What is your boomer opinion

nLuLukna @lemmy.one to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 13 points –

What opinion just makes you look like you aged 30 years

87

Single player modes in games shouldn't require internet connection.

I'm not subscribing to anything. If I buy something, it's fully functional, and it's mine. There is no ongoing relationship between me and the manufacturer. Done.

Cars shouldn't be loaded with user-facing technology. Bring back analog dashboards and buttons for climate control!

I just want to be able to adjust the stereo without looking away from the road. Is that too much to ask?

Interesting fact: I just got a new ev (so a battery hooked up to a computer with wheels) - and it has buttons! It also has dials for sound and climate.

Now to be fair it also takes interacting with a touchscreen to turn on the heated seats, but I'd say it's progress in the right direction.

Bring back stick-shift, too. People shouldn’t be driving if they have no grasp of the mass and inertia of their car. We should be able to disengage the engine at will. And we should have to pay attention when we drive.

Music in restaurants and bars is just too loud. I know why the music is loud, but I am still going to shake my fist at it like Grandpa Simpson.

Same. It's getting worse over time too, I can hardly hear anything anyone is saying in restaurants and bars anymore.

I felt my inner boomer grow stronger after writing that.

I’ve thought this since I was young. Background music? Cool, keep it quiet so we can talk.

Does this mean loud music is bad? No, I’ve been a put my head in the PA speakers metal head since I was young too. But I don’t expect a waiter to serve me then.

Beyond that, it’s a known problem that as you get older audio distractions become more severe, and I’m sure there’s a neurodivergent dimension to it too, so it’s one of those things where we are actively punishing people for wanting to be out and socialise. Also sure it’s one of those things where everyone thinks they have to do it but don’t

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It was totally uncool to remove the headphone jack from my device, man.

I doubt you'll find anyone here that disagrees with you. I was going to get an older pixel but I got a 6 instead and I'm still grieving the loss of my headphone jack.

I don't want to have a subscription for everything. It used to be possible to pay a one-time fee for software and use it as long as I want. Now I have to pay a monthly fee and once I finish paying, I can't use the software anymore. And it's not like I constantly get updates for the software. Often it stays the same for months or years.

I understand that software has a price, but no way these prices are sometimes justified...

Smart tech in general is annoying and dumb. I want my TV to just be a tv with inputs, I don't need built in firmware and updates to shove ads in my face. I don't want my car to have a touch screen to adjust the A/C, just give me a knob or buttons.

I DO NOT WANT MY TV TO HAVE A FUCKING CAMERA OR A MICROPHONE

Digital privacy is important, and it's important to be anonymous on the internet

I feel like this could go either way whether it's a boomer opinion or not. Real boomers are not very tech literate and probably don't have much of a notion of online privacy.

On the other hand for those that were adults in the early years of the internet, they likely think we're all giving away too much of our private information.

Boomers (my parents' generation) were telling us 90's kids how dangerous it was to put your information online, but then it seemed once social media happened they all forgot about such privacy concerns entirely. They were right the first time!

Algorithms that try to suggest me content are universally bad, and all searches should provide results based solely on the terms, syntax, and language entered. Same with anything that tries to provide me content based on data harvested about my location or demographic.

I like that Lemmy and Masto don’t have those fucking algorithms. It’s a relief.

What is your opinion on Bluesky? Their default feed is chronological, but they do have algorithms. They're actually moving towards custom algorithms, so you can build your own or use someone else's, delete, pin, reorder them. It's like different feeds. I like that implementation personally.

Sneaker culture is incredibly weird. Shoes made by children in China with a limited edition color are in such high demand that there are sites where people refresh F5 constantly hoping to have the honor to pay hundreds and hundreds for shoes that cost $7.50 to make. Then half of the time people won't even wear them outside, they'll put them in a bag and change shoes when they get to work or whatever. Or some might not even wear the shoes at all and just display them.

I'm an old soul in this sense. I love a quality goodyear welted shoe, and made in USA, UK, or Italy usually. An Allen Edmonds strandmok is a fantastic everyday shoe for me. I like to purchase nice things in general, use them, take care of them. I really hate throwaway culture as well.

Please nobody hate me for this, I'm a bit self conscious being an admin of my own instance and don't want to piss people off haha. If you're into gym shoe culture that's awesome. If I knew you in real life I'd probably make fun of you for a minute if I saw you walking outside in socks carrying your $400 limited edition sneakers, but then you can make fun of me for one of the thousands of things I do and it's all in good fun.

Phone bad.

