These 5 major habits clearly define Boomers but Gen Z doesn’t want any part of them

“Boomers think it’s a bitchin’ way of life, but Gen Z find it all cringe.”

Mark Wales

Jul 18, 2025

By Mark Wales

July 18, 2025

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Boomers on the front lawn and Gen Z with a coffee – Photo credit: Image via Canva – Photos by theboone and dodotone

Every generation has some habits and behaviors that give identity to it. What we eat, use for entertainment, our careers, and what subjects are taboo all tightly connect us to where and when we were born. The Boomer generation has some very strong opinions and values that characterize it. Gen Z doesn’t much care to follow in those foot steps.

Boomers were born into the late 40’s early 50’s. It was a time of national pride and optimism. The United States exited World War 2 with unprecedented economic growth. Americans were focused on raising a family, carving out careers, building a home, and laying down the framework to have a comfortable future.

Boomers look to the future. Image via Canva – Photo by joaopaulo_live2

Under this umbrella of good fortune, Boomers found strong communal bonds and shared goals. They also collectively picked up some habits that matched well with the philosophies of the time. Boomers approach breakfast, visual entertainment, music, careers, and taboo topics very differently than Gen Z:

Breakfast

Boomer with cereal and Gen Z with protein shake. Image via Canva – Photos by Stocklite and Peter Berglund

It’s important to start the day off with fuel to get the body in motion. A solid breakfast is the staple start of the day for any Boomer. In 1952, Kellogg’s introduced Sugar Frosted Flakes and the cereal boom was on. The Guardian writes that a convenient and easy to prepare breakfast with delicious sugariness was hard to resist. Marketed through the power of brand advertising, commercials made sure cereal was in every Boomer’s home.

Gen Z put the cereal down. While often even skipping breakfast entirely, YouGov reports this younger generation prefers lighter and quicker options for breakfast. They love milk and coffee to get the day off right, but it’s the influence of plant-based specialty beverages that are gaining in popularity. With morning shakes of almond milk and plant based proteins, ready-to-drink shaker bottles have Gen Z and their breakfast on the go.

Visual Entertainment

Boomers at the movies and Gen Z creating social media. Image via Canva -u00a0 Photos by RgStudio and Blue Bird

Black and white television, comic books, and most importantly, movie theaters. Boomers love the movies and there’s a reason, they can be great. OKA breaks down the films boomers grew up with like Exorcist, Young Frankenstein, Chinatown, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jaws, and so many more. With grit and confrontational realism, Boomers are ready to sit down and invest hours to witness an incredible story unfold.

Not Gen Z. Short form content is here to stay. With platforms like YouTube and TikTok, quick bite-sized videos are the preferred normal. Wired described a trend toward more authentic experiences. With photo-sharing apps and live share sites such as Twitch and Discord, Gen Z want immediate, live entertainment that’s easily accessed.

Music

Jukebox and DJ at electronic show. Image via Canva – Photos by Giorez and Leif Bergerson

Boomers grew up through the birth of rock-n-roll and the psychedelic era. Their music tastes are rooted in the 60’s and 70’s with record players spinning their favorite vinyl. Growing up through brilliant bands such as The Beatles, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Rush, and so many more. (There’s some country greats in there too. Please take no offense from this writer.) Audio Ink Radio said Pink Floyd, “… became one of the most influential psychedelic rock bands of all time. Their albums are really a trip, and every one of them is legendary and takes the listener on a journey.” Boomers love music and aren’t afraid to pay for their favorite album.

Gen Z welcomes the digital age. Having access to so many versions of music at the click of a button, their tastes are not linked to any single genre. Woke Waves reports that streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music claim rap and hip-hop as the most popular tunes for the generation. Looking for relatable artists who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable in their music like Billie Eilish, Gen Z shares their favorites through social media. In fact, many choices are heavily influenced by trends and sound grabs from sources like TikTok. Why buy the album when you have access to a whole library of music for free on sites like Spotify, YouTube Music, and Pandora.

Career Goals

Boomer at the office and Gen Z at the office. Image via Canva – Photo by cyano66 andu00a0charliepix

Corporate world, here we come. Baby Boomers took jobs with complex hierarchies looking to work their way to the top. They were willing to work long hours motivated by the perks and prestige of their professions according to Relocate Magazine. Having strong work ethic meant loyalty and job dedication to the Boomer.

Gen Z isn’t having any part of that. This generation is seeking meaningful work, and they aren’t afraid to jump around to find it. Working long hours and driving ourselves into the ground isn’t dedication, it’s working for burnout. Forbes writes that Gen Z is changing the rules of the work place. They’ve incorporated work-life balance and flexibility. Waiting for retirement to travel? Nope, Gen Z is earning to travel in the now calling it, micro-retirements.

