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30 Things People 50+ Won't Let Go Of

Previous generations prefer to cling onto traditions for dear life. Whether it’s their fault or not, they’re creatures of habit and are completely unapologetic for their socks-and-sandals or wallpaper-clad homes. It doesn't matter how many times they're told otherwise, they hold onto it and refuse to let go. You know what, though, props to their independent thinking.

That being said, some things are worth letting go of, and we're all begging at this point. 

Just like when Millennials drag on Gen Z trends, those from the greatest generation find the shiny and new either unnecessary or downright frightening. But there’s a reason that new technology is so valuable; it makes everything easier! Virtually all information is online, with the best entertainment only a click away. Unfortunately, the children of the greatest generation continue to gripe about the younger generation’s tech and habits compared to the “good ‘ole days” of unpaid internships and corporal punishment. We think, perhaps, those days aren’t as golden as they’re cracked up to be...

Curious about the ridiculous things that the children of the greatest generation still do? Take a gander at this list. A few might be hard pills to swallow, but they still confidently love these 30 things whether Millennials like them or not.

Complaining About Younger Generations

Complaining About Younger Generations

Intergenerational strife isn’t new but it sure is getting quite tiresome. Just like this list, there’s always something to criticize. But does it even matter? No. The previous generation always has something to say about the new generation but in the end that can't stop the changes around them from happening. 

Most Millennials and Gen Z folks aren’t particularly concerned about what the wiser generation is up to, as long as they can eat their avocado toast in peace. Live and let live as they say. Only the generation ahead can decide how they are going to live their lives, for better or worse.

Write in Cursive

Write in Cursive

Cursive is beautiful, we admit it. It gets things written so much faster! While that trick to writing with loops and swirls just for the fun of it is impressive in itself, the children of the greatest generation didn't devise the most practical writing solution. It's difficult to learn or at least do well, even if it looks nice.

Admit it, what’s better than receiving a handwritten note all in cursive from someone you love? Basically unparalleled. Perhaps cursive is one thing that could be worth sticking around… Until you realize that modern technology calls for typing skills rather than fancy handwriting.

DVisions/Adobe Stock

Unpaid Internships

Unpaid Internships

Unpaid internships are, unfortunately, still a prevalent state of work. The children of the greatest generation need to face the reality that interning is work just like any other position. And unpaid work is just cruel! Accumulating student debt is bad enough without the problem of getting any money to actually be able to pay off the debt. 

Boomers might say that ~experience~ is enough compensation for an internship, but most young people cannot afford to spend their time on something that doesn’t cover basic needs, especially if the intern is also a student. It’s a different time, and rent isn’t 10 cents anymore. Not paying your interns means they have to work two jobs while in college. Not right.

Drobot Dean/Adobe Stock

Pyramid Schemes

Pyramid Schemes

Pyramid companies make most of their money by fooling recruits into thinking that payouts will result in their recruitment of new members. In reality, the companies charge hefty entry fees for all recruits, disguising it as a payment for necessary equipment. The children of the greatest generation helped carry these well into modern days.

These schemes aren’t only a massive waste of time and money, but are illegal! Don’t be fooled by the false promises and cheap products of these multi-level marketing companies because the children of the greatest generations are already in the thick of their scam! it'd about time we exposed the MLM scams for what they are.

Fuzzy Toilet Seat Covers

Fuzzy Toilet Seat Covers

A mere glance at an ancient fuzzy toilet seat cover is enough to give you a mysterious disease. Not only do they look tacky, but it feels weird to put your but on a highly germ-susceptible surface that countless other bottoms have touched. This is definitely a generation trend that can go.

We could let the ugliness of the covers go if we got a guarantee that they’re regularly washed. But until that happens, sayonara! Toilet seat covers are ultimately totally unnecessary. There's no right way to make a toilet look nice. Toilets are just not nice and there's no right way to have yours on display in your bathroom - other than making sure its clean.

