Say Goodbye To...
Born between 1946 and 1964, Baby Boomers are now in their 60s and 70s—and they’re still happily doing (and using) a bunch of stuff that younger generations mostly treat like urban legends. Which means as the Boomer era fades out, a surprising list of items, habits, and everyday rituals might fade out with it—possibly for good.
Photo Albums
No, not the Google photo album on your phone. We're talking real life physical photo albums with real life physical printed photos. Ya, we know—if you're under 30, none of those words make any sense.
Voicemails
Yes, younger people still make phone calls. However, a text or DM is often the first choice and if someone doesn't answer, you don't leave a message (they can see that you called on their phone).
Think about the last time you had a voicemail. Odds are it was either from a business confirming an appointment or from someone over 60. And let's not forget...
Krakenimages.com, Shutterstock
Leaving Date, Time, And Name In Voicemail
"Hi, it's Dad. It's 1:30, Thursday afternoon..."
Wearing A Suit And Tie To Work
It started with casual Fridays and we've been adding more days of the week ever since.
High Interest Rates
If you thought the interests a few years ago were high, just ask your parents about the 70s and early 80s. We're talking 7,8,9%—even hitting 16% in 1981. Never say never of course—but it seems unlikely we will get that high again.
Checks
Think about the last time you saw someone write a check? How old were they? There are surely many people reading this who have never written a check in their lives. And never will.
Manual Transmissions
One source estimated that just 2.5% of cars sold in the United States in 2023 had manual transmissions.
Formal Living Rooms
For all you young people: A formal living room was a full room in the house that was only used when guests came over. It also usually had nicer furniture and accoutrements than did the regular living room that was used by the family 99% of the time. And not only was it only used when guests came over—you were not allowed to step foot into it at any other time.
Couches Wrapped In Plastic
This one pretty much ended with the parents of boomers—but there were probably a few boomers who kept the annoyingly noisy and uncomfortable tradition alive.
Cable
The cord-cutting began years ago and with the proliferation of streaming services, it's only gotten worse (for cable companies, that is). From just under 100 million cable household subscribers in 2017, that number now sits under 70 million in the United States—not to mention the fact that close to 80% of cable subscribers are over 60 years old.
Email Forwards
It will be nice not to have our email filled with these kind of subject lines anymore: Re:fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd: funny
Organized Religion
No, we definitely aren't predicting the end of religion. That's not going to happen. However, we can point out that 68% of 18 to 49-year-olds are religiously unaffiliated—as compared to 18% in the 80s.
Cash
Again, like religion, we aren't predicting it will go away completely. But think about how often you tap and swipe as opposed to pull out cash from your wallet to pay for anything. You might've also noticed more and more businesses popping up with signs saying "Cash Not Accepted".
Newspapers
There’s just something sacred about the morning kitchen-table ritual: coffee in hand, newspaper spread out, the whole world delivered in crisp, ink-smudged pages. Boomers are still keeping that vibe alive—but for most people under 60, the “paper” is an iPad or a phone (and yes, we’re choosing to believe they’re reading headlines—not speed-running Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok).
A Job Means Everything
For many boomers, their job was the most important thing. We can't imagine any boomer ever heard, let alone used the term work-life balance throughout their work lives.
And while we're on the topic of jobs...
9-5 Workday
We will always love the Dolly Parton song, but it probably won't be too long before the idea of working from 9am until 5pm every day is oh, so very antiquated for most people.
Hats Off At The Table
Have you ever gotten an angry look from a baby boomer? Wear a hat to the dinner table and you will.
Landlines
If you're wondering why forms still have separate fields for "mobile phone" and "home phone"—baby boomers are why.
The Good China
Not the country. We're talking about the fancy dishware sets that, like the formal living room, were only to be used when guests came over. For folks under 50, plates aren't for saving, they're for using.
Movie Dates
Partly because there are fewer quality movies being made (there are only so many sequels and superhero movies one can take)—and partly because these days it's easier to just Netflix and chill.
Asking A Father's Permission To Marry His Daughter
A few Gen Xers still hang on to it, but at this point it’s been the rare exception—not the norm—for quite a while.
Handwritten Letters
It's rare getting a handwritten letters via snail mail at all these days—but even rarer is getting one hand written by a person under 60 years old.
Fax Machines
Raise your hand if you still have a fax machine? Put your hand down if you were born after 1964... we're just going to assume that very few hands came down.
Donald Trung, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Encyclopedias
Honestly, we're not sure they even produce physical encyclopedia books anymore. Which means that most of the ones still in existence probably reside on bookshelves in the homes of Gen X and millennials' parents.
The Yellow Pages
Really? We're pretty sure even baby boomers don't use those big yellow phone books anymore.
Owning A Home
Sure, there are plenty of Gen Xers, millennials, and probably even a few Gen Zers buying homes. But it isn't as important to the younger generations as it was to baby boomers. It was expected, it was what you did. And yes, housing prices are keeping a bunch of people from home ownership, but plenty are very happy to rent, even if they could afford to buy—many even see it as the smart financial move.
Harley Davidson
Once a symbol of rebellion, Harley Davidson is now that really loud bike the old guy in your town drives around.
Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Having 2.5 Kids
1977 marked the last time the average American family had more than two kids—barely, at 2.01. By 1978, it slipped to 1.96, and it’s never climbed past 1.95 since, quietly cementing the two-kid household as a thing of the past.
ABC Television., Wikimedia Commons
Retiring At 65
Go to school, get a job, work 9-5, by a house, have 2.5 kids, retire at 65. That was how it was for the parents of baby boomers and for most of the baby boomers themselves. We've already talked about the changing work landscape as far as work-life balance and the disappearing 9-5. Whether it's retiring early or having a few side hustles and lines of passive income—the traditional retirement structure is going away.
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