Taboo Topics

Mental health, anxiety. media4.giphy.com

Boomers have a hard time talking about mental health and sex. Medium wrote the generation grew up in an era that defined mental health as taboo. This generation took everything that was happening, regardless of where they stood on it, the emotional experience was bottled up and pushed way deep down inside. Talking about feelings and the pressures of life, no thank you.

Vitalize Psych finds Gen Z isn’t afraid to put a taboo topic like mental health out on the table. They’ve grown up talking about their mental health and other difficulties literally online. With less stigma about mental health issues and an awareness to seek professional help, self care and emotional resilience are priorities.

Things like gender and sexual orientation are discussed openly and inclusively. Psychiatrist.com reports a study showed Gen Z embraced fluid identities and the exploration of both traditional and non-traditional relationships. Sex identity isn’t something to be kept private for fear of communal judgement. Thoughts and behaviors can be discussed and expressed openly with friends.

The Wrap Up

I feel it’s important to note that no generation is necessarily doing better than another. We all have different experiences and perspectives. It’s a powerful tool for building community and fostering understanding that we get to know where each person is coming from. Some habits may be more productive than others. Learning what works and what doesn’t so we can pass it on to the next generation with hope. Hope that it will be a little better.

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A woman reads a note from her neighbor – Photo credit: Canva

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A woman complained to her upstairs neighbor about a strange noise in the middle of the night. His wholesome response was perfect.

She’d never met the man upstairs. Turns out, he already knew exactly who she was.

Adam Albright-Hanna

3/9/2026

She had never actually met the man who lived above her. She knew him only as the source of the noise coming through her ceiling at 12:30 in the morning, the night after Super Bowl LIX. She pulled herself out of bed, went upstairs, and asked him through his Ring camera to please turn it down. He was polite. She went back to sleep.

The next morning, there was a bottle of wine outside her door.

The woman, who goes by u/operarose on Reddit, posted the photo to r/MadeMeSmile , and it pulled in 84,000 upvotes, as Newsweek reported. The caption was simple: “Had to get out of bed and go ask the upstairs neighbor (whom I’ve never actually met) to turn it down at about 12:30 am this morning. Found this outside my door when I woke up.”

Had to get out of bed and go ask the upstairs neighbor (whom I've never actually met) to turn it down at about 12:30 am this morning. Found this outside my door when I woke up.
byu/operarose inMadeMeSmile

Attached to the bottle was a handwritten note. “I got too carried away watching recaps from the Superbowl and I didn’t realize how loud my TV was,” it read. “I’m so sorry for not being considerate with the volume. In positive news, the cookies you made for Christmas were amazing. Please allow me to return the favor.”

That last part is what made the story. He already knew who she was. She’d baked Christmas cookies and apparently given some to neighbors she’d never formally met. He’d received them, remembered, and now here he was, months later, referencing them in an apology note attached to a bottle of wine.

Plate of holiday cookies. Image source: Canva

She reported back in the comments that the wine was good. “Never had this brand before, but I definitely recommend it,” she wrote.

Etiquette expert Jo Hayes told Newsweek the neighbor had essentially done everything right. “A clear, sincere apology is necessary, and he did exactly this. Plus a kind word about the Christmas cookies. Plus a gift, as a token gesture of said apology, is the icing on the cake. This would have flooded the downstairs neighbor with warm fuzzies.”

The comments filled with people who seemed almost relieved. “It’s insane just how hard it is to find people who can just be considerate and move on,” one user wrote. “Congratulations to both of you for spontaneously demonstrating how to be an adult,” said another. “This is how you neighbor,” someone summed up simply.

The whole exchange took about two minutes of awkwardness and produced something neither of them had before the night started: a neighbor they actually know.

This article originally appeared earlier this year.

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A bottle with a message inside resting on a beach – Photo credit: Canva

Culture, Internet

He threw a message in a bottle into the ocean as a teen. It washed up 49 years later with a response.

Two beachcombing brothers nearly skipped the trip. On a remote Bahamian island, one of them found a sand-covered glass Pepsi bottle with a note inside from 1976.

Adam Albright-Hanna

3/3/2026

In May 1976, a ninth-grader named Peter R. Thompson sealed a short note inside a glass Pepsi bottle, handed it to the Coast Guard, and watched it get dropped into the Atlantic Ocean. The note asked whoever found it to write back with the date, location, and how they’d come across it. He was 14. He was doing it for an oceanography class at Pentucket Regional Junior High School in West Newbury, Massachusetts. He then, by his own admission, mostly forgot about it.

The bottle drifted for 49 years.

Earlier this year, brothers Clint and Evan Buffington had nearly canceled a trip to a remote out-island in the Bahamas after both came down with an illness. They went anyway. As Clint told WCVB, they were walking the beach on a beautiful sunny morning when his walkie-talkie crackled to life. His brother’s voice came through: “You’re not going to believe what I just found.”