(image via Midjourney)

Home Shopping Networks

Home Shopping Networks

Amazon is a gift from the heavens. While their employment practices are a little suspicious, the entire shopping process has been revolutionized by online industries. So why spend hours of your time watching QVC for overpriced goods that aren’t even on-trend? Surprisingly, home shopping channels are all the rage with the children of the greatest generation

Shopping online is the best way to get all your shopping goods. Unlike a product on the home shopping network, you can actually get a better idea of what you are buying. For one, you can look up reviews online and find out what other people are saying about a product. You can also compare prices with other retailers online.

Iron Everything

Iron Everything

Ironing is so time-consuming that the newer generations have nearly abandoned the practice entirely. Exceptions include special events or grossly over-wrinkled fabric, but then the handy steamer comes into play. simply, no one has the patience for ironing and simply doesn't see the need for it. There are other ways to get your clothes wrinkle-free.

For one, there are wrinkle-free shirts. You can also keep your dress shirts in the bathroom and let the shower stream straighten them out. Not to mention that the cleaners can fix your toughest wrinkles in a snap so you can spend your time doing much more productive things instead of struggling with hot tools.

Watch Cop Dramas

Watch Cop Dramas

It’s difficult to avoid any cop shows on cable TV since their inception. They multiply by the dozen, with their predictable plotlines and flat characters, making Law and Order and NCIS  blend together. These cops dramas simply have nothing new to offer and every time one goes away, a new one pops up in its place.

And there’s a reason they keep popping up—which the children of the greatest generation can’t get enough of! On top of cop dramas, you can’t avoid the firefighter and medical dramas either. Avoid them or fall down an endless pit of procedurals. How about some new ideas there are other professions to consider like ones about lawyers! Oh, wait...nevermind.

Use Excessive Ellipses

Use Excessive Ellipses

One ellipse at the end of a text is confusing enough, but four? What is that supposed to mean? If you’re trying to be laid-back and cool, ellipses are not the way to go. They just make a text message regarding your grandmother’s chiropractic appointment unnecessarily ominous and frankly scary.

Ellipses either say you are hiding something or that you sound really irritated. Ellipses are not the best way to punctuate a sentence by any means. For some reason, previous generations think it's acceptable to do it. I don't know. Maybe they are just keeping us on our toes - but we don't like it!

Reject Climate Change

Reject Climate Change

Global warming is such a huge threat to the world that younger generations are incredulous about how the children of the greatest generation continue to deny its existence. In fact, the vast majority of them advocate for increased burning of fossil fuels, with reporters at Vox stating that they have “exacerbated the climate crisis more than any other generation.”

Somehow the idea that humans could at all be at fault for changing the climate is deeply offensive to the children of the greatest generation, even though everyone is equally responsible. Perhaps, they reject climate change in order to deny responsibility or accepting new information is just difficult for people who have lived a certain way their whole lives? You decide.

Wear Tacky Denim

Wear Tacky Denim

The children of the greatest generation have no room to pass judgment on ripped jeans when they still looove their jorts. While flared jeans are making a comeback in the retro niche, bootcut and knee-length denim is a vintage style better left to the past. There's a right way to do denim and a wrong way.

And skinny jeans? Better not mention the style to the children of the greatest generation, or brace yourself for a barrage of scolding. At least our jeans actually fit and don’t sag around the hips! Also, it's time to stop wearing denim jackets and denim jeans together. It's not the '80s and we don't need to be head to toe in denim.

Spread Conspiracy Theories

Spread Conspiracy Theories

Facebook is the cesspool of fake news and unsupported conspiracy theories. According to The Manifest, 96% of users born after 1950 log into Facebook each week, making them the largest purveyors of false information. But with so many sources online, it can be difficult for the children of the greatest generation to discern the truth.

The children of the greatest generation should be focused on real threats to society, like social inequality and climate change, instead of crying about fake moon landings and assassinations. It's easy to distrust everyone and everything but a lot more difficult to search for the truth and learn, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

Gender Everything

Gender Everything

Believe it or not, pink and blue aren’t the only colors for kids. What if little Susie wanted that dinosaur instead of the baby doll? It doesn’t matter much to the children of the greatest generation what the kids actually want, unfortunately, only how the kids fit into ancient gender expectations.

