What It’s Really Like Living with a Younger Guy

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So, there’s a four-year gap between me and my boyfriend, Jake. I’m part of Generation X, while he identifies with Generation Y—though he totally debates me on that. I like to think of it as a generational divide, defined largely by when you first encountered the Internet.

Growing up, I was a child of the ’70s, even though I was just eight when the ’80s rolled in. The Muppets and Fantasy Island were a big part of my childhood, and I can’t simply dismiss them as if everything began with Ronald Reagan. I still remember the 1976 bicentennial parade in my Brooklyn neighborhood and how Grease was the first movie I ever saw in a theater—John Travolta was my first major crush, too.

While Jake was obsessed with movies like Goonies and Cloak & Dagger, I was busy fangirling over Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. I graduated from college into a recession, and when Reality Bites hit the scene, I felt it deeply as a recent grad trying to navigate life in a bustling city. Jake, still in high school at the time, saw it as aspirational—like how I viewed St. Elmo’s Fire. When Jake graduated, he stepped right into the dot-com boom, while I was still figuring things out.

I know the edges of generations are blurry, but I truly believe that technology separates X from Y. Sure, my peers were at the forefront of start-ups, but I was baffled by it all. I remember having drinks with a friend’s boyfriend back in ’94, asking him, “What is this World Wide Web thing? How do I even use it?” It’s one thing to see a wave coming, but another to dive into a world where the tide has already come in.

I didn’t even have email in college; I heard the term “electronic mail” just once during those four years. I was typing papers on my roommate’s ancient PC, while Jake’s high school was equipped with shiny Macintoshes. He was learning Excel and creating folders while I was still using a dot matrix printer to churn out my assignments.

One of us adapted to the digital age without breaking a sweat. Email, web searches, and chat rooms? Those were all new to me as an adult, while Jake got his email address right at freshman orientation, giving him the luxury of time to dive deep into the internet’s rabbit holes.

This difference also shows in our daily tasks. Jake has this sweet, naive trust that he won’t be hacked or scammed online. He happily snaps a photo of a check to deposit it through his bank’s app, while I still think it’s a bit too magical—why doesn’t the bank need the physical check? At Starbucks, he pays with his phone, while I stick to cash or debit, thinking: it can’t be that easy.

Jake embraces new technology without hesitation, while I tend to hesitate before diving in. He’s already digitized his music collection and sells off CDs, while I’m still figuring out my iTunes and avoiding the cloud. He organizes his thousands of photos on external hard drives, but mine are just scattered across my phone and laptop. My email inbox? It still has messages from 2004.

But hey, I’ve got Netflix streaming and I pay my bills automatically, so maybe one day I’ll be convinced to tap my phone for payments, too. Ah, the perks of dating a younger guy!

For more on parenting and family life, check out some of our other posts, like this one about home insemination. If you’re interested, you can also read about in vitro fertilization, a great resource for those considering pregnancy options. And if you’re looking for essential tools, check out this at-home insemination kit for more information.

In summary, living with a younger partner can bring about some amusing generational differences, especially when it comes to technology and cultural references. It’s a blend of nostalgia and new-age convenience that shapes our day-to-day lives.