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It was the bottle. Inside, the note was sand-covered and browned with age but still fully legible, more than 1,000 miles from where it had started.

As reported by Boston.com, Clint Buffington is no casual beachcomber. He found his first message in a bottle in 2007 and has since found over 120 of them, documenting each one on his Message in a Bottle Hunter blog. He knew immediately this one was special. In a Facebook post that began circulating widely, he wrote about what the note meant not just as an artifact, but as a window into the mind of a kid from the 1970s with a science assignment and a big imagination: “Just think what it meant to the 14-year-old kid who sent it in the 70s! The dreams of where it would travel, where it might wind up, who might find it.”

@clint_buffington
Here’s the 1976 message in a bottle my brother found a few weeks ago! Y’all wanted to know what it says, so here you go 🙂 Now, to some, this may sound like a pretty “straightforward” message… No romance, no pirate treasure map. But just think what it meant to the 14 year old kid from West Newbury Massachusetts who sent it in the 70s! The dreams of where it would travel, where it might wind up, who might find it… Well, after who knows how many trips around the North Atlantic, drifting past whales and cargo ships, shimmering under the northern lights…it wound up on a very sparsely inhabited out-island of the Bahamas and rested in the sun as world leaders and wars came and went, music and clothing styles rose and fell. Somewhere in there, my brother (who found it) and I were born, grew up, went to school, got married, had kids…. And all that time, this message was waiting to be found. There’s way more going on with this message than you could ever imagine just by reading it! So, here’s hoping we connect with Peter R. Thompson of West Newbury, MA — And that wherever he is today, he still has that 14-year-old dreamer inside him, full of curiosity! #messageinabottle #westnewbury #massachusetts #beachcombing #beachcomber #beachcombingtreasure #treasurehunting #fun #happy #goodvibes #newengland #lostandfound #exciting
♬ original sound – Message in a Bottle Hunter

He went on to describe the bottle’s imagined journey across the North Atlantic, drifting past whales and cargo ships, sitting on a Bahamian shoreline while decades of history rolled by, while he and his brother were born, grew up, got married, had kids. “And all that time,” he wrote, “this message was waiting to be found.”

Clint posted a TikTok asking for help tracking down Thompson. It crossed one million views. Boston journalist Emily Maher, a reporter at WCVB, got there first. She found Thompson, now living in Leominster, Massachusetts, and put him on the phone with the brothers. “I have found someone that you’ve been looking for,” she told Clint. “I’m going to hand the phone over to Mr. Peter Thompson.”

Thompson’s reaction, as he told WCVB, was simple and genuine: “It’s amazing. It’s almost 50 years later. It’s a big surprise.” He said he doesn’t remember writing the exact note, but he does remember the oceanography class. The Buffington brothers are planning to return the note to him in person.

@clint_buffington
Wow, you guys! Guess what? WE FOUND PETE THOMPSON!! The author of this 1976 message in a bottle!! My sweet brother, Evan, and I are still reeling from the outpouring of support and help we got through TikTok and @WCVB Channel 5 Boston News as we searched for Pete, who was about 14 when he sent the bottled note 49 years ago. Well, thanks to YOU all, we DID find him!!! I mean, really, we are just two goofy brothers, now dads in our 40s (where did the time go!) who have a weird hobby (finding messages in bottles) and we’ve never gone viral on TikTok, so we are a little overwhelmed and a lot grateful! Evan was FLOORED when we very luckily happened to be together this past week, and in the midst of this wild search for Pete, all of a sudden we received a phone call from WCVB’s Emily Maher who had Pete ON THE PHONE WITH US!!! We had a great little chat, all of us totally in shock, and we all STILL are! Pete still lives in the area and was deeply surprised to hear about his message in a bottle—at last check he was still combing through memories of his science / Oceanography class for recollections of making this message in a bottle. It’s amazing what one little scrap of paper in a bottle can do—the memories it can rekindle, the friendships it can spark. It’s so strange to think that this bottle was sent 6 years before Evan was born, and 8 years before I was. Every day of our lives, every little triumph or loss—graduations, meeting and losing friends, getting our drivers licenses, family vacations when we were tiny…every single breath we’ve ever breathed, and this message in a bottle was out there the whole time, just waiting… Sharing this with Pete is a great joy, and sharing it with all of you—who really seem to understand why we love this crazy hobby so much—has also been a total thrill. We have so many more unopened messages in bottles to investigate, and we will need your help! Each one is a portal into someone else’s life, into their world, and who knows where the next one will take us?! We really hope you stick around for the ride. So, from Evan, from me: Thank you, thank you, thank you. We could not have done this without you! As Evan says in this video, “It takes a village”!! Here’s hoping we can return Pete’s message to him! #messageinabottle #westnewbury #massachusetts #boston #newengland #bahamas #fun #happy #goodvibes #goodnews #beachcombing #beachcombingfinds #oceanography #grateful #gratitude
♬ original sound – Message in a Bottle Hunter

Clint’s framing of what makes these discoveries meaningful applies as much here as anywhere: “I always think the most important thing about these messages is not how old they are or how far they’ve traveled. It’s the people on the other side.”

