CHICAGO — A new study on aging and social connections revealed that growing numbers of Boomers report feeling a deeper bond with their leaf blower than with their adult children.
“Just a decade ago, less than 5% of Baby Boomers listed their leaf blower as one of the top three possessions with which or people with whom they have a rich and satisfying emotional bond,” said lead researcher and DePaul University Psychology professor Noelle Flannery. “But the 2025 study results confirm that a major shift has occurred. Now, over a third of Americans between the ages of 61 and 79 afford their leaf blower a spot on that list and almost a quarter of those surveyed ranked their leaf blowers above their adult children. Many of these Boomers are even starting to cut their children out of their wills and leaving all their possessions to their garage tools.”
Deborah Karensky, a Gen X adult child of one such leaf blower-obsessed Boomer, was not surprised by the study’s findings.
“My dad has stopped trusting anyone who isn’t a right-wing talk radio personality and he only seems to enjoy spending time with motorized landscaping tools. It’s pathetic, but I know he’d rank me under his leaf blower and his riding mower, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was also edged out by his new weed-wacker,” Karensky said. “I could be bitter about that, but I mainly just feel sorry for him, especially now that winter has brought an end to peak lawn care season.”
Adjunct Professor of Social Psychology Joseph Warner agreed that the data offers a bleak snapshot of the loneliness epidemic plaguing many American Boomers, but he also tried to find a glimmer of hope in the results.
“I may start leaving hardware store flyers with ads for leaf blowers lying around the faculty office. Perhaps a few of my Boomer colleagues will crave this type of bizarre emotional bond and finally retire so I could have an outside shot at a tenure track position rather than earning poverty wages teaching classes at two research universities and a community college,” Warner said. “Maybe I’ll even try to force the issue by working a weekend gig at Lowe’s to get their employee discount to buy some of those Boomer colleagues leaf blowers as presents.”
At press time, Flannery predicted that 2026 would see a surge in the number of Boomers requesting that their leaf blower, rather than any of their adult children, deliver their funeral eulogies.
