I totally got a kick out of these adorable grandparents on Webcam 101 for Seniors.
My husband and I were going through our morning routine, and stopped dead in our tracks when Good Morning America talked about these tech challenged, but determined grandparents.
We looked at each other and roared with laughter. We weren’t laughing at the seniors, but we were laughing because we’ve been there with my mom and my mother-in-law. I don’t even mention my stepdad here because he will not even look at the computer, let alone try to do anything with it.
My husband and I love that both grandmas embrace technology and want to use it as a tool to communicate with us and the grandchildren. I mean, my mother-in-law does text and my mom started texting this summer.
The thing is, my husband and I do a lot of teaching and re-teaching when it comes to using the computer. The re-teaching mainly covers the topics of:
- Skype and webcams
- Uploading pictures
- Finding the pictures, on the computer, after they have been uploaded
- Email attachments
- File management on the computer
My husband and I have both had one-on-one sit-downs with the grandmas to help and support them. We’ve been successful, baffled, and frustrated. We’ve drawn mini-diagrams and step-by-steps, and there are still some technology glitches.
What to do?
Send a tech support care package via TeachParentsTech.org.
How brilliant is this!?
I discovered this site a few weeks ago, via the AARP Bulletin, and have been tinkering with it. (I have to “steal” my mother-in-law’s copy of the bulletin each month.)
My mother purchased a new laptop some months ago and she has been playing around with it. We will resume Skyping with her soon. I plan to create a tech support care package before we schedule the next Skype session. Why? Because it’ll keep my kids from getting impatient and opting out of the Skype session.
In the past it has taken my mom about 25 or more minutes to get Skype up and running, and my kids are on to the next thing by the time my mom is connected.
For my mother-in-law, I plan to send a tech support care package around file management, specifically in regards to her picture files.
I’ll let you know how it all goes.
image: rccomputersolutions.biz
I've read a lot good reviews
I've read a lot good reviews
Yes, I hope my kids see how
Yes, I hope my kids see how patient we (my husband and I) are being with their grandparents in regards to technology, so they'll have "mercy" on us, too.
Brilliant. Needless to say I
Brilliant. Needless to say I have the same challenges. We have some grandparents that don't own a computer and some that Skype, text and the whole caboodle. It takes a lot of patience but the way I look at it, I hope my grandkids will exercise the same patience with me when it comes to gadgets some 30 years down the line.