Social media may be Gen Z’s playground, but boomers are definitely watching from the sidelines—and sometimes, silently judging.
While younger users treat the internet like an endless mood board, older generations often scroll through, wondering what happened to punctuation, privacy, and basic logic. Of course, not all boomers are bothered by every TikTok trend or overshare, but there are definitely some habits that quietly push their buttons. They might not complain about them out loud, but these things tend to irk people born before 1970 (and even some who were born after, to be fair).
1. Talking in cryptic emotional code
Posts like “this is so me, but I won’t explain why” or “it’s the silence for me” can feel like an emotional guessing game to boomers. The lack of context, combined with dramatic undertones, makes them wonder if something serious happened, or if it’s just another day in the group chat.
Gen Z tends to express emotion indirectly, through aesthetics, lyrics, or vague captions. To boomers, this reads as evasive or attention-seeking, especially when there’s no actual explanation or follow-up. It leaves them scrolling in mild confusion.
2. Using sarcasm as a personality online
Dry humour, ironic captions, and exaggerated self-deprecation are everywhere in Gen Z’s online spaces. However, for boomers, that level of constant sarcasm can be exhausting, or feel like everyone’s just trying too hard to be clever all the time. The generational gap in tone can lead them to wonder whether Gen Z even likes anything sincerely, or if they’re just trapped in a cycle of pretending not to care. The joke gets old fast when every post seems laced with irony.
3. Refusing to use proper grammar or punctuation
Lowercase captions, no full stops, random spacing… For boomers who were taught that punctuation is a sign of competence, it feels lazy, vague, or even a little passive-aggressive. To young people, though, this stripped-back style signals a casual tone, emotional softness, or “I’m too chill to overthink this.” However, for older generations, the lack of capitalisation can feel like reading someone’s unfinished thoughts scribbled on a napkin.
4. Making everything into a niche identity
Whether it’s “clean girl,” “feral girl,” “delulu era,” or “chronically online,” Gen Z loves a good hyper-specific label. For boomers, it starts to feel like personality is being replaced by aesthetic categories and trending terms.
Older users may find this exhausting to keep up with, or question why everything has to be branded so intensely. Not every mood swing or outfit choice needs a full identity arc, and boomers are often baffled by how quickly Gen Z reinvents themselves online.
5. Turning oversharing into a soft launch
Posting an emotional video about your breakup, but only filming the ceiling. Dropping vague stories with a crying emoji and no explanation. It’s not quite privacy, but it’s not openness either, and a lot of boomers find the ambiguity a little maddening. That kind of curated vulnerability confuses older users, who are used to either talking about things directly or keeping them private. The in-between space, full of hints and vibes, feels emotionally performative to them.
6. Treating everything like a meme
Gen Z has a way of turning even serious topics into a punchline, or at least wrapping it in a layer of absurdity. However, not everything needs to be meme-ified, and a lot of boomers often feel like the gravity of certain issues gets lost in the humour.
When grief, anxiety, or world events are reduced to a trending audio or TikTok skit, it can feel like Gen Z doesn’t know when to take things seriously. The humour might be a coping mechanism, but Boomers often miss the nuance behind it.
7. Having 40 Instagram accounts for different moods
There’s the main account, the spam account, the “close friends” story, the secret finsta, and maybe a meme-only burner. For boomers, this feels like social media whiplash, and raises the question: why not just be one person?
To Gen Z, these spaces create room for honesty, chaos, or curated perfection depending on the vibe. However, older users tend to see it as fragmented and unnecessarily complicated. The whole idea of needing a different version of yourself for every mood feels excessive to them.
8. Filming strangers in public for “content”
There’s a growing trend of secretly recording people on the train, in cafes, or walking down the street for content. Boomers find this invasive, disrespectful, and honestly a bit dystopian. For young people, it’s often framed as aesthetic, harmless, or funny. But for older generations, it crosses a line into privacy issues that make them feel like no space is sacred anymore. Not everyone wants to be part of someone’s 10-second viral moment.
9. Romanticising emotional instability
Joking about “spiralling” or calling your daily breakdown part of your brand might feel relatable to Gen Z, but boomers see it differently. They’re more likely to interpret it as a cry for help, or a worrying sign that people aren’t coping well.
The casual tone young people used to talk about mental health can come across as dismissive or even reckless to boomers, who were raised to either bury feelings or treat them with serious weight. The generational mismatch in language makes the conversation feel off balance.
10. Responding to everything with TikTok audio
Instead of actual words, replies are often TikTok references, trending sounds, or inside jokes that Boomers aren’t privy to. It makes conversations feel like a code you need a decoder ring to follow. Older users often find themselves completely out of the loop, and it can be isolating. To them, it feels like Gen Z is speaking a language that keeps other people out on purpose, when in reality, it’s just how they connect online now.
11. Treating public social media like a group chat
Commenting “no because why is this literally you” or “delete this before I spiral” on public posts might make sense to Gen Z, but boomers often read it as inside jokes with no context, shared loudly with everyone watching. To older people, it feels like a weird mismatch of intimacy and performance. They’re used to private jokes staying private, not becoming part of a digital audience’s entertainment feed.
12. Making big life decisions via polls
Asking followers if you should break up with someone, move cities, or dye your hair blue might seem fun and interactive, but boomers are often baffled by how casual Gen Z is about outsourcing major decisions. It comes off as impulsive, or like people are treating real life as a story arc to be voted on. To older generations, big choices are personal, not content. Plus, crowdsourcing them feels like a weird blend of detachment and overexposure.
13. Acting like nothing is serious, but everything is exhausting
Gen Z’s overall tone online is one of emotional detachment mixed with constant fatigue. Everything’s a joke, everything’s too much, and no one really cares—but also, everyone’s burnt out, heartbroken, and tired. For boomers, it’s confusing. They don’t know whether to be concerned or just scroll on. The constant “I’m fine but also not okay at all” energy can feel exhausting to witness, especially when it loops endlessly through every post and story.