Like they're objectively pretty useful but I find the experience of using one to just kinda suck and I avoid it as much as I can. I'd much much rather use a laptop or ideally my desktop if that's at all possible. No idea how some people manage so much time using their phones

:) or 🙂 is nice and not passive-agressive

let me see:

  • physical media is Just Better (cds, game cards, etc.)
  • the Internet is a technological dumpster fire
  • devices are too "smart" nowadays

Physical media generally has less aggressive DRM. Buy a DVD and the movies your's for life, you can even rip it and put it on a media server to make your own little streaming site.

"Buy" a movie/audiobook on Amazon and it's yours as long as the company wants you to keep it.

As always, there is an relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/488/

Boomer opinions:

  • Stop being so loud.
  • Get off my lawn and please leave me alone.
  • I work in tech, but sometimes tech is added to things needlessly. I just want my washing machine to be a washing machine. I'm tired of being the product.
  • Silicon valley's "disruptors" are usually full of shit. The vast majority of the time: it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  • Don't tell me what to do with my land if you're not willing to pay my taxes (or if you don't have good ecological reasons). I'll paint my shudders whatever color I want to.
  • Bring back the damn knobs, buttons, and switches in my car. I don't need more touchscreens.

On the other hand...

  • I recognize that the way I feel and some of the opinions I have are based on a context I grew up with that may no longer exist - or at least it may not exist in the form it once did. I recognize how I see things may die with me and my peers, and that's ok. It's a sad truth, but truth, nonetheless.
  • The internet was way better before it became a giant shopping mall.
  • Those cars that don't have the flecks in the paint look like children's toys.

Then, I have a couple that pre-date even boomers by many years 😅:

  • Handkerchiefs kick the shit out of paper tissues.
  • Cars have made the world a worse place.

Handkerchiefs are the bomb. I carry one everywhere I go (when I don't forget 🥲). Really feel like they could make a comeback with the right marketing.

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When I was a kid, I could go out and play with other kids on the streets, without fear of being snatched or hit by a car or worse. We made Judas ragdolls before Easter just to burn them, and use them for practical jokes. We used to play some child version of cricket, I've even broke a window of a neighbour doing it.

Children nowadays do not do any of those things dammit. What the fuck? How exactly are you growing up without leaving home? For some it's lack of desire, but for most of them it's outright lack of possibility.

Screw this shit. The world is becoming worse.

Basically any opinion of the modern Internet I give.

I'm a certified computer expert, but I sound like a Luddite when it comes to anything mainstream.

Things should be made to last and not be made to intentionally break after a short time.

how is that a boomer opinion?

Many of the younger generations seem to accept that things don't last/break easily. I come from a time where there was a wiring diagram for the TV pasted on the inside back cover. Washing machines and other devices often had the schematics included. Repairing your stuff and keeping it running was the norm back then. Even if you couldn't, you probably had a neighbour who could. Planned obsolescence is a relatively new thing.

Not meeting up with friends at a loud venue, I like to talk to them not try to shout over the music.

As a person who works in tech and is an early adopter for almost every new gizmo out there, I feel that we were better off back in the day when stuff was all analog and things were done manually.

Sure it was inconvenient, but it made us experience the world more and actually interacted with real people. I have crappy social skills and I have seen the change in myself over the years. I get anxious when my phone rings now, as opposed to being excited back in the day.

This makes me think of a quote by Kurt Vonnegut:

“I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I’d never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterward I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this woman named Carol out in Woodstock and say, “Are you still doing typing?” Sure she is, and her husband is trying to track bluebirds out there and not having much luck, and so we chitchat back and forth, and I say, “Okay, I’ll send you the pages.” Then I go down the steps and my wife calls, “Where are you going?” “Well,” I say, “I’m going to buy an envelope.” And she says, “You’re not a poor man. Why don’t you buy a thousand envelopes? They’ll deliver them, and you can put them in the closet.” And I say, “Hush.” So I go to this newsstand across the street where they sell magazines and lottery tickets and stationery. I have to get in line because there are people buying candy and all that sort of thing, and I talk to them. The woman behind the counter has a jewel between her eyes, and when it’s my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately. I get my envelope and seal it up and go to the postal convenience center down the block at the corner of Forty-seventh Street and Second Avenue, where I’m secretly in love with the woman behind the counter. I keep absolutely poker-faced; I never let her know how I feel about her. One time I had my pocket picked in there and got to meet a cop and tell him about it. Anyway, I address the envelope to Carol in Woodstock. I stamp the envelope and mail it in a mailbox in front of the post office, and I go home. And I’ve had a hell of a good time. I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different.”

I really believe that part of the loneliness and lack of community many people feel nowadays can be attributed to automating everything for convenience. We miss out on these brief interactions and meaningless smalltalk, giving us less chance to practice our social skills in low-stakes situations. I see the change even in myself; in my college days I didn't really experience much social anxiety since I was always surrounded by people, but now I sometimes find a quick trip to the grocery store somewhat difficult. It's really troubling to think about, and it makes me long for the analog past.

