by Abby Clack

“OK, Boomer!” is a new phrase Gen-Z and Millennials are saying towards Baby Boomers, or Boomers for short. 

“‘Ok boomer’ has become Generation Z’s endlessly repeated retort to the problem of older people who just don’t get it, a rallying cry for millions of fed up kids. Teenagers use it to reply to cringey YouTube videos, Donald Trump tweets, and basically any person over 30 who says something condescending about young people — and the issues that matter to them,” according to Taylor Lorenz in the article “’OK Boomer’ Marks the End of Friendly Generational Relations” from The New York Times. This reaction has caused much controversy between generations. 

Most Gen-Z and Millennials use the phrase as a derisive joke towards Boomers. As a generation, they are fed up with the way the world is working right now. “Gen Z is going to be the first generation to have a lower quality of life than the generation before them,” said Joshua Citarella, 32, a researcher who studies online communities. Teenagers today find themselves, he said, with “three major crises all coming to a head at the Gen Z moment. Essentials are more expensive than ever before, we pay 50 percent of our income to rent, no one has health insurance.”

Sophomore Dakota Davis, a Gen-Z, says, “I used the phrase, ‘OK Boomer’ but as a joke. Not as a slur towards the generation. Some older people like to see it as an attack towards them, but it is just a joke.”