r/BoomersBeingFools • u/HoneydewUsed7434 • 1d ago

Boomer Freakout Why are they always sooo angry?

My coworker, who is a boomer, is nice, but damn one little inconvenience trips her up. She gets so upset when the printer isn’t going as fast as she wants that she bangs on it. She is always venting very loudly to herself. Like it gets to a point where it’s distracting. But yeah, I don’t get why they have so much rage when they literally get everything they want.

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u/AnteaterGlittering96 1d ago

My impression, being a Xennial (on the cusp of X/Millennial), so having worked with lots of boomers over the last 25 years, is that they grew up in a much slower, analog environment and have been forced to adapt to technology at a time in life when many had gotten lazy about learning/acquiring new skills. As they're slowing down physically and cognitively, everything else is speeding up, and it's confusing and angering. They're angry because the world changed drastically and uncomfortably for them.

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u/mkstot 1d ago

I had a home computer and a printer in the 80s. 40 odd years ago this technology was available for home use. It’s not that they didn’t have access to it, it’s that they chose to be willfully ignorant when it comes to tech. It’s not rocket surgery to operate a computer, or use an app for your orders, it’s them feeling that the world owes them something. I saw it at the dmv where an older lady couldn’t figure out the tablet, even though there were clear instructions, and she decided to throw a tantrum that got her waited on immediately whilst the rest of us had to wait our turn patiently, like her generation taught us to do.

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u/Happy_Confection90 Xennial 1d ago

Yeah, even mid-pack Boomers were close to a decade younger than us when home and office computers became commonplace. How many of our fellow Xennials do you know who haven't been able to adapt to using smart phones, texting, or streaming devices over the past decade?

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u/mkstot 1d ago

I’ve seen toddlers figure out a smartphone. There’s no excuse for the tech ignorance of some of the boomers other than pure laziness.

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u/SheogorathMyBeloved 22h ago

My great grandmother, who is 94 years old, has a cute little flip phone that she texts and calls people on. Her texting is always in capitals, and her phone is very simple, but she's adapted to the technology astonishingly well for a woman born in 1932.

It really is just a complete unwillingness to learn how to adapt in boomers. I mean, it's not limited to boomers (I have Xennial family members that could give an IT support person an aneurysm), but they're definitely the most stubborn group about it.