Do You Solve Problems More Like a Baby Boomer or a Millennial?

By: Elisabeth Henderson
Estimated Completion Time
9 min
Do You Solve Problems More Like a Baby Boomer or a Millennial?
Image: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / DigitalVision / Getty Images

About This Quiz

Baby boomers and millennials perpetually argue over which generation has the moral upper hand. The baby boomers, born between 1946 and1964, rose out of the generation that fought World War II and reflect the fruits of hard work, peace and prosperity. Millennials, born from 1981to1996, were raised in a prosperous America that crashed when they were reaching adulthood. 

The millennial generation’s difficulty in gaining the kind of stability valued by boomers provides ample fodder for the post-World War II generation to lambast them for their lack of work ethic. Millennials, on the other hand, throw punches right back by blaming the broken economy and warming planet on the greed and neglect of baby boomers. 

Fighting memes aside, how do these opposing generations make decisions about day-to-day problems? Does the environment in which we’re raised really shape the way we make decisions? Recent studies, like that of Pew Social Trends, show that these groups do make demonstrably different decisions on a broad spectrum of choices, from buying a home to food consumption. 

On what do you base your decisions? Do you research reviews online, or look to the Better Business Bureau when searching for an electrician? Do you consider quality of life or economic stability as more important? Do you fit with your generation? Are you old fashioned or forward-thinking? Find out where your decisions place you by taking this quiz! 

Business Meeting
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Your boss calls you in and informs you that your work is not up to par lately. How do you behave at work after that?
I get serious and put my nose to the grindstone.
I start looking for other employment and slack off at work
I try to fix the issue but consider whether I’m in the right job
I talk to colleagues about whether the boss’ perception is correct

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Water Droplet
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Your water bill indicates a major leak in your home. How do you go about fixing it?
Ask for recommendations from friends for a good plumber
Find a plumber online who has good reviews
I'll ask for recommendations from friends, then check their reviews online.
Look up videos online on how to fix a leak and try it out

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College studying
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You have class tomorrow and you don’t have the book you are supposed to read. What will you do about the homework?
Go to a library to try to find the book and read it
Look online for an excerpt from the book and skim it
Ask a friend if they have the book and borrow it or read it together
Try to purchase an e-book and read the homework

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watching show on laptop
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Your internet stopped working in the middle of your show. How do you avoid freaking out?
Read the paper instead
Frantically try to fix the internet by unplugging and replugging it
Watch it on my phone using my data
Read a book instead

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Write check
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You need to pay a medical bill that arrived in the mail. How will you first try to pay it?
I’ll mail in a check.
I’ll see if there’s an online payment option.
I’ll call and use my credit card.
I’ll use PayPal.

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city hotel room
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If you had to move to a new city with only a two-week notice, how would you find a place to rent?
If I had friends in the city, I’d call them and ask them to help me find a place.
I would look on an online site and find a place in an interesting neighborhood.
I’d find a realtor online and enlist their help.
I’d find a place online and ask friends to go check it out.

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Changing flat tire
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When you were driving home from a friend’s house, your tire went out and left you stranded. What can you do to get off the side of the road?
Get the spare out of the trunk and change the tire
Call an Uber
Text my friends to see if anyone can come to help me
Get out my owner’s manual and see if I can figure out how to change it

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Toilet
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It’s two hours before the house party starts, and your toilet just broke. How can you fix it in an emergency?
Go to a hardware store, get the part and fix it
Call my parents and ask them what to do
Search for a video tutorial and do what it says
Order a part for express delivery online and try to fix it

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Hiking in the woods
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While on a hike in the woods, you sprain your ankle pretty badly. How do you get home?
Walk through the pain
Text a friend to come walk me down
Look up emergency first-aid on my phone
Use my first-aid skills, wrap my ankle and walk down

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Overloaded power adapter
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When you plug too many things in an outlet and the power goes out in your house, what’s the first step you take to fix it?
Check the breaker
Call my parents
Search on my phone for steps to fix an electric outage
Try to remember how my parents fixed electrical issues

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Job interview
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You just graduated from college and don’t have a job yet. What kind of work will you look for?
Something that will pay well
Something that enables me to make a difference in the world
Something that pays pretty well and is interesting
Something that will pay enough to let me travel frequently

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Dinner party
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You’re planning a dinner party, but you haven’t figured out what to cook yet. How will you find something delicious to make?
Flip through my cookbooks
Go online and search for “dinner party meals”
Read through some food blogs until I find something intriguing
Get a tried and true recipe from a friend

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Smiling dog
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The street you live on has many stray dogs wandering around. What are you likely to do about them?
Call animal control to come to pick them up
Leave food and water out for them
Try to figure out who the owners are, and then call animal control
Carry a big stick when I go walking

