Can you hear me like this ?!

The drama called parents and technology

Parents and technology, a difficult combination. We can’t even blame the poor things, they only started messing with ‘mobile’ or ‘GSMs’ or ’06-ers’ in their 40s, and we on the other hand have grown up with these things. The result is that we end up giving hour long explanatory sessions and get called considerably more often after one of ’those machines’ are purchased, by desperate fathers and mothers because IT’S NOT WORKING ANYMORE.

When I called my father this morning to ask if he felt like making his debut on Amayzine, I got a resounding yes. “Okay dad, can you take a photo of yourself with your iPhone?” “Okay, but, but how?” “With the camera maybe?” [silence] “Oh, okay. Yes, yes. So I take the photo first then plug the camera in the computer and then send it to you. Okay.” “Exactly. You’ve got all day so don’t worry.”  Jet’s mother also has difficulties with the phenomenon called ‘selfie’, and she more often than not receives photos of mom’s forehead in her inbox. Every time. It’s difficult.

If they don’t know how to do something, then it has to be broken. It’s never their capabilities, always the fault of the machine. Or your fault, because you specifically always break it. My dad get’s totally distressed when I’ve checked my Facebook on his computer and forget to log him back in, “who are all these people? Why am I seeing photos of people that I don’t know?” The poor soul had no idea that he was scrolling through my feed for the last few days. 

Someone. It doesn’t matter who. Could have been the neighbour, the waiter, the cat or even the pot plant, it is always someone else that has been touching it and that is why “IT’S NOT WORKING ANYMORE.”

This one is especially common if you still live at home.

Sometimes it really is broken. If you say so, you get the immediate order to fix it “because you’re young and you know how.”

But even we cannot fix everything, which causes total short circuit in the parental brain. We were in Italy recently and he couldn’t charge his iPod anymore. I had to fix it of course but hello, what do I know about chargers? His indignation soon turned to deep disappointment and then soon the question followed “WHO BROKE IT?”

Maybe you do know a solution, and then you try explaining it. Every question you pose to The Parent is then answered with “I don’t know.” Don’t try explaining over the phone, big mistake. You get this situation:

“Dad, see the icon on your screen in the top right hand corner?”

“I don’t know”

“Okay…Is your sim-card in correctly?”

“My sim-card? Can it come out? Where is it? I don’t know.”

“Turn it on and off and then call me back.”

“On? Off? I don’t know how to.”

“The button on the top of you phone, do you see it?”

“I don’t know.”

When A Parent purchases a new item, be very careful when they call. The chance is great that they’ll need you to come by to repair something. I do need to add that my dad has become quite self sufficient as you can see by the photo on top of this post, he now has a super handy guidebook to tame his iPhone.

Try explaining to your dad that if you post something on Facebook from your living room, theoretically the whole world can see it. I remember some chat conversations we had, he then decided he was rather going to call back on a phone “in case someone was looking.”

A classic, my father has thankfully surpassed this phase. Calling nan and grampy always starts with a very loud CAN YOU HEAR ME LIKE THIS?!