​Technology

I love my parents.  I really do.  But as they have gotten older, I realize that I need to work on my patience.  If you have elderly parents who are technologically challenged, I’m pretty sure you know what I mean.
 
A few years ago, my brother gave my mother a smart phone.  He didn’t get her an iPhone like he had.  No, he got her a Galaxy and told her that I had the same kind.  Thanks a lot!  To my mom’s credit, she wasn’t afraid to use her phone.  She figured out how to text.  In fact, you have no idea how many “This is a test.” texts I received.  After a while, I wanted to scream, “You got it down now!  Stop texting ‘This is a test.’!”  After she got texting down, she figured out how to use emojis.  Lots of emojis.  She became the emoji queen.  And I must add, she takes a selfie better than I do.  She needs to show me her technique.  
 
When my brother got mom a laptop (my father has a desktop), I started receiving the dreaded calls from both my mom and dad:   “What does this mean?”  “Why is my computer doing this?”  I tried to help the best I could.  But you know, truth be told, I just can’t see through the phone.  Someone needs to actually read me the words on the computer screen.  After one of them would  read the message to me, I'd try to resolve their issue over the phone.  God help me, I do try.  But sometimes I really don’t have the patience to try to figure it out.  And it really doesn’t matter.  Once I fix or solve one problem, another one pops us.  It can get frustrating.  To be fair, it has gotten better.  At least now when she calls, my mom will mention that she already tried to google the answer before calling me.  
 
You may be wondering what this have to do with anything?  Well, today, I spent a long time on the phone helping my mom register online and pay for a weekend course.  It would have been much faster if I did it myself, but she didn't want to read me her credit card number over the phone.  Fair enough.  I can understand that.  After about what seemed to be 20 hours (but was probably only 30 minutes), we were done.  Honestly, by that time I felt like I needed a drink.  I’m sure my mom felt like she could have used a hot tea.  She doesn’t drink.  Later, mom and I both laughed over our mutual frustrations, and I mentioned to her that I wonder what it will be like when I’m older and my kids have to help me with technology.  Will they have the patience to do it?  What will technology even look like 30 years from now?  I also told her that I was going to write a blog entry when we hung up.  She jokingly said that I have something to write about.  Boy was she right!
 
Technology is rapidly changing.  I’m not that old, but even now, sometimes when my kids talk about different things, I have no idea what they are talking about.  I ask questions and they’ll patiently explain what the app is and how it is used, but damn … sometimes I feel old.  Is this how my parents feel?  Do my kids think I’m old?  I mean, I know they do. My daughter once told me that Facebook was for old people.  Really?  I’m not just ready to claim it yet.  
 
So, if you have kids, stay current with social media and anything else technology related, so your kids won’t think your old and outdated.  
 
So, now you know, and you can … Consider Yourself Warned!
 
If you have kids, how are you staying current with technology and all the different social media platforms?