Update!!! Need a laugh??? Ancient parents

Ljessen13 · November 2013

My parents are 58 and 60 and have zero clue about technology!! How do you go through life like that. I mean seriously??? They do not even have call waiting and when I hear the damn beep beep beep I want to launch my phone across the house. No computer...not even a digital camera!!!! My parents both have health issues so I get extremely concerned about them. Well yesterday no one answered the phone for over 4 hrs. I was about to lose it...praying nothing happened. ( I am an only child) they finally answer and I snap!!!!! Mom get an effin cell phone for crying out loud!!!!!!!!! They think it's hilarious I worry about them. Well mark your calendars people....she bought a cell phone today!!! I told her I have to be able to reach her when I go in to labor and they will be watching LO so they need one!!!!! My mom figuring out texting is going to make me stab someone!!!!!! Lol all of her words are misspelled and it takes 10 min for her to respond! Lol she accidentally had her phone on vibrate and when it went off in her pocket it scared her!!!! How did I get so lucky

Update: well it's been a whole 48 hrs since the new "phone". She has literally called me 100 times with questions. I can't see your phone mom!!!!!! I have no clue which button you are talking about. Yesterday they watched our kiddos for a couple hours and my dad said he was about to throw the phone put the window! She apparently is practicing on how to use the camera on..... Taking non stop photos of my dad and their dogs. Lmao! Now when she sends me a text she writes love mom! Mom I know who this is!!!!!!!! She also has a hard time using the space key sosheendsuptypingonelongsentenceandihavetofigureoutwhatitssays!!!!!!!!

BrittNR · November 2013

Lol my dad got on Facebook for the very first time today, looking up relatives. He was all excited as I showed him how to navigate.

cowscrub · November 2013

I understand completely. My dad is 69 and will send me a text and when I reply he doesn't know how to check that. So then I get a lecture about how he's trying to contact me but I don't respond.
He also lives in Mexico 3 weeks out if then month but won't get an international plan.

[Deleted User] · November 2013

That's my parents. They don't own a computer or a camera. They have an
emergency cell phone and never turn it on!!! What's the point? It will get interesting when my mom watches LO and I insist on the cell phone. Let's see how she will navigate it!

Hkula · November 2013

My dad can text, but he signs his name after each text. No matter how much I explain to him that it's not necessary.

CeeJC121013 · November 2013

Haha. My mom is 60. She cannot drive the car with the radio on because she doesn't even know how to change the channel. She has literally had the same cell phone for over 10 years and still doesn't know how to use it. She only turns it on when she needs to make a call and then turns it right back off. It drives us all nuts because what if we need to reach her!? She needs to have it on so other people can call her too!

Shannahbee · November 2013

My Dad is 61 but he is better with technology than most people I know! But he works in IT so that's a big part of it... He always has the newest gadgets and is totally into social media. My Mom makes up for him though... If she minimizes her web browser by mistake, she has no clue what happened. She has only figured out texting in the last year but she doesn't understand the concept of autocorrect (or proofreading apparently) so I constantly get texts that make no sense. It's entertaining of nothing else!

Lilyrussell · November 2013

I think I have the strangest case in my hands! My dad is an actual genius, high powered lawyer who can build a computer YET *drumroll please* is either extremely stubborn or handicapped when it comes to texting of all things! He knows how to do it but it literally takes him days to get back to me and he claims they don't pop up on his phone...which is always the absolute newest technology. It makes no sense at all and drives me crazy!

ashleywiz · November 2013

Okay but what about parents that text and make up their own abbreviations!!!
My stepmom text us the other day saying they just got back from HH.. What in the? Apparently that means happy hour

& she acted like we were bozos for not knowing what it meant.

pixieonboard · November 2013

Be careful what you wish for. My father and my mother in law both love their computer. I'm constantly getting spam, jokes, emails, gif, requests to play stupid games. You name the most annoying social media trend and I'm getting it times 2..

RedSaffron · November 2013

My mom had an ancient flip phone that she used for almost 5 years and she still has it as an alarm clock lol, but now she has the Samsung galaxy S3 and using it just to make phone calls and take "amazing" photos. *face palm*

ETA: thank you Verizon employees for convincing her she should have the world's smartest phone at that time. At least she upgraded for free...but still...

bellamatson · November 2013

I almost died the day my father texted me "lol"

He always says it after everything he says. I think he thinks it means lots of love? Oh, and then he types his name... Like I don't know who the text is from.

Dishylo · November 2013

Ha, I like that your version of ancient is 58 and 60. My parents are 64 and 70. We've been trying to teach my Mom how to text for years and felt SO proud when she finally texted on her own this year!

Ljessen13 · November 2013

Hahahaha @dishylo I guess what I should say is they act ancient.

brideandbreve · November 2013

This thread is hilarious, reading about all of your parents, but then it's depressing because I know that someday my kids will say this kind of stuff about me. Hehehe..

Tylynngrace · November 2013

I taught my dad how to use pandora the other day and that led to him singing the joker for the rest of the day. Lord bless him.

moosebaby2011 · November 2013

My mother's direct deposit got screwed up at work, and she thought it was because her home laptop was broken.

HereWeGo2 · November 2013

Same here, my parents are 62 and 70 and have always been 'anti tech'. they didn't get a VCR until i was in high school and a microwave about 10 yrs ago. They finally got a DVD player and a digital camera a couple years ago. Ee tried giving them our old computer but it scared them and they asked us to come pick it up...

