Every generation somehow ends up at odds, but boomers and Gen Z seem to truly be at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Both sides seem to think they have nothing in common with the other, but that’s not actually true. While boomers often think young people today are lazy and unmotivated, Gen Z tends to see their elders as out of touch and insensitive. Both of those things can feel true, but that doesn’t mean they are, and boomers would feel a lot more accepted and understood if Gen Z would realise these things about their lives.
1. They didn’t grow up with endless choices at their fingertips.
For boomers, life wasn’t about picking from a bunch of exciting options; it was about taking what you could get and making it work. Whether it was about jobs, education, or even where you lived, the luxury of endless choice just wasn’t there. A lot of the time, you didn’t get to chase your dream; you just hoped for something steady and hung on tight when you found it.
That’s part of why some boomers stayed in tough situations longer than Gen Z can imagine today. It wasn’t about being scared of change; it’s that change wasn’t really an option most of the time. You didn’t swipe through possibilities or jump ship when things got tough. You stuck it out because the alternative often wasn’t better, and the safety nets people count on today weren’t really built yet.
2. Financial stability wasn’t as automatic as it looks.
It’s easy to look back and think boomers had it made because houses were cheaper and jobs were everywhere. However, what gets missed is that wages weren’t that great either, and a lot of people lived paycheque to paycheque just like now. Buying a house didn’t mean you were rich. It meant you were willing to take on a massive debt and hope the economy didn’t crush you.
Many boomers faced financial instability their whole lives, even if it didn’t always show. Layoffs, recessions, soaring interest rates—they dealt with their own versions of money stress, just with fewer tools to handle it. They didn’t have apps to track spending, or internet side hustles to fall back on. If you lost your job, you started over from scratch, often without any real safety net.
3. Mental health wasn’t something people talked about.
Today, Gen Z is amazing at being open about mental health struggles, but for Boomers, that just wasn’t an option. If you were anxious, depressed, or struggling, you usually kept it to yourself because nobody really knew how to help, or they pretended it wasn’t happening. Therapy was rare, and admitting you were struggling could cost you jobs, relationships, and respect.
So when boomers seem a little emotionally guarded or slow to open up, it’s not because they don’t care or aren’t deep thinkers. It’s because they were raised in a world where talking about feelings was seen as weakness. They didn’t get the chance to build the emotional toolkits that Gen Z is building now—and honestly, many of them are still learning as they go.
4. Technology changed their world overnight.
It’s easy to joke about boomers struggling with tech, but the reality is that their whole world changed in ways no generation before them had ever seen. One minute you’re typing on a typewriter, the next minute you’re trying to figure out the internet and smartphones just to keep up with life. It wasn’t a slow, easy transition; it was a total system shock.
For this generation, adapting to constant technological change has been a lifelong scramble, not something they grew up with in their hands. That’s why some of them might seem overwhelmed by how fast things move now. It’s not that they’re “bad at tech”; it’s that they had to rebuild the way they lived and worked over and over again without a guidebook.
5. The pressure to “follow the rules” was massive.
Today’s culture encourages questioning the system, but for boomers, that wasn’t really on the table. You were expected to follow the path laid out for you: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids. Straying too far from that script could mean losing family support, opportunities, or even basic community acceptance.
It’s not that they didn’t have dreams or want to break free. It’s just that the consequences of stepping out of line were huge. A lot of boomers wrestled quietly with feeling trapped between what they really wanted and what society said they had to do to survive. That internal tug-of-war shaped a lot more of their lives than they usually let on.
6. Hard work didn’t always mean fair rewards.
There’s this idea that Boomers got everything handed to them if they just worked hard enough, but that’s not the full story. Plenty of boomers worked themselves into the ground and still barely scraped by. Hard work didn’t always lead to promotions, higher pay, or a better life — sometimes it just meant you stayed afloat for another year.
When boomers talk about grit and perseverance, it’s coming from a place of hard experience. They know what it’s like to show up every day, grind away, and hope that maybe, just maybe, things will turn out a little better down the line. And sometimes, they didn’t. That’s a reality they lived with way more often than people assume.
7. Marriage and family came with serious expectations.
For a lot of boomers, marriage wasn’t just about love—it was about stability, security, and doing what was expected. Divorce wasn’t easy or socially acceptable for a long time, so people often stayed in tough relationships because they felt like they had to. There was a real fear of being judged or isolated if you didn’t “stick it out.”
It’s part of why some boomers might struggle to understand how Gen Z treats relationships so differently today. They weren’t encouraged to leave when things got hard. They were encouraged to endure, even when it cost them their happiness. That pressure shaped the way a lot of them see commitment, loyalty, and resilience, for better or worse.
8. Talking about race, gender, and equality wasn’t normalised.
Today’s conversations about identity and equality are powerful, but they weren’t mainstream when boomers were growing up. A lot of them were raised in environments where tough issues were ignored, dismissed, or buried completely. It doesn’t mean they didn’t care. It just wasn’t something society encouraged them to question out loud.
Many boomers had to unlearn a lot of the things they were taught and catch up to better ways of thinking in adulthood. It’s easy to look at older generations and get frustrated when they miss the mark, but a lot of them are genuinely trying. It just takes more time to dismantle decades of silence and learn how to have those conversations the right way.
9. Education was a privilege, not a guarantee.
These days, education is seen as a basic stepping stone, but for boomers, getting a degree wasn’t something everyone could do. Universities weren’t flooded with students like they are now, and for many working-class people of this generation, even finishing high school was considered an achievement. College wasn’t a given — it was a massive reach.
That’s why some boomers might talk about education with a mix of pride and pressure. For many, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not a basic expectation. When they talk about “making the most of it,” it’s coming from a place of knowing just how hard it was to even get the chance.
10. Saving for the future felt different when tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed.
Planning decades ahead sounds responsible now, but for boomers, the future often felt uncertain. Between wars, recessions, and huge cultural changes, long-term planning sometimes seemed laughable. You didn’t always think about retirement when you weren’t sure what the next year would look like.
That’s why some boomers have a complicated relationship with money and savings today. It’s not because they didn’t care. It’s because they grew up in a world where survival mode was the default. Investing in the future wasn’t easy, when just keeping the lights on sometimes felt like a victory.
11. The idea of “reinventing yourself” wasn’t something they grew up with.
Today, Gen Z is brilliant at reinventing themselves—starting new careers, exploring passions, taking big risks. However, boomers were raised in a culture that said once you picked a path, you stuck with it. Reinventing yourself wasn’t encouraged; it was seen as reckless or irresponsible.
That’s why some Boomers seem baffled when younger people switch careers or lifestyles multiple times. It’s not that they don’t admire the boldness. It’s that they were taught to stay the course, no matter how rough it got. Learning to pivot and reimagine life is something many boomers are still trying to wrap their heads around, even now.
