- Millennials and baby boomers are handling the coronavirus pandemic in very different ways.
- Millennials are more stressed and staying indoors, trying to save money and make memes.
- Many baby boomers are trying to leave their homes to panic buy toilet paper and socialize with friends.
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The coronavirus pandemic has furthered the generational divide between millennials and baby boomers.
Not only is each group facing different risk levels for becoming ill with the coronavirus, they’re both handling the pandemic in different ways. Many millennials are holing up in their apartments with Netflix and their iPhones, while many boomers are still trying to play backgammon or have trivia night with their friends.
Millennials are feeling more stressed by the current state of things – and their socializing boomer parents – and are turning to memes to cope with it. Meanwhile, boomers are out panic buying goods like toilet paper.
The coronavirus is also sending the economy into the throes of a possible recession. It’s completely shaping the money habits of millennials, who are still scarred from the Great Recession, more so than baby boomers.
Here's how millennials and baby boomers are divided during the pandemic.
Baby boomers are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill.
People over 60 are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill than younger folks who don't have underlying health conditions (those who do have preexisting conditions are also at higher risk). Coronavirus risk increases with age, making people in their 80s and 90s at the highest risk.
According to a report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 death rates are highest among elderly groups. Those ages 60 to 79 have a 3.6% to 8% death rate, while those 20 to 39 have a 0.2% death rate.
But that doesn't mean young people are immune to the severities of the disease. Up to 20% of people hospitalized with the coronavirus in the US are young adults between ages 20 and 44, according to a CDC report issued last Wednesday, which analyzed about 2,500 coronavirus patients in the US. Consider the 26-year-old who works out six days a week and has no prior immune or respiratory conditions, but was recently hospitalized for the coronavirus, according to her account for The New York Times.
But just because a young adult isn't hospitalized - or feeling ill - doesn't mean they're not infected with the coronavirus. They could be an asymptomatic carrier, meaning they don't present any symptoms and therefore could unknowingly infect more high-risk people.
Millennials are staying inside, struggling to get their boomer parents to do the same.
Business Insider's Hayley Peterson spoke to several millennials who said they are worried about their parents' health and who voiced frustration in trying to convince them to stay inside. Jared, 31, told Peterson: "Literally was fighting with my mom this morning about her a) going to Atlantic City last weekend; b) going to another casino via bus this weekend; and c) a cruise in April she refuses to cancel."
Alessandra, 32, told Peterson her 67-year-old mother, who lives in a golf community in Florida, had recently refused to cancel trivia plans with 300 of her friends who had all traveled outside the US within the last three months.
Meanwhile, many millennials are staying locked up indoors. Although some scooped up cheap coronavirus flights in the beginning of the pandemic, many changed their tune as the crisis developed. Despite reports of millennials out partying and ignoring coronavirus warnings, it's largely Gen Z who is doing that.
"Millennials are not partying," tweeted National Review reporter Mairead McArdle. "We and our anxiety issues are holed up working from home, watching Hulu, and yelling at our parents not to go outside. It's Gen Z you want."
This reliance on technology could explain why it's easier for millennials to stay inside, whereas boomers are still looking to things like trivia nights to connect with friends.
That might explain why some millennials are more stressed about the coronavirus than boomers.
Millennial women are more anxious and stressed about the coronavirus than older generations, found a survey by media company Meredith. Two-thirds said they were worried about the pandemic, compared to nearly half of boomers.
Millennials aren't just worried about their parents becoming infected with the coronavirus, but of getting infected themselves. A survey from the consumer insights company STAANCE found that 53% of millennials were concerned about contracting the coronavirus, compared to 43% of baby boomers.
According to Kathleen A. Hughes for The Wall Street Journal, some boomers just don't feel their age and therefore don't feel at risk - even though many do fall into the high-risk category.
To deal with their stress, millennials are making memes while boomers are hoarding toilet paper.
The coronavirus outbreak has prompted many people to unnecessarily stock up on goods. Boomers in particular have been panic buying toilet paper and hoarding other supplies, despite governments and suppliers warning people not to do exactly that.
In response, millennials have taken to Twitter to make fun of hoarding boomers. It's a prime example of how millennials are turning to memes as a coping device during the pandemic.
"As we've adjusted to this strange new reality, in which many of us might not be allowed to leave our homes for weeks, we've channeled our anxieties over Covid-19 into classic internet humor," Aja Romano for Vox wrote.
But millennials have gotten flak for some of their more flippant meme approaches. Consider "boomer remover," which has become a coronavirus catchphrase among younger generations, reported Hannah Sparks for The New York Post. It originally took off on Reddit before infiltrating social media.
Millennials are moving their money around more than boomers are.
The coronavirus pandemic has sent the US economy plunging, sparking fears of a recession.
While those of all generations are concerned about the financial effects of the coronavirus, "millennials' behavior is changing more dramatically than any other generation," Greg Petro, CEO of retail analytics company First Insight, told CNBC's Lauren Thomas. "They are going to cut their spending."
A recent survey by Bankrate and YouGov also found that millennials have actively cut their spending more so than boomers. They're also more likely to make stock moves. According to the survey, 24% of millennials have contributed more to stock-related investments in response to stock market volatility, compared to 5% of boomers. And 15% of millennials were more likely to move money out of stocks, compared to 8% of boomers.