"My Dad Will Never Give This Up": These 20 "Boomer Trends" Are Predicted To Vanish, And As A Millennial, I Find These Things Really Weird
We all know trends come and go. I never could've predicted the return of low-rise jeans, but here we are. That said, some things that were once all the rage just end up dying out. So when redditor u/DioriteLover asked the r/AskReddit community to share the things older generations popularized that will surely vanish, people gave some pretty spot-on predictions. Here's what they said.
1."Formal living rooms."
2."Not listing the salary on a job posting."
"I work in HR strategy. I think refusing to post compensation for a job should be illegal."
3."Fancy unused china sets."
"I (40) inherited my grandmother's Wedgwood china. Plain white set. I moved that shit with me for a decade. After my divorce, I made it my daily use. They survive the dishwasher JUST FINE. I use the tea cups for snack bowls."
4."TEXT MESSAGES AND FACEBOOK POSTS IN ALL CAPS."
"GRANDPA DIED, LOL. No matter how many times I tell my aunt that it doesn't mean 'lots of love...'"
5."Porcelain figurine collections."
6."Timeshares."
"I worked in corporate for one of the largest timeshare companies in the world, and I left believing that it was absolutely a scam. Employee benefits were amazing, but the salespeople will absolutely lie to you to secure a sale. We used to get A LOT of inquiries on exit options.
These companies will put your unit on a resale market, but it'll never get sold. This will force people to exit via a third party for a faster exit, but the third-party market is littered with scams.
I've had to deal with so many timeshare owners who are out $50,000+ because they explored the third-party resale market and never actually existed."
7."The cellphone holder that clips onto the belt."
8."The obsession with work, although I think it's going to get more complicated now."
"What I find older managers don't understand is there is no incentive to bust your ass right now. They could work 40 hours and afford a house. I worked 80 hours and could just barely afford the smallest house on the market. After 2020, I don't know how any middle-class person will ever afford a house. So you can work the bare minimum and never afford a high standard of living or work yourself to death and not afford a high standard of living. Seems like an easy choice."
9."I think it's already pretty much happened/is in the process of happening, but cable TV in any form. I finally convinced my mom (76) to stop paying north of $200 a month for cable. I had been needling her for years when she finally did it. Was it the literal hundreds per month savings that finally convinced her? Nope! Showing her (on my streaming-only TV) that she could watch Her Story (a soap opera) and Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman, any time she wanted was the selling point."
10."Emails with the subject line 'Fw:Fw:Fw:'"
11."Balancing a checkbook."
"I just learned how to write a check last year because my landlords were old and politely asked if we could pay with a check. I was like, 'Uh, sure?' No clue what balancing a checkbook means."
12."Calling to follow up about a job application/status AND any hiring information for companies available for access in person — everything is online now."
"My brother was out of a job during COVID, and a Boomer family member was mad that he wasn't out walking around trying to find a job."
13."Reader's Digest magazines."
"Absolutely loved reading Reader's Digest when I visited my grandparents as a kid — so many good articles!"
14."'I hate my wife' humor."
"Good riddance. As a kid, I was so scared of marrying someone who treated me like the people on those '90s Boomer sitcoms treated their spouses."
15."Affordable, well-made appliances that will last a lifetime."
"I was looking for a fridge at a used appliance store near me. They restore antiques and fix up regular appliances. I asked the owner about one fridge, and she said, 'It's less than 20 years old, so it sucks.'
The fridge that made its way into the garage was used when I originally bought it in '98, and it has outlasted two fridges in the house."
16."'Salads' whose primary ingredient is Jell-O and/or whipped cream."
"My husband is 41 and still insists on making his mom's 'carrot salad' at Christmas every year. It's orange Jello with carrot sticks and pineapple chunks. He's the only one who eats it. His mom doesn't even make it anymore."
17."Saying the date and time when leaving a voicemail. Also, voicemails."
"The only time I want voicemails is when I want a message from a medical professional telling me something important. I hate them otherwise."
18."Homeownership. Boomers are flocking to reverse mortgages, and the high costs of maintaining property, taxes, and insurance are making home ownership impossible. Add in corporations buying up housing with 50-year payback plans."
19."Big families."
"Skipping forward to millennials and Gen Z: families at all. How many people can really afford to raise one, even if they want to?"
20."Cable news."
"And newspapers. Only Boomers get them now. They are half the size they used to be, and all of the content has been replaced by ads and generic nationwide stuff that's not unique to your area."
Which "once-popular" trends do you believe will disappear in a few years? Tell us in the comments or fill out this anonymous form.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
