When 21-year-old Ryan Marcantonio walked by a bright yellow payphone on Boston University鈥檚 campus, he nearly stopped in his tracks.
The junior economics major said he鈥檚 compiling a list of all the payphones in Boston, but hadn鈥檛 seen this one before. This phone, located outside a Pavement Coffeehouse, isn鈥檛 a normal payphone. Blue letters emblazoned on the side read, 鈥渃all a boomer,鈥� and that鈥檚 exactly what it does.
installed it as part of a social experiment aiming to bridge the gap between members of Generation Z in their teens and 20s and baby boomers in their 60s to age 80.
鈥溾�奍 think in a way it鈥檚 a provocation to say, 鈥楬ey, this is something to think about,鈥欌�� said Ben Goldhirsh, a co-founder of Matter Neuroscience. 鈥淟ike, 鈥楢re you finding yourself in a situation where you are connecting with other people? Are you finding yourself in an environment where you鈥檙e being nurtured?鈥�
When Marcantonio picked up the phone on BU鈥檚 campus, it rang a few times, then 73-year-old Maria Jaynes answered. Jaynes lives in Reno, Nevada, at a 鈥奦olunteers of America senior affordable housing community. The payphone inside the senior center looks similar to the one in Boston, but instead, it reads 鈥渃all a zoomer.鈥�
Marcantonio and Jaynes talk about the weather, comparing the 20-degree chill in Boston to the 80-degree-and-sunny forecast in Reno. Marcantonio asks Jaynes what activities the senior center has planned for the week, and Jaynes tells him she likes playing bingo, doing puzzles and watching movies.
Jaynes said she likes cowboy-Western movies 鈥� she grew up in Texas, so these stories feel familiar to her. Marcantonio is from rural Connecticut, and he said he grew up around horses and cattle, too. He recommends a movie to her: 鈥淭he Heat,鈥� a comedy set in Boston.
They talk about Marcantonio鈥檚 exams and how he spent his spring break visiting his grandmother, playing bingo and going bowling. He鈥檚 close with his grandparents and tells Jaynes that his grandfather likes to stay busy working around the house. She says she feels the same.
鈥淚鈥檓 73, but I still work,鈥� she tells him. 鈥淚 enjoy working. I enjoy staying busy, active, moving and doing things.鈥�
Before they hang up, Jaynes tells Marcantonio, 鈥淚t鈥檚 so wonderful talking to you.鈥�
After their call, Marcantonio said that when he initially picked up the phone, he thought of his grandmother.
鈥溾�奍 know, especially older people, like my grandmother, they don鈥檛 have many people around,鈥� Marcantonio said. 鈥淎nd talking to someone just makes their day.鈥�
Heather Bolen, who works at the senior center in Reno, said she鈥檚 seen that in action.
鈥淪ometimes just that acknowledgement, that few minutes of just interacting with somebody can make their day,鈥� Bolen said. 鈥淚t does not take much at all.鈥�
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