boomers have heard enough of these 12 disrespectful remarks

Say what you want, but after hearing the same lines for years on end, boomers wonder which generation actually struggles with listening.

The entitlement tag

Everyone over 60 is sitting in a paid-off mansion with a vacation condo and three pensions. Sure. People who say ‘Boomers are the most entitled generation’ believe that. Reality has something else to say.

A lot of boomers aren’t living the stereotype at all. They’re still working and still paying rent. They’re helping their adult kid. They’re barely keeping up themselves. Some people have all that stuff. That doesn’t make them entitled. They worked hard for what they got.

The retirement push

The younger generation thinks that saying, ‘You need to retire already,’ is harmless. It’s not. Imagine what it’s like to hear that at work. You can’t exactly laugh that off. A lot of boomers are still in the labor force. But it’s not out of choice. It’s not because they’re trying to chase a dream.

They’re stuck working because of health insurance. They’re stuck working because retiring isn’t affordable. Telling them to ‘make room’ is plain rude. It’s basically a way of saying, ‘You’ve had your turn. Move.’

The sudden dismissal

‘Okay, boomer’ managed to escape the internet. It’s a saying boomers hear at family dinners. They’ll even hear it sometimes in office meetings. They’re tired of it. It’s just a way for younger people to mock boomers for their age.

The phrase itself isn’t that bad. But the fact that young people use it to dismiss boomers is. The older generation doesn’t like being shut down immediately. It doesn’t matter what they were talking about. It was apparently wrong.

The easy-life line

Boomers hear ‘You had everything handed to you’ way too much. It’s just not realistic. It’s not a fair way to look at the older generation. Some of them bought houses cheaply, yes. But some of them never owned one at all. One size doesn’t fit all. 

Around 10% of boomers hold around 71% of boomer wealth. What does that mean? Just that the image of boomers isn’t right. They’re not a rich generation without any worries. They have issues like the rest of us. 

The selfish label

Let’s be honest. Calling an entire generation selfish is weird. But some young people keep saying, ‘Your generation is so selfish.’ They’ll say it online and in real life. The people saying it don’t usually care enough to ask what’s actually going on.

Boomers aren’t all sitting on yachts. Some of them are still working. Some of them are still caregiving. They’re trying to stretch their money and support their loved ones. Selfish? That’s completely wrong.

The housing accusation

Boomers get blamed for everything. Just ask young Americans. They’re happy to tell the older generation, ‘You’re the reason young people can’t buy homes.’ They don’t bother to actually look at the details. It’s true that a lot of boomers own their homes.

But it’s not all of them. Even those who own their homes have issues. It’s not like they invented mortgage rates and zoning laws. It’s not like they created supply shortages and investor buying. They’ve got to deal with those issues, too.

The old-days brush-off

Boomers always hear this after telling a story. They’ll talk about college costs and gas prices. Then, they’ll get told, ‘Nobody cares what things were like back then.’ But it’s not like boomers are trying to prove something.

They’re talking from memory. What’s wrong with that? They lived through things that younger people learned about in textbooks. It doesn’t mean boomers are always right. But they were there. Their stories matter as much as any other generation’s.

The lazy shortcut

Young people don’t always want to get specific with their criticism. They prefer saying, ‘You’re out of touch’ to boomers. A boomer’s politics? Out of touch. Their music taste? Out of touch. It’s not fair. It’s not realistic whatsoever.

Boomers are using Wi-Fi and technology like the rest of us. They’re not dinosaurs waiting to go extinct. But it’s about time that sort of opinion did.

The future accusation

Don’t dare share your opinions with young people. It doesn’t matter whether it’s climate or elections, money or housing. They’ll tell you, ‘You don’t care about the future.’ Boomers supposedly only care about the past or right now.

But most of them do care. They’re helping pay for grandkids. They have retirement accounts. They’re trying to keep family homes in the family. Their version of the future might be different. It’s still valid, though.

The shut-up sentence

The harshest comments aren’t always the direct ones. Some of them come off like a joke. But there’s nothing funny about hearing, ‘Stop acting like your opinion matters.’ It’s mean. It’s a kind of age discrimination. 

Your age doesn’t make your opinion any less valid. You shouldn’t get dismissed because of something you can’t control.

The understanding jab

‘You’re too old to understand’ is guaranteed to get under a boomer’s skin. These are people who watched phones lose their cords and TVs lose their antennas. They saw the entire world change so suddenly. 

Yet young people act like boomers can’t figure out a group chat. They’re supposed to shut up and do as they’re told.

The time-machine insult

There’s nothing wrong with remembering stuff. That is, unless you’re a boomer. Then you get told things like, ‘You’re living in the past.’ But can you blame them? They’ve lived through so much. It’s only natural that they’ll want to look back sometimes.

They’ve got a lot of past to share with other people. Sometimes, boomers aren’t even living in the past. They’re only thinking about it. Yet some younger people act as though that’s some huge sin. It’s really not. 

Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.

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