Mom With PhD in Pharmacology Incapable of Grasping the Concept of Two-Factor Authentication

Text me a code? Why do they want to text me? 

June 1, 2022

By: Julia Zhen

Dr. Du was once again stumped by Capital One when the website prompted her to enter the code sent to her phone. 

“Text me a code? Why do they want to text me? I’m pretty sure only my children are able to send texts to me,” explained Dr. Du. “Didn’t I already verify my identity with my username: du1964 and password: dairy.”

Dr. Du’s daughter, Mary Du, was frustrated that her mother was still so incapable of understanding the simple concept of two-factor authentication. 

“She can tell you what the long term effects of benzodiazepines are on individuals aged 16 through 28, but the minute you ask her to copy and paste a code? You might as well have asked her how to build a boat while making bagels simultaneously.” 

Nina Forrest, expert on the intersectionality of Boomers and Technology, describes the phenomenon as “lack of common sense.” 

“Baby Boomers are some of the most knowledgeable people in the world right now. Their time in higher education plus their vast work experience lends to their expansive intelligence. But we’ve done many tests on Boomers, and they seem to have a dark spot in their brains where common sense is most often generated. This means that Boomers have deficiencies in areas such as grasping two-factor authentication, changing the HDMI input on televisions, and in some more serious cases, how to properly talk to service workers during a Friday night dinner rush when you did not make a reservation but insist on getting your group of 8 seated immediately.” 

Forrest, however, has indicated that an effective remedy for this issue is for Boomers to continue to call their children and ask them to solve the problem for them.