(~5 minutes to read)

Boomers—do you read, listen and view appropriately for your age?

Related question; what do you think someone your age should consume, culture-wise?

This is the last of three articles that discuss age-appropriate behaviour (or misbehaviour). Now that we’ve got guidelines for how we should act at a certain age, and we’ve discussed our wardrobe choices (without reaching any conclusions, I have to admit), let’s look at what Boomers consume, or should be consuming, culture-wise.

It’s actually difficult to separate culture consumption from acting a certain age and wearing age-appropriate clothing.

Music

For example, if, as a boomer, you’re heavily into gangsta rap, it’s unlikely that chinos, boat shoes and a plaid shirt will be your first choice of attire when you go to an angry rap-themed concert— sweatpants or baggy jeans with a twelve-inch inseam are much more likely to be your thing. Likewise, if you enjoy French experimental films, you probably wouldn’t be seen dead in relaxed-fit beige cargo shorts and a tailored golf or polo shirt—your wardrobe choices will be far more eclectic.

You see, Boomers are expected to like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, perhaps classic Motown and/or classic reggae, and maybe… just maybe, disco. If you’re a Boomer and you love the Sex Pistols, the Dead Kennedys, Marilyn Manson, The Clash, Will. I. Am, Busta Rhymes, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne and Lil Kim, then you’re either the oldest still-working DJ in town or weird. To many Boomers, “Lil Wayne” might connote an unlikely liaison between Little Eva (the singer of the original version of The Locomotion) and the actor John “get off your horse and drink your milk” Wayne.

But needless to say, I’m picking on stereotypes and extremes for the sake of humour (I hope!). The truth where music is concerned is that tastes span the generations. Many young people enjoy classical music and big band music, especially if they’ve been introduced to those genres in a healthy way by their parents and/or school band teachers. Very large numbers of young people (in my experience) enjoy classic rock from the sixties and seventies. Towards the other end of the age spectrum, a member of my extended family—a Boomer himself—is a great fan of punk, grunge and more recent descendants of those styles. And some Boomers enjoy musical output from bands like The Decemberists and Arcade Fire.

Okay… so if music is cross-generational, what about TV and film?

TV and Film

Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit. My kids love Monty Python—both TV and film. However, they’d probably hate the kids shows I watched, and truth be told, if I take away the nostalgia component, I probably would too. Same goes for a lot of 60s and 70s sitcoms.

Here in Canada, my peers speak fondly of shows such as Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in, I Love Lucy and SCTV. I’ve never watched SCTV, but Laugh-in and Lucille Ball where never favourites of mine. They were verrry interesting… but stupid. It’s said that only the better US shows made it to the UK (e.g., M*A*S*H, Cheers) but in my opinion someone in the UK slipped up when they bought Laugh-In and Lucy.

It seems that, as with music, the truth is that your choice of TV and film fodder is influenced more by where you grew up and who you grew up with rather than your age.

Oh dear—we really haven’t identified any distinguishing features of the kind of culture that exclusively Boomers consume.

It’s not newspapers vs. TV or online news outlets—I know Gen Xers who prefer a real newspaper, while I (as a Boomer) avoid newspapers, preferring instead to read several online news sites.

It’s not books. I read stuff that young adults I know recommend, and I know young adults that enjoy stuff I read.

It’s not films, judging by the catalogue of classics on Netflix.

So how exactly does a Boomer act his or her age when consuming culture?

I think the answer is… do your own thing. I don’t think anyone will raise an eyebrow at your listening, viewing and reading tastes. Unless you’re consuming boxed set after boxed set of teen romance novels or Peppa Pig videos, nobody will care, and even in the examples cited few will judge you too harshly.

Summary

Boomers by and large don’t act their age in the same way that previous generations did. There are probably many reasons for that, among them being that Boomers are the first generation to grow up with TV, the first generation that didn’t have to worry (too much) about wars, and the first generation to grow up with easy and cheap (or free) access to healthcare. Our lives became at the same time healthier, safer and more trivial, so we’re capable of acting younger than we’re expected to, and more inclined to do so too.

Boomers by and large dress according to some unwritten dress code. We realize that we’re not gonna get into skinny jeans so we choose relaxed-fit casual pants, plaid shirts (cos that’s all the stores seem to want to sell us!) and whatever footwear we find comfortable.

Very few Boomers (of either sex) wear crop tops. In fact, we tend not to flaunt our flesh too much—partly because it badly needs ironing but also because we’re worried about skin cancer and how we abused our skin with low- or no-SPF suntan lotions back in the day when SPF only meant “Skin Properly Fried”

As for culture—you’ll find Boomers listening, reading or watching most genres of music, movies, books and TV programs. We might be trying to stay connected with our adult children: we might be reliving our childhoods with our grandkids, or we might just be out and out weird.

I hope that this trio of articles about Boomer Behaviour has helped you understand Boomers better than you did, and maybe amused you at least a little too.