Readers React: These baby boomers aren’t laughing about being ‘handled’ by millennials

To the editor: First, as a baby boomer, I would like to say we don’t need to be “handled.” Second, here’s my list of how baby boomers should handle millennials in the workplace: (“How millennials should deal with baby boomers at work,” Opinion, March 25)

- Millennials stare at electronic devices constantly, so you may have to repeat questions or comments several times to get them to focus.

- You may need to remind them that they don’t need to text a reply if you are standing right there.

- If there is a power outage, you may be required to deal with widespread panic from millennials. You may have to show them how to use a pen and paper.

Finally, it behooves millennials to show a little common courtesy and respect toward baby boomers, as they will stand in our shoes one day.

Joyce Jacoby, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I was born in 1949, and in my experience not all boomers are Luddites or fearful of technology, especially in Southern California. I have a presence on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Vine. Most of my fellow boomer friends can’t live without their smartphones.

Then again, some social changes have my head spinning. At work a receptionist and another female employee were delivering little Easter goody bags recently, and I commented on “pretty girls delivering chocolate.” They just smiled and moved on. Later I wondered if that was “microaggression.”

It’s tough for all of us, including boomers and millennials. We’ve experienced rapid social and technological change in the last 50 years, and the pace appears to be accelerating.

For what it’s worth, most of the folks I hang out with are at least 20 years younger than I am. They are some of the most accepting, tolerant, non-racist people I know. The future looks bright from where I’m sitting.

Gary Fisher, Lake Forest

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To the editor: It is common for members of a younger generation to feel superior in many ways those in a prior generation. Baby boomers once felt they knew it all and their predecessors were dinosaurs. They had the numbers to dominate, unlike prior generations.

If the millennials Ann Friedman refers to could pause from congratulating themselves on their awesome tech skills for a moment, they might notice baby boomers have some useful skills they want to acquire:

Face-to-face communication: This is is used less frequently in our society. Baby boomers hail from a time when interacting personally was not a rarity and have some skills here.

Work ethic: Most baby boomers I know are extremely hard workers simply because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?

We can all learn from each other. Millennials are not all narcissistic, self-referential airheads any more than baby boomers are all nostalgic Luddites. With any luck, millennials will be old one day, and the generation following will no doubt see them as lame. Life goes on.

Denise Frey, Santa Barbara

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