Grey Matter

The catchphrase “OK boomer” stings if, like me, you happen to be a baby boomer: someone born after the Second World War but before Beatlemania. The pithy meme emerged in a particularly scathing TikTok video, from November 2019, targeting an unidentified older man who had posted a short rant about “infantile” generations that suffered from a “Peter Pan syndrome.” He claimed younger people were “hobbled” by social media and never wanted to grow up and assume adult responsibilities. The retort caught fire among millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012). USA Today quoted a TikToker describing the phrase’s popularity as “a sophisticated, mass retaliation” against the dominance of the postwar generation, while the New York Times said it “marks the end of friendly generational relations.” It continues to epitomize an undercurrent of sheer exasperation with boomers for climate change and their...