For some reason, people are still bent on making kids conform to gender stereotypes. Pink used to be a "boy's color" but nobody even wants to talk about that anymore, proving gender norms are completely arbitrary. A boy can enjoy a doll and it really doesn't mean anything. Let kids be themselves and play with what they want.

Corporal Punishment

Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment should be at the top of this list of unbelievable Boomer things they still do (or at least talk about). Sorry, grandpa, but the fact that you were spanked by your mother every day in the ‘50s doesn’t make it okay. The only reason you think it's okay is that you were exposed to it and the fact that you think it's okay is exactly why its not okay.

New generations prefer to teach decency with verbal communication and positive reinforcement rather than relying on violence as a learning tool. In the end, violence only teaches violence. And it "works" because it makes your kids fear you but it doesn't teach them love and it doesn't teach them any valuable life lessons.

Treat Servers Poorly

Treat Servers Poorly

Service industry workers are offensively underpaid for hours of hard work. They barely make it on salary alone, with many of their tips functioning as part of their paycheck. Servers are people just like the rest of us and they deserve respect. Treat them with kindness and they will be more obliged to help you.

Why treat them so poorly? They aren’t any less human than the children of the greatest generation and work twice as hard for the wages of two decades ago. The dollar doesn’t go as far in the 21st century, and we’re all trying our best to get by, so have a little compassion.

Write Checks

Write Checks

When is the last time you wrote a check? If it was under two weeks, I’m sorry to say that you’re just like the children of the greatest generation. Much more convenient methods of payment have emerged in the last decade alone that make long-winded check writing a lost art.

Love Diamonds

Love Diamonds

Don’t get us started on diamonds. Not only are they vastly overrated, but the gem isn’t as precious as marketing makes them appear. The children of the greatest generation love overspending for basic jewelry that was retrieved using modern slave labor. And moissanite is a just as beautiful alternative for half the price!

The world is full of other amazingly beautiful stones. Sapphires, rubies and garnets can be just as beautiful. Your engagement ring doesn't have to be a blood diamond. Your ring can look just as amazing without a diamond at all - believe it or not. Face the facts: diamonds are only worth as much as people value them.

24-hr News Networks

24-hr News Networks

If Facebook wasn’t bad enough for spreading fake news, biased 24-hour News Networks just spread the news more slowly. Why waste your time watching the TV when you can use the internet to research anything you can imagine? The 24-hours news network will put anything on the air to fill time, so you aren't always getting valuable information.

Golf

Golf

Golf already holds the title for most boring sport in the world, but the fact that the children of the greatest generation still flock to the range makes the activity even tackier. Given the cost of the equipment and even the clothing itself, golf is too expensive for most people to participate.

Sports are supposed to be entertainment enjoyed by a group, usually in an excited manner. Too bad golf doesn’t allow any noise during the game, which increases the snore-fest that is golf on TV. The game is only fun if you are playing it and even then, it can be tiresome. Mini-golf, however - that's fun!

Collect Knick-Knacks

Collect Knick-Knacks

Knick-knacks are cute until you trip over a box of doilies and stub your toe on the china cabinet filled with tiny clowns and angels. Millennials who’ve adopted the minimalism movement gasp over the clutter of Boomers. Like the clutter-queen Marie Kondo herself says, “storage experts” are just hoarders.

Today, modern generations really don't have the time nor the money to spend on useless stuff that fills space in your home. In fact, many of us can't even afford homes, so we don't have anywhere to put it anyways. Chances are your family is going to be passing the stuff down and it will be up to you what to do with it.

Always Choose Chain Restaurants

Always Choose Chain Restaurants

Let’s just say that our vision of a nice restaurant isn’t the local Chili’s off the highway. Plus, ordering the same tasteless meal from a chain restaurant isn’t a night out no matter how many times you say it is. It's time to experience new things and go to restaurants that offer quality food rather than quick food.

Especially now, people are realizing that small businesses are much better than their corporate versions, and supporting the little guy stimulates the local economy. Use the internet or just drive around town and find a hidden place you never knew about; it could be your new favorite spot! So get out there!

