Enuf with the AI

If you do any sort of email blasts and/or marketing, you are most likely getting inundated with entreaties to use A.I. to create your message. Really. Really?? How does that work? Does A.I. know what I want to say? Will A.I. read my mind? Can A.I. write an essay or fiction that somehow represents what is in my brain?

Here’s some samples of what A.I. promises:

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I’m tempted to take them up on it just to see what an A.I. robot would come up with, but the downside is it could be brilliant, albeit way off topic. So just for the hell of it, I asked ChatGPT to give me a blog post about the trials of being a baby boomer. Result? Decent. It combed the internet and discussed how we’ve gone from stability to uncertainty and struggle to keep up with relentless technology as well as ageism in the workplace.

So yes, by absorbing anything ever written about baby boomers, it produced a darn good summary of the challenges we face. By the way, it did it in about 20 seconds which was equally impressive.

But – a huge caveat here – it wasn’t what I was thinking. It wasn’t my viewpoint. It wasn’t the work of my brain. It was a mechanized harvest of what thousands of people on the internet and elsewhere had written on the topic. And don’t forget, some of us consider much of this harvesting to be theft. If you create any type of art, you must already be aware that A.I. may steal it.

If that wasn’t sad enough for me, I’m writing this on the same day that the New York Times ran an op-ed about the suicidal young woman who used a ChatGPT A.I. therapist called Harry. It did not end well.

A.I. most likely has a brilliant future ahead, but it will be of no use to me when it comes to producing BoomSpeak, writing original content, or featuring other baby boomer authors. We may have to add a line to our submission requirements stating that A.I. produced work cannot and will not be accepted.

As Walter Cronkite used to say, “And that’s the way it is.”

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Boomer Panic

Have you heard about Boomer panic? Really. It’s apparently a thing. Someone coined the phrase when a Lowes hardware cashier was tagged on TikTok for getting all screechy and panicked when faced with dowels that did not have price tags.

That’s how these memes start. A baby boomer is called out for “boomer panic” which in turn becomes a condition the entire internet can jump on and voice their concurring opinion. Then the amateur psychoanalysis begins.

Here’s a direct quote from a commenter: “Boomers grew up when they had to bottle up their feelings to show their resilience. This can lead to growing anger, frustration with situations and people, chronic stress, and anxiety—all conditions that can lead to panicky, unhinged behavior.”

Another commenter opined “From conversations with my mother, they weren’t allowed to make mistakes and were harshly punished if they did.”

Holy cow! We really had it bad and we’re so effed up that we’re still paying for it today. Fear not, however, because experts (using that term loosely) advise younger generations to sympathize with boomers who are unable to regulate their emotions. Phew! I thought we were done for but apparently it’s all the fault of our parents. They never taught us how to regulate our emotions.

The irony here is that if you spend any time watching Instagram or Facebook videos posted by GenXers, Millennials or GenZers, it’s very clear that many of them (not going to generalize here) are totally clueless about how regulate their emotions and should not be held up as proof that they had better (i.e. less effed up parenting) emotional balance.

I would put my clueless parents up against any of today’s clueless parents and we’ll see who is more emotionally well-balanced. Wait a second. It’s too late! Now I really am panicking! The amateur psychologists may be right.

Nah. This boomer panic thing isn’t really a thing. It’s just a manifestation of younger gens watching entirely too many TikTok videos and coming up with dumb conclusions. Maybe they would be better off reading the classics and analyzing why Macbeth’s mother found it so easy to manipulate him. Bet you he would be a riot buying dowels at Lowes.

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that's not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Get Some Sleep

Am I the only baby boomer wandering around at 3:30 in the morning? I don’t think so. Apparently baby boomers are more susceptible to sleep apnea at this stage of their lives. If your blood pressure has been dropping and you’re tired all the time, or (you’ll love this one!) you stop breathing momentarily in your sleep, you should see a doctor.

Insomnia and sleep apnea occur more often as you get a bit older and heavier. Things get flabby and the parts start to loosen up – like your airways!! Yikes.

If none of these symptoms hit home, maybe you’re just as stressed out as the rest of us who are awake in the early hours. According to those who measure things, about three fourths of baby boomers surveyed say that they get less than eight hours of sleep a night, and one in six has difficulty falling asleep. You made it through crying infants and out–all-night teenagers and now this?

Just the noise of the cat puking in the living room can wake you from a sound sleep. Then as long as you’re up cleaning the floor you might as well get a glass of water. And after the water it only makes sense to go to the bathroom. Maybe then it’s a good time to plan that fantasy trip to the Greek Islands. Should you go with two or three days in London on the way to Athens? Has anyone sent you email in the middle of the night? You never know. If I’m up they could be up. It’s only midnight in LA…but they go to bed at 8 pm don’t they? You could get off the computer and go out on the sofa to watch TV. Home improvement shows are perfect for putting you to sleep. You start watching Amy the carpenter on Sweat Equity reruns and wake up twenty minutes later with drool on your chin (sorry about that Amy).

All the health gurus say you should get eight hours of sleep but what if you never slept that much? What if you’ve been getting by for years on six hours?

I’d like to help you with this problem, but I’m going back to bed.

(This is a Best of BoomSpeak post from some time around 2014)

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.