Years ago, I received my very first iPod as a birthday present. My daughter, who was 12 at the time, had gotten one just a few months earlier and kindly offered to set it up for me. I appreciated her sweet gesture and gladly accepted her help.
You know that saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”? Well, my daughter handed me that first fish, and here I am, still floundering in the tech sea.
To the outside world, I seem like a fully-fledged member of the digital age. I work on an iMac, communicate via an iPhone, and read eBooks on an iPad. However, the reality is that I often feel like I’m just pretending. Whenever something goes wrong with my devices, my children become my go-to tech support.
On a weekly basis, my computer slows down, prompting me to summon one of my kids for assistance. “Mom!” my daughter often exclaims, “How many windows have you opened? You need to close them!” I always think I’ve done so, but apparently, I haven’t. Sometimes my toolbar mysteriously vanishes, and I stare at the screen in bewilderment until my son strolls in for a snack. A few taps from him, and voilà—problem solved.
Texting is another area where my kids find endless amusement. My one-finger typing method is met with laughter. “You’re supposed to use both of your thumbs,” they chime in harmony. How? I genuinely struggle to type with my thumbs; they don’t seem particularly large, yet they just don’t cooperate.
And then there are the elusive apps. I somehow manage to swipe something on my phone, and suddenly, my Safari icon disappears into the digital void until one of my kids quickly retrieves it for me.
I once brought up my tech troubles with the technology teacher at my children’s school. She shared that kids today have grown up immersed in technology, making it second nature for them, while those of us from earlier generations didn’t have that advantage, resulting in a steeper learning curve.
Ironically, I was quite proficient with electronics as a teenager. Back in the ’70s, my family got our first VCR, which allowed us to record shows and watch them at our convenience. I found it easy to use, but my parents? That was a different story. They always needed me to “set the VCR” for them. While I was in college, they would call me on a rotary phone for help, and they still struggled. Each time I came home, their VCR would be flashing “12:00,” and I couldn’t fathom their confusion. Now, I completely understand.
A few years ago, my editor asked me to hyperlink something for an article I was writing, and I had no idea what she meant. So, I turned to my daughter once again. This time, instead of letting her do it for me, I asked her to teach me. I realized I needed to learn how to fish, especially since my best tech support would be heading off to college soon.
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In summary, while I may appear to be a tech-savvy mom on the surface, the truth is that I still rely heavily on my children for assistance with all things digital. As I move forward, I’m determined to learn more and become more self-sufficient in this technology-driven world.