As for cell phones, my Mom watched DD for much of her firat year and I insisted she get a cell phone since we don't have a house line. I added her to our plan and bought her a phone (that was over 2 yrs ago). Turns out she loved it and my father decided he needed one! Mom even texts now! Small babu steps of progress!

Tcbrannon222 · November 2013

That's the same age as my parents and they know more than I do. Sometimes I call her...lol or ask my two kids!

Rebis58 · November 2013

My parents aren't too bad with technology but my mom does have a minor panic attack every time Facebook does an update. I still remember my first text from her, too: "Hi B. I just texted your sister and it the time it took me to write this message she had already responded. Love Mom"

joshsmandy · November 2013

Lol my dad is 60 also but he is ok with technology, he is deaf so we have always had to communicate through TTY until he learned to text almost 8 years ago. God love him hd tries Facebook but he is constantly asking me eight thousand questions

RobynLovesDano · November 2013

bellamatson said:
I almost died the day my father texted me "lol"

He always says it after everything he says. I think he thinks it means lots of love? Oh, and then he types his name... Like I don't know who the text is from.

You wanna hear something really sad? My 39 yr old sister thought 'lol' meant lots of love too, until I corrected her one day. /facepalm

casholmes · November 2013

I'm kind of glad my parents are so young (dad is 39, stepmom is 29) so there's no having to help them with computers!

Unfortunately, I lived with my grandparents for several years and they thought I was some kind of tech-expert and always wanted help 'fixing' the computer. I can only help so many times before I finally have to break down and tell my grandfather that watching too much porn will infect your computer and ruin it (especially if you fall for that fake antivirus software and download it). He went through 3 computers in the years I lived there.

So yeah, kind of wish they were a little more anti-tech

aessary03 · November 2013

That's so cute!

berenely · November 2013

ashleywiz said:

Okay but what about parents that text and make up their own abbreviations!!!
My stepmom text us the other day saying they just got back from HH.. What in the? Apparently that means happy hour & she acted like we were bozos for not knowing what it meant.

My mom used to do this. Until she used the shorthand version of "come" (ahem) and I texted back, "I don't think you're using that in the right context." Laughed my butt off but she was so embarrassed. Since then, no made-up, dirty abbreviations!
Also, my IL's don't have cell phones and rarely answer their landline. It'll be interesting to see how this changes (or doesn't) come mid-January.

CeeJC121013 · November 2013

Yes. When old(er) people are no good with technology it's kind of funny and endearing. It's more annoying when it's people our own age! My husband double clicks on EVERYTHING!! every time!! It's really not necessary. And he thinks that he needs a new Mac book. Why? You don't even know how to use it and you've gone through 3 laptops in our 7 years if marriage to my 1 that is still goin strong. Um, no.

Esthi · November 2013

I love this thread . It's soooo funny. My parents just do a bit of texting and e mail. But only cose the live about 700 miles away from us

MrsGraham06 · November 2013

Oh, I think your parents must be related to my MIL.

1. When she uses a computer, it's very painful. The homepage is a generic search engine (don't ask, I've never seen it before or since, just at her house). To get to ANY webpage, she types into the search box like this "www.yahoo.com" (no joke)

2. She finally upgraded to DSL from dial-up THIS YEAR. At $5/mo more. After DH talked to her for a year about it.
- Oh, and she finally got rid of her dinosaur of a computer (it works just fine, but why does it freeze every time I get on the internet??? Answer- you have dial-up, the computer is 15+ years old, it can't do today's internet! And, I have a flash drive with more memory than your computer)

3. Her cell phone doesn't get reception in her house. She always calls her mom on Saturday morning, and will often drop the call. Then she yells about how she charged the damn thing so why the hell is it dropping the call??? (I have 4 bars of battery, why did the call drop??? and other variations)

ashybear · November 2013

My mom has a cell phone...that she leaves turned off in her glove compartment "in case she needs it."

megngregk · November 2013

This is hilarious to me because my great grandmother, who was 82 when she passed away 6 years ago, used email as her primary method of communication. Everybody in my family texts, including my grandparents, great aunt, etc. 60 just doesn't seem old to me!

I remember trying to teach my mom how to use her iPhone, though. I wanted to slam my head through a wall.

notthecheat · November 2013

@Ljessen13

My parents are young. Dad (53) has a job in technology and mom (50) is always up on the latest gadget. ILs on the other hand...

FIL (63) is exactly how you described, and has sour grapes about any kind of technology. Its very frustrating. MIL (late 50s) at least can navigate a cell phone and computer pretty well.

I don't think your parents would be laughing if something happened and they weren't able to reach you or anyone really for help. Hope you feel a little better now that your mom is (slowly) learning to use her cell phone.

Hmvbaby14 · November 2013

My mom has an iphone that she only knows how to do 4 things on: Facebook, words with friends, text, and call. And she is playing on her phone ALL THE TIME! It's seriously sooooo annoying. Last winter she stayed with us for 6 weeks before my wedding and managed to break 3, THREE, Iphone car chargers because as soon as she gets in the car she has to charge her phone so it won't die. I've tried to explain to her that it's okay for the battery to go under 80% but no luck. She will totally be that lady someday walking through the mall playing words with friends or something and fall into the water fountain. The thing that makes me the most crazy is when I call her and she doesn't answer. SERIOUSLY??? You never set down your phone. Ever. Why are you not answering?!

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