Prefer Yahoo

Prefer Yahoo

Google covers everything from documents and emails to classrooms and blogs. In comparison, Yahoo is the deadbeat sibling living in the shadow of Google’s success. Let’s just say this: if “@yahoo.com” is your email address, you’re most likely a child of the greatest generation Sorry, but not sorry. Time to switch to Google.

 

Google makes everything a lot easier because you likely already use it as your web browser unless you are using Microsoft Edge. You can save all your passwords, including your Gmail and all of your internet history and bookmarks. Use Google maps for traveling and have everything conveniently in one space. Yahoo is just a complication.

Typing in All-Caps

Typing in All-Caps

Claiming that you type in all-caps because “it’s just how I type” is not a valid excuse. Everyone knows that eyesight deteriorates with age, so just use the phone settings to increase font size. Using all-caps seriously affects the tone of a message and shouldn’t be normalized just because the children of the greatest generation can’t see what they type.

When you are typing to a stranger, nobody can tell how old you are just from the way you type. For someone that doesn't know you, all caps messages make the other person feel like you are yelling at them. And unless you are trying to explicitly make it known that you are angry, all-caps are not appropriate.

Pay for Cable

Pay for Cable

Cable TV packages are so grossly overpriced that any Millennial automatically classifies it as a modern scam. A combination of streaming subscriptions barely adds up to the price of cable, an objectively worse product. Streaming is cheaper and more practical unless you like paying for channels you will never watch.

No one except the children of the greatest generation are willing to pay exorbitantly for a product that they still have to watch ads on 80% of the time. They don’t even have control over what they watch (not like cable has many options). Trust us, we’re just trying to help. Ditch that cable package!

Use Metal Detectors

Use Metal Detectors

Do the children of the greatest generation really think that they’re going to strike gold with a thrifted metal detector on a beach that’s been combed over by hundreds of those before them? Relax on the sand and enjoy the sunlight; don’t waste your valuable time digging for scrap metal!

Vintage Decorations

Vintage Decorations

Vintage decorations are unparalleled in their cringy-ness. While some retro trends are being reclaimed by the hipster crowd, peeling wallpaper and cheesy word art will never be cool, especially with how expensive it is. It's time to stop filling your home with these things and get something with a little more class.

(Image via Midjourney)

Play Racquetball

Play Racquetball

Their fascination with racquetball can’t exactly be explained. There’s nothing wrong with the sport itself, and kudos to them for getting in their daily exercise! It’s just surprising that Boomers prefer a closed, oddly scented room to an open tennis court. Is playing with a wall even competitive? To each their own!

Refuse to be Politically Correct

Refuse to be Politically Correct

Believe it or not, Millennials are not out to breach free speech with political correctness. Nothing is wrong with someone calling you out for seriously offensive comments. What’s so hard about treating others with basic human decency, anyway? It’s a shame we even have to ask...for you to be kind.

Being politically correct is not necessarily meant to be an attack on the children of the greatest generation. It's about being decent to people and treating them with compassion. Just because something was allowed 50 years ago and didn't say anything, doesn't mean that the thing was necessarily okay to do.

Wear Snuggies

Wear Snuggies

We admit, Snuggies still look incredibly comfortable. But are they really as practical as they look? No one except the children of the greatest generation still wear them, so there has to be a logistical problem. With the advent of sherpa blankets and pullovers, Snuggies have been officially usurped from their cozy throne.

This all goes back to the infomercial issue. The children of the greatest generation seem to worship infomercials so they will buy anything they see on television, including a blanket with sleeves. But since they already bought into the totally uncool idea, they are convinced it's still good. It's time for a reality check.

(image via Snuggie)

Read Newspapers

Read Newspapers

Newspapers might be more trustworthy than the 24-hour news cycle but it’s even slower than TV programming to release a story. By the time a newspaper is printed, anyone with a phone has already read the story. Save the trees, people! These days, you can get all of the same news articles online for free or pay a small monthly fee. It's that easy!