Peter Thompson spent 49 years not thinking much about a bottle he threw into the ocean as a kid. Then two brothers nearly sick enough to stay home decided to go to the beach anyway, and suddenly the question he asked in 1976 finally had an answer.

@clint_buffington
Ahoy, New England!! My goonball brother EVAN found this 1976 message in a Pepsi bottle on a sparsely inhabited Bahamas island last month, 49 years after it was sent by a Peter R. Thompson who lived in West Newbury, MA at the time! He was a 9th grader at Pentucket Regional Junior High School. Yes, there are many Peter Thompsons on social media but we can’t seem to find the right one! Does anyone out there know the right Peter? And @pepsi – if you are looking to rack up some good karma, here’s a chance: Get out your megaphone! Let’s find Peter R. Thompson and COMPLETELY BLOW HIS MIND!! #messageinabottle #pepsi #westnewbury #massachussets #newengland #lostandfound #beachcombing #beachcomber #beachcombingaddict #beachcombingfinds #beachtreasure #trashtotreasure #found #exciting #fun #mystery #happy #goodvibes #goodnews #solvethis #whoareyou #bahamas #treasurehunter
♬ original sound – Message in a Bottle Hunter

This article originally appeared last year.

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(Left) Tamales in the corn husk. (Right) A woman works on a laptop. – Photo credit: Canva

Culture, Internet

Restaurant owner turns a fake 1-star tamale review into a social media frenzy

Simple marketing genius.

Mark Wales

3/1/2026

A restaurant owner shared a strategic, fake one-star review that became a social media frenzy. Posing as Rebecca O., the first review described the tamale-eating experience as “absolutely awful tamale.” A second review followed, joking that Rebecca didn’t know to remove the husk before eating it.

Restaurant owner Pauline Alvarado dreamed up the creative marketing tactic. She came up with the idea after a woman had expressed a similar experience just days before.

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One-star tamale review goes viral

Located in Phoenix, Arizona, The Tamale Store is a family-owned Mexican restaurant. After Alvarado craftily posted the first one-star review, the second earned a full four stars. It read, “OK, I was just told I’m not supposed to eat the cornhusk. That just changed the whole experience. Seriously the best thing I’ve ever tried omg. Sorry I don’t know how to delete my other review, my bad.”

The review has gone viral on multiple platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. The Internet delivered thousands of comments and a flood of exposure for the restaurant—an excellent outcome for any successful marketing strategy.

In a 2026 article in Newsweek, Alvarado shared the story behind her winning idea:

“The idea came from a woman who purchased a hot tamale the day before and came back to complain. When I went to see which one she had been eating, I realized she had eaten part of the corn husk. We both laughed, and I gave her another tamale on the house so she could try again. That moment inspired the Rebecca character. In our 18 years in business, I cannot count how many Rebecca O’s we have had. I wanted to showcase that in a lighthearted and funny way!”

Unwrapping a tamale from the corn husk.
Photo credit: Canva

People share their thoughts with Rebecca

One of the reasons behind the success of the fake one-star review was its relatability. Here are some of the comments shared on one of the Instagram posts:

“Welcome to the wonderful world of tamales, Rebecca.”

“Had a friend from Ohio also eat the husk and was trying to be polite and still said it was good. Such a good laugh lol.”

“Like when my dad said he didn’t like mango and come to find out it’s because he ate it like an apple”

“They really should tell people or give instructions not to eat the skin I had my first one a couple years ago and I didn’t know either.”

“I didn’t eat a tamale until I was almost 30 and I was so confused about this too”

A crowd doing the wave. Photo credit: Canva

Why relatability sells

Alvarado isn’t the first business owner to craft a successful sales and marketing tactic through social media. Credibility and engagement are often tied to relatability.

A 2025 study published on Springer Nature Link revealed that “authentic” influencers drive stronger engagement and significantly affect consumer response and purchases. Similarly, a 2025 engagement study found that increased user interaction on platforms like Instagram suggested relatable content influenced sales.

When studies reveal that relatable, story-driven content drives engagement, it’s easy to see why Alvarado’s fake one-star tamale review was so successful. Turning confusion into comedy and connection created real buzz. The idea, based on real-life experience, was simple, human, and funny.

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