When contacting government or a service provider I want to call and talk to a human, dammit.

I know this opinion is wildly unpopular, but I think pirating is unethical. If you can’t afford something, or you disagree with spending money for it, then fine. Don’t watch that show/listen to that song/play that game. But the people who make things deserve to get paid. It’s not right to refuse to pay for something while also consuming that content. Many of the justifications for pirating just feel like entitlement to me.

Devs don't get paid less just because I pirated a game I would never have bought otherwise

But at the same time, deflating the sales of the product has the risk of prompting the company to not continue with a franchise or employ those developers in the future.

We don't need a meeting for everything. It could have been an email.

I hate QR code menus, just let me see the damn food options without squinting at my phone

I have three:

  • They don't make things like they used to
  • We don't need all these damned computers in everything
  • Modern music sounds like crap

I'm 17.

I think two out of those believes stem from survivorship bias. You think of old music and consumer products as superior because the only ones that "survived" are the good ones. No one remembers bad music from 50 years ago, and for every old thermos flask/blender/knife that you see around there are dozens that broke years ago.

I say yes for the music one, maybe not for the first. There are literally different materials being used and increasingly optimised-for-profit-to-effort-ratio processes. Many things are just straight up made more cheaply because we have the technology to do that.

Although for the music one, a relevant lyric comes to mind:

Hip hop? Buddy, don't get me started

So how do you get yourself charted?

Kids love this stuff 'cause it's so new

Put in a sample from a pop song too

You've got a hit, how come it sold?

The melody and it's 30 years old!

Hip hop is pretty mainstream now but it started as counter culture. And I don't think a sample in a song makes it similar to the sampled song. A lot of tracks that rely on samples completely create something new. Look at J Dilla who relied almost entirely on samples. His music isn't a collection of old songs, it's entirely new songs. I guess this thread is for boomer takes.

Or the Prodigy, who relied almost entirely on samples yet made some of the most exciting music we had ever heard.

There was song from the 60s (supposedly the best music everyone tells me) called "7 little girls". The chorus went "7 little girls sitting the back seat kissing and hugging with Fred"

Thankfully a mostly forgotten song now, but a clear example of how bloody awful pop music is not a new phenomenon.

Notifications fucking suck, if it isn't either my alarm or my grandma's emergency button, my phone ain't gonna do a damn thing to alert me.

Alcohol is toxic, carcinogenic garbage and we'd be noticeably better off if everyone voluntarily stopped drinking it.

Anecdotally, this is a position I've seen held more often by young people than by boomers. Not sure what the statistics are exactly, but regardless it would be nice to see a cultural shift away from alcohol.

I hold this opinion because I've watched family die from alcoholism, and I myself am a recovering alcoholic. It's a miserable way to go.

Majority of the music today is just plain trash. I can't even bring myself to listen to these tracks

I don't think this is a boomer opinion but I got called a boomer for it once so maybe it is idk:

I think online dating is shit and I don't mean it in a "It doesn't work for me" kinda way but I believe it's objectively shit. In an ever faster world that demands more and more flexibility from people that also extends to dating. It introduces a certain arbitrariness to romantic and sexual relationships. We now have dating apps that you can use to scroll through potential partners like a furniture catalog. It reduces people to a commodity and I hate being confronted with that. I believe it could in combination with the realities of late stage combination harm our ability to establish deep and meaningful connections to people.

It's literally what my mom warned me off 20 years ago and now I believe she was right.

Nobody should be able to profit off boring industries. Utility (power, water, telephony (which includes internet), banking, insurance.

Cap the profits at an arbitrary number that keeps up with inflation and allows for expanding business basic needs like staffing and inventory. Large investments should be reviewed and approved by regulating bodies and monies allocated and investments must be met with progress goals that achieve the completion of the project in full. None of this "Thanks for the monies, lol bye" bullshit.

Emphatically agree. I'm not really anti-free-market, but in the absence of informed consumer choice, all you have is de facto monopolies.

It's worse - they are natural monopolies. I don't need to run fiber to my house from 3 different ISPs any more than I want to run pipes from 3 different water supply companies. Utilities like electricity are already regulated with price controls and some semblance of democratic oversight. It's time that internet hookups are too.

Google Docs Editors is inferior to any office productuvity suite, and it's overused in the professional world.

I don't want your fucking Sheets link. Email me the Excel file with _v1 at the end.

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Dating should go back to face to face meetings. People need to get out and see others more, just generally.

No thank you. I can barely stand hearing somebody through a wall, why would I want to see them too?

Because dating hopefully takes place with individuums, to whom this limitation does not apply.

Smart TVs are stupid and only exist to make ad revenue and sell user data. I'd pay extra for a TV like an LG C2 OLED but with no OS. Just a monitor that displays sources plugged in.