5 unwritten rules boomers still live by that totally baffle everyone under 30

Ever sat in a meeting with your boomer colleagues and wondered if you’ve accidentally time-traveled back to 1985?

I have.

Don’t get me wrong—there’s a lot I’ve learned from the older generation. Their work ethic is legendary, they’ve got decades of wisdom to share, and honestly, they know how to have a conversation without checking their phone every thirty seconds.

But there are some habits that leave me scratching my head.

Like my uncle who still prints out emails to “read them properly”, or my former boss who insisted on calling to “confirm you got my email” literally five minutes after sending it. It’s not that these habits are wrong—they’re just… wonderfully puzzling to those of us who grew up with WiFi.

Today, we’re diving into five unwritten rules that boomers seem to live by that make absolutely zero sense to anyone born after 1990. Buckle up—this is going to be fun.

1. Phone calls are always better than texting

Here’s something that never fails to amuse me: watching a boomer navigate what should be a simple text exchange.

My dad will literally call me to ask if I want to grab dinner instead of just shooting over a quick text. When I don’t answer (because, hello, I’m probably in a meeting), he’ll call again. Then maybe once more for good measure.

Meanwhile, I’m staring at my phone thinking, “This entire conversation could have been resolved with three texts and taken thirty seconds.”

But here’s the thing—boomers seem genuinely convinced that phone calls are more “personal” and “efficient.” They’ll spend five minutes playing phone tag when a simple “dinner at 7?” text would have sorted everything out immediately.

It’s like they’re allergic to the convenience of asynchronous communication.

2. Cash is still king

I was at a coffee shop last week watching my neighbor Bob fumble through his wallet, counting out exact change for his $4.50 latte while a line of increasingly impatient millennials formed behind him.

The barista kept pointing to the contactless payment terminal, but Bob was determined to hand over those crumpled bills and fish around for two quarters.

Here’s what baffles me: boomers act like paying with your phone or card is somehow less convenient than carrying around a wallet stuffed with cash. My mom still goes to the bank every Friday to withdraw her “weekly allowance” because she doesn’t trust digital payments.

Meanwhile, I haven’t touched physical money in months. Apple Pay, Venmo, contactless cards—it’s faster, more secure, and I don’t have to worry about losing a twenty-dollar bill in my couch cushions.

But try explaining that to someone who still balances their checkbook by hand.

3. Everything must be printed and filed

My former boss Janet had a filing cabinet that could have been mistaken for a small library. Every email, every document, every random memo—all printed out, hole-punched, and meticulously organized in color-coded binders.

I’ll never forget the day she asked me to print out a 50-page report that she’d already read on her computer, just so she could “review it properly.” When I suggested she could just save it to her desktop, she looked at me like I’d suggested storing her memories in a cloud.

The kicker? She’d often lose these printed documents and then ask me to print them again.

What really gets me is the sheer inefficiency of it all. Why print something you can search digitally in seconds? Why create physical clutter when you could organize everything in folders on your computer?

4. Voicemails are necessary for everything

Picture this: you miss a call from your boomer relative, and within minutes there’s a voicemail waiting. Not just any voicemail—a two-minute rambling message that could have been summarized in six words.

My aunt leaves voicemails like she’s recording a podcast episode. “Hi honey, it’s Aunt Susan, calling on Tuesday at 3:47 PM. I hope you’re doing well. I was just thinking about you and wanted to see how your job is going. Also, did you get my Facebook message from last week? Anyway, call me back when you get a chance. Love you, bye!”

Meanwhile, I’m listening to this thinking: just text me “call me back” and we’re good.

Here’s what I don’t understand—boomers seem to believe that leaving a voicemail is polite and necessary. But for most of us under 30, voicemails feel like homework. We see that little notification and immediately think, “Great, now I have to listen to this entire message to find out what you want.”

5. Face-to-face meetings solve everything

Want to drive a millennial crazy? Schedule an in-person meeting that could have been an email.

I’ve lost count of how many times my older colleagues have insisted we “sit down and hash this out” for issues that would take thirty seconds to resolve over Slack. Once, my boomer manager called a one-hour meeting to discuss a project timeline that was literally just a list of dates.

We all sat around a conference table, staring at a printed agenda (of course), while he walked through information that was already in our shared Google doc.

The really mind-boggling part? Boomers seem to think that being physically present automatically makes communication more effective. They’ll drive across town for a ten-minute conversation instead of jumping on a quick video call.

Don’t get me wrong—some discussions definitely benefit from face-to-face interaction. But scheduling a meeting to discuss whether we should schedule another meeting? That’s peak boomer energy right there.

It’s like they haven’t discovered that productivity actually increases when you’re not spending half your day in unnecessary meetings.

Final words

Look, I’m not here to bash an entire generation. The truth is, boomers have taught me more about persistence, loyalty, and genuine human connection than any Google search ever could.

There’s something admirable about their commitment to personal relationships and face-to-face interaction. Maybe we’ve lost something in our rush to digitize everything.

But watching my boomer relatives navigate the modern world is like observing a fascinating anthropological study. They approach technology and communication with a completely different rulebook—one that was written decades before smartphones existed.

The funny thing is, they’re just as baffled by our habits as we are by theirs. My dad still doesn’t understand why I need to take a photo of my food before eating it, and honestly, I can’t really explain that one either.

Maybe that’s the beauty of generational differences. We can learn from each other, even if we don’t always understand each other.

Just don’t expect me to start printing my emails anytime soon.