Are you a boomer - how many do you do?

[Hotrodder]

Texting with one finger
I don’t text.

Trying to pay with coins to park the car
I haven’t had to pay for parking for about 30 years.

Owning a cheque book
Is a pain in the ass but necessary in France

Using Facebook and not TikTok
I don’t do drugs

Miming a phone call
My voice works so I just tell them I’ll call.

Printing tickets/boarding passes for planes
I don’t use trains or planes. If I get another passport for some important reason I’ll probably print a boarding pass for a ferry.

Tipping the delivery driver
He probably gets paid more than I ever did so he doesn’t get a tip.

Sending/expecting to receive thank you cards
I use my voice instead.

Not wearing sunscreen
Never used it. In So. Cal. it was considered sissy.

Opening a car window
I have never owned a car with electric windows so I would do the winding motion instinctively.

Turning the internet off
I do during a thunderstorm to protect the router.

Texting in general (ellipses at the end of texts, replying ‘Ok’)
This one had me puzzled. Then I realised they mean parenthesis. No to both.

Ringtones/keyboard/camera noise
Since I don’t carry a mobile a noise would be useful to help me find it.

Caring about self check-outs and QR codes on restaurant menus
I would like to see all self check-out replaced by a proper cashier who doesn’t miss the markdown tags. It has been a few years since I have seen the inside of a restaurant so I wouldn’t know what to do with a QR code.

Being bad at taking selfies
Why would I take a selfie? I already know what I look like.

Having a landline phone
If I didn’t have a landline we would not be available to the outside world for a spoken conversation.
There is no mobile network coverage here.

Turning your phone landscape to take a picture
I use a camera. People who use phones take far too many really crap photos and force everyone else to look at them.

Being able to find something to watch on TV without planning
I watch TV less and less because the content is almost entirely repeats.

Keeping a paper diary
I use a desk diary to note birthdays, boot fairs, Dr. appointments, and French holidays when absolutely everything shuts.

Holding onto paperwork for years ‘just in case’
Only the stuff that is a legal requirement in France.

Taking photos with an iPad
Owning any Apple product is several levels above my paygrade.

[Sparkle]

I'm too old to be young and too young to be old so I do most of the boomer stuff and a lot of the Gen Z stuff - well you have to try and keep up with them don't you?

[Hotrodder]

No, really you don't. You can always swim against the tide and think for yourself.
Anarchy rules OK!

[Sparkle]

No, really you don't. You can always swim against the tide and think for yourself.
Anarchy rules OK!

Nah, I like to keep em all guessing

[Veem]

I do 14 of those so I suppose my fate is sealed.

[Char]

Texting with one finger

Yep, takes me about ten minutes to write a simple text message as I keep hitting the wrong letters, and don't get me started on auto text corrections.

Trying to pay with coins to park the car

The only times we've had to pay for parking was visiting the UK and we used coins.

Owning a cheque book
We have a check book, it's handy for when you go shopping and the shops card machine thingy isn't working, it save carrying around loads of cash.

Using Facebook and not TikTok

Don't use either

Miming a phone call

Can you not just say I'll phone you?

Printing tickets/boarding passes for planes

Yep absolutely, what happens if your phone battery dies.

Tipping the delivery driver

Never tipped a delivery driver - mind you I haven't ordered a take away since we left the UK anyway.

Sending/expecting to receive thank you cards

I used to be forced to do this when I was little. I don't expect to receive one and I don't often send one either, I'll phone to thank someone.

Not wearing sunscreen

Never used sunscreen.

Opening a car window

I simply jab the air beside me to indicate an electric window switch.

Turning the internet off

It stays on all the time.

Texting in general (ellipses at the end of texts, replying ‘Ok’)

Do what?

Ringtones/keyboard/camera noise

The mobile is on vibrate doesn't make any noise.

Caring about self check-outs and QR codes on restaurant menus

I tried a self check out in carrefour yesterday, it took longer than it would have done if we'd queued up and paid at a normal check out.

Being bad at taking selfies

Never taken one so I don't know whether I'm bad at it or not. Have you seen the number of deaths there have been through people trying to take selfies in stupid places, honestly I wonder whether using the phone all the time has an effect on peoples common sense and intelligence.

Having a landline phone

Yes we have a landline. Can't rely on mobile signal.

Turning your phone landscape to take a picture

I take photos with one of those old fashioned things called a camera.

Being able to find something to watch on TV without planning

I don't watch tele.

Keeping a paper diary

I mark appointments on a calendar hanging on the wall. (the calendar is hanging on the wall not me )

Holding onto paperwork for years ‘just in case’

Have to keep paperwork by law so yes, but I have a filing cabinet.

Taking photos with an iPad

I couldn't afford an iPad even if I wanted one.

Although I do keep getting spam telling me that my iCloud is full and if I don't pay them money I'll lose everything and my apple's apps may not work. not sure what that means my apples are still ripening on the tree at the moment.
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I do worry about the way mobile phones seem to have hijacked the young people of today - it took me six months after my daughter moved back in with us, to persuade her not to take the phone with her when she went to the toilet. It's like an appendage, I'm sure she'd suffer withdrawal symptoms if it was taken away from her. Scary really.

[RobertArthur]

All rise, here comes The Judge. Not guilty at all counts but my case doesn't look very promising. They've also found out that I'm still able to operate this machine (anybody some coins, Layla one more time?), to operate a rotary dial phone, fixing this problem and repairing old stuff myself without all the proper formal qualifications. To make matters worse: during a house search the police seized loads of forbidden (license needed) technical documentation, books and magazines. Prison? No, for not accepting every aspect of modern technologies, an economic offense these days, they probably are coming to take me away to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time.

Always look at the bright side of life: there is room for re-education, there is the green bright new future on the horizon, the repair economy. How to get the eyes of a younger generation away from the smartphone screen and back to other things, once very simple? Or back to the art of doing nothing, just relax, one information update a day keeps the doctor away.