Between the rise of AI, financial scams and fake news, the internet’s complex landscape is becoming harder for certain communities to navigate. For those born in post-WWII America, the digital learning curve has proven to be increasingly fraught, with Baby Boomers having a difficult time discerning what is real and what is fake.
Examples of Baby Boomers’ technological confusion have been cropping up all over the internet, but a recent viral TikTok on the subject has users considering the real and serious consequences for Boomers’ lack of media literacy.
On Jan. 2, 2025, TikTok user @funtanyl posted a video where the creator and his father observe an AI-generated landscape on their television screen. The creator’s father says, “I want to see where that is.”
The creator explains to his father that the image isn’t real, but his father doesn’t believe him, going to his computer to look up the location on Google Earth. Eventually, the creator asks, “Dad, why are you being so stubborn about this? You’re not going to find it.” The video concludes with the text “he obviously did not find it” on a black screen.
The caption of the TikTok explained how @funtanyl perceived the situation, stating: “I feel so badly for so many people who are out of their depth with this AI content. We’re all vulnerable to it at different levels I think but this is a particularly insane example of it. I hear Facebook is also full of baby boomers completely gullible to AI content and it’s really sad how unequipped for this media landscape and how vulnerable so many people are to it as well.”
@funtanyl I feel so badly for so many people who are out of their depth with this AI content. We’re all vulnerable to it at different levels i think but this is a particularly insane example of it. I hear facebook is also full of baby boomers completely guilble to AI content and it’s really sad how unequiped for this media landscape and how vulnerable so many people are to it as wel.
♬ original sound – funtanyl
The video received 2.8 million views, over 400,000 likes, and over seven thousand comments about Boomers’ lack of media literacy, including “get this man in Congress immediately,” “they get SO MAD when you point it out,” and “those are our bosses smh.”
Many of the comments reflected the attitude shift Boomers have had toward online information. “How did they go from ‘don’t believe everything you see online’ to believing literally EVERYTHING they see online?” Commented user @BeauNerr.
Still others shared their personal stories of Boomer misinformation “My dad sends me ‘amazing semi driver’ videos where a 20 trailer long semi u turns on a dime. it’s clearly a video game,” commented @pistola8383.
“My mother showed me this obscene house she saw that she just loved! Would not believe when I instantly said AI. One simple zoom and you’ve got chairs with 3 legs and all sorts of other distortions,” said another commenter. “Like, ma’am, you’re a doctor.”
‘But your aunt’s neighbor’s cousin saw it on Facebook’
Hours after posting, @funtanyl‘s TikTok was shared by Redditor Elonmuskatemyson in the r/BoomersBeingFools subreddit, facilitating more examples and discussion of Baby Boomers’ relationship to digital media. “The fucking ‘don’t trust everything you read’ generation turned into the ‘But your aunt’s neighbor’s cousin saw it on Facebook,” said Redditor TheRealtcSpears.
The thread also touched upon relationships that had been severed due to users’ family members’ ability to be misinformed. “This is the entire reason why I went no contact with my boomer mother for 3 years and counting,” said Redditor Riyeko, with user LordAronsworth agreeing. “This is was the last straw that led me go no contact with my father.”
What does ‘Boomer’s media literacy is deep fried’ mean?
The term suggests that Baby Boomers have a skewed and out-of-touch relationship with online information. The phrase refers to “deep frying” a meme online, which means to distort it for humor and entertainment purposes.
@stewiegriffin09 #deepfried #memedeepfryer ♬ original sound – Apples
‘Relative newcomers to social media’
In an analysis by researchers at New York and Princeton Universities reported by The Verge, Boomers share more fake news than their younger counterparts regardless of education, sex, race, income or political affiliation.
“Cognitive declines cannot fully explain older adults’ engagement with fake news. Late adulthood also involves social changes, including greater trust, difficulty detecting lies, and less emphasis on accuracy when communicating,” the study’s abstract explains.
“Older adults are relative newcomers to social media and may struggle to spot sponsored content or manipulated images.”
‘I Fell for that S*it’
While @funtanyl‘s video is an example of how Boomers can fall for misinformation and computer-generated AI, other groups and ages are also susceptible as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. In an age of online illusion, it’s important to be aware of who—or what—is generating the information users believe in and rely on.
@philedwithsomethin ♬ original sound – phil
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