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Exterminator
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After living in a rented home for a few months, you realize the place is crawling with fleas. How will you deal with the "occupants"?
Call pest control to spray the house as many times as I need to
Try an herbal remedy
Start with an organic treatment, but if that doesn’t work, use poison
Just move out

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Colleagues brainstorming
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You have been asked to lead a conversation about a topic that you really don’t know that much about. How are you going to prepare?
Call a friend who’s an expert and try to learn about it from them
Look up some video tutorials
Look it up in some online encyclopedias
Take notes while watching an online tutorial

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Hotel room two beds
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You and your friend are splitting a hotel room. You made the reservations and paid online. How will they pay you back?
I’ll ask them to write me a check.
I’ll use a digital payment option.
I’ll suggest that they buy the meals.
They’ll get me back to that hotel one day.

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Blows leaves
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You’re finally in your own home, but you realize your neighbor always blows their leaves into your driveway. What approach will you take to address this annoyance?
Blow the leaves back into their driveway
Ask them if we can talk about the way we share space
Contact the homeowners' association and see if they will penalize the neighbor
Try not to let it bother me

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Twin Sisters
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Your sibling is in a relationship that’s really damaging to them as a person. What kind of intervention will you make?
Let them figure it out
Call them and have a long and serious conversation
Text them and offer to help if they need you
Talk to other members of your family to find a way to help

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Longboarding
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While trying to learn how to ride a long board on a Saturday night, you wipe out and are pretty sure you dislocated your shoulder. How are you going to take care of it?
I’ll go to the emergency room since I have good insurance.
Since I don’t have insurance, I’ll ask if my friend knows how to set a shoulder.
I’ll take some pain killers tonight and go to my doctor on Monday morning.
I’ll look for an urgent care clinic that’s still open.

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Man watering plants
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You need to ask the folks you hired to landscape your yard to make some changes, but they only speak Spanish. How can you communicate with them?
I’ll get my friend who speaks Spanish to come over to talk to them.
I’ll just ask them in Spanish.
I’ll look up a translation online.
I’ll pull out my old Spanish textbook and try to have a conversation.

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Friends walking into a movie
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While you are driving to see a movie with friends, you realize that you don’t have your phone with you. What do you do?
Who cares? I'll just go to the movie.
Turn around to get it
Decide I can use my friend’s phone if I need to
Use it as an opportunity to practice detachment from my phone

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Hiking compass
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If you were out hiking on a new trail and got turned around, what would you do?
Find the sun and use that to determine in which direction to go
Use the map application on my phone to find my way out
Try to remember which way I came in and retrace my steps
Use the map I picked up when I walked in

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School teacher
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If you moved to a new city and needed to find a school for your kids, how would you go about doing that?
Figure out where the neighborhood school is and send them there
Research all the public and private schools and co-ops and send each child where they best fit
See if there are any specialized charter schools in the area
Just keep them at home for the year as we transition

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tomato plant
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You have been growing tomatoes in a container, but they recently stopped producing fruit. How will you troubleshoot?
I’ll look at the almanac to find common tomato problems.
I’ll put in my problem as an internet search term.
I’ll look for an entry in the gardening blog I follow.
I’ll talk to my neighbor who gardens.

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Packing for a trip
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When you are getting ready to leave on a trip, how do you decide how to dress for the weather?
I’ll ask the friend I’m visiting how the weather is.
I’ll look up the city I’m visiting on my weather app.
I’ll look up the national weather radar online.
I usually forget to check the weather.

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Party shopping
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You are planning a party and have as huge list of things to get at the store. How do you keep track of everything?
I write it all out on a list and check off items that I’ve gotten.
I keep a list on my phone.
I order everything for curbside delivery and check my list as I go.
I have a good memory, so I’ll just go to the store.

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Black cat
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A little black kitten is crying in the tree in your front yard. How will you respond to its cries?
Black cats are bad luck, so I’ll just leave it up there.
I’ll climb up and get it.
I may search online for the best way to get a cat out of a tree.
I’ll call the fire department to get it down.

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Family arguement
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A big family holiday is coming up, and your family is fiercely politically divided. How will you handle the tension?
Avoid the topic entirely
Bring it up and try to have a civil conversation
Tip-toe around the subject, but don’t engage in serious conversation
Smile and nod

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Garage sale junk
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Your neighbor constantly finds things for you at the flea market that you don’t really want. How will you respond to their charity?
Take it and thank them each time
Have a conversation and be transparent about why you don’t feel you need those things
Drop hints about how you have too much stuff already
Start finding random things to give them

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Sugar overload
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Your in-laws load your children with sugar each time they visit. What is your response to the sugar overload?
That’s OK, it’s the grandparents’ job to spoil the grandkids.
Have a talk with them about how we try to avoid sugar
Try to let them know subtly that we don’t really like giving the kids so much sugar
We may ask them to visit less often, but we won’t say anything about it.

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