2. misc-audio
  3. 157376-81053

Youngsters these days.

My 24 year old grandson finished his tour in the service recently and has been staying with us for the past several months. He got himself a good job, to help out and take care of himself, while deciding what to do in the future - back to school, etc.
After he got a few good pay checks, I joking suggested he buy his Pa a new CD player. If looks could kill. "Why would you want a new CD player?" He asked. I told him "just to upgrade the one I have". "No one buys CD players anymore" he exclaimed. "Then what's your Idea of fine Audio, a WalkMan?" I asked. "WOW! There's not even any such thing as a WalkMan any more" he said. To which I replied, "Ya there is, we have a guy on our forum who swears by em". He just rolled his eyes and said "No - Streaming! Using an iPhone or iPad you can get a streaming package and get all the music you want". "Why would I want to do That?" I asked "I have hundreds of great LPs and CDs, that I'm perfectly happy with." To that he replied "OK Boomer".  I guess that meant he knew I was right.
Why is it that youngsters just don't understand the love that some of us old folks have for our old LPs and CDs and we  have no interest in paying for another monthly service, to listen to all the music we already have?
jhills
itsjustme
682 posts
 
because having 60,000 albums at my fingertips, 1000s MQA/HD is a really good thing
audiovideonirvana's avatar
audiovideonirvana
56 posts
 
Sigh... How many times have I heard "okay boomer" from my 24 year old son? Too many to count. However, after a lifetime of good sound in my house he knows what's sounds good and what's mediocre. I'm almost 64 (I was almost 40 when he was born). He's always known how important good sound quality is; proven by his wanting to use my home theater for his entertaining with his friends to watch their movies. His generation, as stated above, is not attached to the media we love so much. My CDs and LPs are my treasures and I love playing them on very decent system. When he moved out recently He took his pair of (British made) B&W DM601s to connect to his big TV via a Yamaha receiver. (I gave him both.) True to his generation, however, he told me to keep the Pro-Ject turntable (another gift) because he had no room and only five LPs. He's content on streaming his music. Different strokes, I guess...
mkgus's avatar
mkgus
324 posts
 

I personally believe “Ok Boomer,” is just another divide and conquer tactic. Right vs Left. Red vs. Blue. Boomer vs Millenial/Gen Z. My Team vs Your Team.

Google trends shows that “Ok boomer” virtually didn’t exist before October 2019 after it was popularized on TikTok and right around when a whole bunch of news articles came out.

A quick google search for news articles turns up:

New York Times: “Ok boomer marks the end of friendly generational relationships.”

Washington Post: “Ok boomer, the kids are fighting back.”

NBC: “Ok boomer is dividing generations.”

Is it really NBC? Or is the fact that you are reporting on it and reaching millions of viewers and bringing the term into mainstream and generating division what’s really going on? If you hadn’t reported on it, would it have remained an obscure TikTok reference because who the hell even knows what TikTok is?

The solution? Don’t use the term. The last thing we need is more things dividing us. We are way more similar than we are different (whatever team you’re on).

toicat's avatar
toicat
39 posts
 
Being north of 60 has caused me to temper my thoughts with the younger generation many times. In certain instances, it is as difficult as describing what color is to a person that was born without vision. In this case, I enjoy reading the liner notes and looking at album/CD artwork as much as listening to the music. Kind of like looking at the back of a cereal box at breakfast. It’s just part of the enjoyment. 
cat_doorman
237 posts
 
I resisted streaming for a long time. I think the technical issues have now been resolved to the point streaming should be indistinguishable from other physical digital media, or maybe better. I had a few CDs that skipped, but they ripped just fine.
I get the idea of enjoying the collection you have, but I hope I never when get to the point of no longer being interested in discovering something new. I also didn’t manage to buy every album I ever wanted to listen to. With streaming I can go back and hear albums I barely remember or completely missed. I’m so glad I’m no longer stagnant. I listen to my system more than I had in years.
Sometimes “Ok, boomer” is the appropriate dismissive phrase for an old dog that has no interest in learning a new trick, unable to see the obvious benefit because they think they already know it all. Your grandson was trying to help you.
“Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.”
More to discover