Boomers can’t be trusted with group chats

My neighbour – let’s call him John – is in a WhatsApp group with several of his former colleagues and friends. Like most such group chats, they share observations on current affairs and sport, the occasional meme, and comments on the ephemera of the moment. Last week, someone started a thread on that day’s drudgery, and the group’s participants began to outdo each other for the banal nature of the task in which they were engaged.   My neighbour’