OKAY BOOMER… Musings of a Gen-Xer Living in a Digital Era
My formative years were the 70’s and 80’s. I socialized and planned on both a rotary and then on a touch-tone phone. I saw U2 in concert at a small venue before they were huge and was at the first farewell tour of The Who. My video gaming was learned first on a Pong game that had a static cling sheet for the TV and when we got an Atari, my mind was blown. Movies at home were first watched on a Betamax device, while the first wireless remote we had for our family TV had only 10 buttons — just the numbers. 32 turned it off! Today I will listen to Led Zeppelin as well as Greta Van Fleet; King Princess and Joni Mitchell; Michael Jackson and Logic. But, I am not a BOOMER.
“Okay Boomer!”. How many times have I heard someone (yes, it could have been my own kids) saying this to me or someone close by? Funny thing is, I am not a Boomer by definition. Boomers are classified as being born between the years 1946–1964. I fall into the next classification, that of Generation X, and I love me some good Gen X tunes if you are into some classic punk music and Billy Idol’s beginnings… but I digress. Gen Xers are those born between 1965 and 1980. Who comes up with these classifications, anyway? I have way more in common with my siblings, two of whom would be called Boomers and one who is, like me, a Gen Xer, than I do with those born in 1980.
What’s common though to Boomers and Gen Xers? While we may not understand all the intricacies of the digital world we have been living in for the past two decades, we all know the importance of it. Some of us, more likely the Boomers than the Gen Xers, may take a while longer to come over to the Digital Side…but come over we all (or most) do.
Boomers and Gen Xers are going digital, whether they like it or not
No matter who you are or what you do for a living, we live in a digital era. You may not have a profile on social platforms, but you most likely interact digitally every day of your life.
With 94% of Canadians having Internet access and over 86% of us Canucks using a smartphone, seeing numbers like $25.4 BILLION of e-commerce revenue in Canada for 2019 and having $15 BILLION of that from sales on MOBILE DEVICES… is not surprising at all. Millennials lead on some technology adoption measures, but Boomers and Gen Xers have become heavy adopters as well.
Do your kids have TikTok, Instagram, Facebook? If they do, it’s more than likely your photo has been on one of these platforms whether or not you even know about it!
With the pandemic ”new normal”, who hasn’t been on a Zoom, Google Meet, or a Teams call for work? Even before the pandemic, family members living far apart were using video calls to connect with each other, Boomers and even older generations included.
But with those digital advances come some obstacles. If you roam online frequently, you have probably asked yourself questions like, what’s a cookie, anyway? Am I really being retargeted by companies that want to sell me their products (what does “retargeted” even mean)? Are my computer and phone listening to everything I say?
Let’s dig into some of these questions… for you Boomers (and Gen Xers) out there.
What’s a Cookie?
An HTTP cookie — usually just called a ‘cookie’ — is a simple computer file made of text. The information stored by cookies can be used to personalize the experience when using a website. The cookie is stored in the web browser on the Boomer’s computer. At some time in the future, the person may browse that website again and the cookie will help streamline that visit. Think about it like this Boomer: you go to check the weather on a weather information website (you know Boomers need an extra layer to keep warm at that age) and you put in your postal code or city to get the proper forecast. When you return to that site the next day, you will already be on the city or postal code that you have previously entered. That’s a cookie for you! Personally, I’m a fan of Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies… but these ‘cookies’ certainly can make your browsing experience better!
Why is that company following me online?
OK Boomer…do you ever feel like someone is tracking your internet activity and following you around the ‘net’? You know… you search for some new compression socks, don’t buy them, and then start seeing ads for those awesome socks everywhere you go on the internet? Well, you, my BOOMER friend, have been retargeted!
Briefly, and in Boomer friendly language: a small bit of code, called a pixel, drops a small cookie (remember what we just talked about like two minutes ago?) on each visitor to the website that visitor is browsing. With this cookie crumb in your pocket, you continue to travel around the internet and browse for a deal on prune juice or checking out what your kids are doing on Insta or FB (although it’s more likely they are on Snapchat or Tik Tok… Facebook is for old people nowadays).
So, you’ve found your dream pair of compression socks and then you fall asleep… It is after 3 pm and, well, we all know that is Boomer naptime. You wake up at 5 pm, make your dinner, watch the news, and are ready for bed by 9 pm. While unwinding in bed, you are catching up on the news online, and while scrolling through your daily dose of Trump and COVID-19, you see an ad come up for those awesome compression socks you were drooling over pre-nap time! How did they know I wanted those socks?
Needless to say, you click through that ad, buy the socks, and you have been successfully retargeted. A conversion has been made!
That is retargeting…and brands are doing it all day and every day across all kinds of devices. It works particularly well with you Boomers!
Is my device really listening to me? Coincidence… or not?
You have probably encountered this strange phenomenon: you are chatting with your spouse about buying compression socks, and the next time you get on Facebook you see an ad for compression socks from a nearby store. And you haven’t even started searching for compression socks! It can’t be retargeting… So what is it?
There are lots of theories out there about this issue. Some say it’s logically impossible and technology isn’t there just yet. Your microphone would have to be on constantly; audio data would have to be constantly streaming; the data would need to be stored and analyzed… all together, that adds up to some NASA-level shit on a $200 phone to serve a $2 ad? Doesn’t add up…
If this tech was readily available, crime would be eradicated overnight; evidence would be everywhere; think of the government-level use of this technology! Yet, it’s just Facebook using this tech to serve you an ad for compression socks… But think about it like this — how many things do you talk about in a single day? You change subjects every minute; you utter hundreds if not thousands of different words in a day. Obviously, there will be some coincidence that makes you stop and think, ‘hey, wait a minute here…’ why is it that these damn compression socks are the thing that my phone is listening to me talk about??
If you think you are being listened to, check out this article.
MAYBE IT’S JUST COINCIDENCE? Google the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon…
Boomers unite! You represent a huge presence and revenue value on the internet. Take some time to understand what is going on in the digital world. If you are unsure, ask your kids; ask your friends who maybe a couple of years younger, but their age puts them into Generation X, which obviously knows WAY MORE than you Boomers! Embrace technology. It’s here and it is not going away. Use it to improve your lives but make sure you are educated about the many pitfalls and dangers that are out there. As with all good things, there is a dark side to the World Wide Web. Maybe we will investigate that in my next post. Until then, goodnight Boomers…it’s after 9 PM. Boomer Bedtime.
