Last Saturday at the farmers market, I watched three different parents trying to pay the same vendor.
The first pulled out her phone and tapped it against the reader without even looking up from her conversation. The second fumbled through Apple Pay while apologizing. The third dug through her purse for exact cash and seemed genuinely confused when the vendor said, “I take Venmo.”
That’s when it hit me—our relationship with devices tells a story about when we came of age.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I work from my kitchen table, writing while Milo naps and Ellie does puzzles at the art corner.
Matt and I make a point of having device-free connection time every evening, but I still find myself reaching for my phone more than I’d like. And honestly? The way I use it—the apps I open, the way I type, even how I hold it—marks me pretty clearly as a millennial.
Here’s what I’ve noticed about how our habits reveal our generation.
1) Phone calls feel different across ages
Want to know someone’s generation instantly? Watch what happens when their phone actually rings.
My parents answer on the first ring, no matter who’s calling. They’ll pick up unknown numbers without hesitation. Meanwhile, I let it go to voicemail unless it’s someone I know, and even then I’m mentally preparing myself before answering.
But my younger mom friends? The ones in their mid-twenties? They look at a ringing phone like it’s a snake. They’d rather walk through fire than answer an unexpected call.
Younger adults increasingly prefer text-based communication over voice calls, with this preference becoming more pronounced with each generation.
This isn’t about being rude—it’s about what feels natural. Boomers grew up when phones were for talking. Gen Z grew up when phones were for everything but talking.
I’m somewhere in between, which pretty much sums up the millennial experience.
2) Punctuation in texts means something
This is a big one.
Boomers use periods like they learned in school—at the end of sentences, always. Millennials use them for emphasis or when we’re irritated. Gen Z barely uses them at all, except ironically.
Then there’s the whole emoji situation. My mom sends me strings of emojis that don’t quite make sense, using them like decorative punctuation. I use them sparingly, usually just the basics. My younger sister uses them as an entire language, and somehow I understand exactly what three skull emojis mean.
Capitalization tells a story too. I still capitalize the beginning of sentences out of habit from teaching kindergarten for seven years. Gen Z types in all lowercase because…I don’t know, it feels more authentic? Boomers capitalize randomly, Often In The Middle of sentences for reasons I can’t quite figure out.
3) The platforms we choose say everything
Last month, someone asked me to follow them on TikTok. I had to admit I barely use it—I’m still over on Instagram.
My parents are on Facebook, posting long status updates about their day and sharing articles with headlines they didn’t read all the way through. They’re genuinely baffled that I’m not on there anymore.
Gen Z isn’t on Facebook at all. They’re on TikTok, and platforms I probably don’t even know about yet.
Millennials like me are kind of stuck between worlds. We were there for the birth of social media, but we’re not always keeping up with where it’s going. I’m building an online community of natural parenting families, but I’m doing it through blogs and newsletters—basically the millennial version of reaching out.
4) How we store photos reveals our age
Here’s something I’ve noticed: my mom has printed photo albums. Like, actual physical books you can flip through.
I have 10,000 photos on my phone that I keep meaning to organize. I’ve started maybe fifteen different photo books online and finished none of them. The photos from Milo’s first year? Somewhere in the cloud, I think.
Gen Z doesn’t print photos at all—they’re taking pictures for stories that disappear in 24 hours anyway. The photo isn’t meant to be permanent. It’s meant to be a moment.
Boomers want permanence. They want photos they can touch, albums they can pass down. Millennials want both but achieve neither. We have thousands of digital memories we’ll probably never look at again, and a vague guilt about not printing them.
5) We search for information differently
When I need to know something, I Google it. Full sentences, usually. “How to get crayon out of upholstery” or “is it normal for toddlers to climb everything.”
My dad calls and asks me to look it up for him, even though he has a smartphone. He’s not entirely sure how the search function works, or maybe he just likes having a reason to call.
Gen Z doesn’t even use Google the same way. They search on TikTok. They ask social media. They crowdsource answers in real time through their communities.
The shift makes sense when you think about it—Boomers learned research through encyclopedias and libraries. Millennials learned it through search engines and wikis. Gen Z learned it through algorithm-fed videos and community knowledge.
6) Customer service approaches are generational
Last week, I needed to return something I bought online. My instinct? Find the chat function. Type out my issue. Wait for a response while I fold laundry and make lunch.
My mom would have called the customer service number immediately. She’d have waited on hold without complaint, talked to a real person, probably gotten their name and thanked them sincerely.
Gen Z, I’d imagine, wouldn’t have called or chatted. They’d have DMed the company on social media or posted a comment expecting a response there.
It’s not that any way is better—it’s just that we each reach for the tool that feels most natural. And that tool reveals exactly when we came of age in the digital world.
7) Screen time guilt hits different
This one’s close to home for me. I write about low-screen living, I value presence and slowness, and I still feel that pull toward my phone constantly.
But here’s what I’ve noticed—the guilt is different across generations.
Boomers don’t really have screen time guilt. They watch TV for hours without a second thought. Screens were neutral to them growing up, just another appliance.
Millennials like me? We’re drowning in guilt about it. We know too much about dopamine hits and attention spans. We grew up before smartphones and remember what life felt like without them. We’re trying to give our kids something we had, while also using devices that didn’t exist in our childhood.
Gen Z doesn’t seem to have the same guilt perhaps because they can’t remember a before. Screens have always been part of their world. They appear more concerned with how they use screens than how much.
Final thoughts
None of these habits make one generation better than another. They’re just different languages we speak—different ways we’ve adapted to technology based on when we encountered it.
The farmers market mom with the contactless payment? The one with Apple Pay? The one with cash? They all got their vegetables in the end. Just took different paths to get there.
And maybe that’s the point—we’re all just trying to navigate this weird, wonderful, sometimes overwhelming digital world in whatever way feels right to us.
