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My great-grandmother was born in 1900. She was in her late 90s when this happened. One day while visiting her in the nursing home, my mom asked me to call home to remind my dad to put dinner in the oven. My great-grandmother saw me use my brick of a cellphone and wanted to know what it was. I explained and her face just lit up.“So you could be grocery shopping and call home to ask your husband what he wants for dinner?” she asked. She thought this was just fantastic. Then she asked if she could try. She called my great-aunt, her daughter, on my cell and regaled her about the marvels of modern technology. It was so cute.Great-grandma was a month away from her 102nd birthday when she died. She lived long enough to cuddle my son, her first great-great-grandchild. She was a cool lady. I miss her.
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One of us left a GameBoy at my grandmas house and she started playing on it. She loved it. We all chipped in and got her one and eventually she would hide it when the kids came over so no one would mess with her score. Miss you nanny
I think the transition is that I (sixtyish) have noticed is that I expect technology to change. I expect an iPhone with new features. I am bummed about the lack of jetpacks, but otherwise technology keeps delivering wonder. But without a manual so you have to figure each device out.My parents didn’t expect the changes. They had trouble adapting. The pace of change has accelerated. Three of my grandparents were born before the first airplane flight and three of them watched men walk on the moon. I see a new car feature and b***h about its imperfections.
LOL. When my mother passed away in June 2018 I realised my dad had no idea how to use his debit cards because my mother handled everything like that.We had to go to an ATM to actually practice taking cash out, and then go into a shop to practice using the card to pay for things. He was totally blown away and after using contactless to pay for some newspapers exclaimed: “my god! It’s soooo easy!!” The shopkeeper could barely conceal her laugh.
I had to teach my grandparents how to use their first answering machine. They tried to record their “nobody is home” message and we got a recording of them arguing over what button to push to record. Very funny and cute. “I think this is the button? I already pushed it Mary! Now what do you do! Damn contraption!”
My grandma was born in 1925. She once told me that her 4th grade teacher told the class that in the future you’d be able to talk to a person across long distances while seeing them at the same time! My grandma vividly remembers thinking that it was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard.We speak through FaceTime regularly now.
I only had maternal grandparents and my grandfather died in 92 when I was 14. I don’t remember teaching him anything but I do remember stealing his unfiltered Pall-Malls. My grandmother lived until 2006. She never drove until he died. Never needed to. So at the ripe old age of 14 she threw my a*s in her little Ford and told me to teach her to drive. Apparently it didnt matter I was only 14 and legally not old enough to drive myself let alone teach someone else. We both learned to drive that day. I will never forget it.
My lovely grandma used her microwave for one thing only… heating water. It was adorable.She also only used email once. Her message to me… “Your dad made me do this. I’ll never be the same again. Love, Grandma.”
My grandmother - born 1888 - never learned to drive and always referred to my grandfather’s car as “the machine”.
A little off topic,My high school got computers my senior year. Admin hunted for a teacher who had a free period so they could teach computer class. One of my favorite school memories is the football coach standing at the front of the room offering extra credit to whoever could figure out how to turn the computer on.
When my great grandmother first had electricity in installed in her house, she was given an electric clothes iron. After ironing, she would insist on leaving it plugged in and placed on a high shelf “so the leftover electricity would drain back out”.Apparently it took a long time to convince her that electricity did not work like water.
My mom, a genealogist, was 50 when she got her first computer. I was her tech support for the next 32 years, most of it was remote. Trying to explain how to use email was sheer t*****e (‘but who picks up all these messages and delivers them?’). My brother bought her a cell phone but didn’t bother to program it for her so she mailed it to me to ‘fix it’. Eventually I printed, laminated and taped her password and all the phone numbers to the back of her phone. We mailed that phone back and forth for a month before she felt comfortable using it. God I miss her.
Taping the bit of cardboard over the remote so that only the power, channel, and volume buttons are showing.
God Damn Credit Cards… My Grandad was a very clever man, god rest his soul. Was in the RAF during the war, flew in Lancasters. I hold him in such high regard. A legend. But the concept of what a Credit Card actually was… he had no clue. Completely lost on him. 10’s of thousands of pounds debt. He kept receiving letters through the post saying he was “eligible” for X amount of money, so he signed up and spent it. He genuinely thought it was free money. I can remember the look of helplessness on my dad’s face once he realised what had happened to the old man. Even when trying to explain how credit cards work, the old man just didn’t get it. This all happend back in the 90’s. I feel guilty for taking those £5 notes he slipped me to spend on sweets. But I am also pissed at my parents and Aunties & Uncles for not realising sooner. A bitter lesson I learned at a young age. I now personally keep an eye on my family and friends and make sure they are living within their means. I would hate for someone close to me to go through that. Utter BS.
First born American here. I had to teach my mother English as I was going to elementary school and learning it myself. She failed keeping her end of the bargain and never taught me Spanish.
Here’s a really old one … my dad, who would be 102 if he were still alive, grew up on a farm. When his dad got their first tractor he couldn’t figure out the manual shifter so he would make my dad sit on his knee and shift gears for him while he drove.
Just using a regular computer before the internet existed..okay dad, to get into the part where you use your mouse you type win from this dos promptTHAT’S TOO HARD!so I put win in the autoexec.bat file, I was also 9 years old.poor guy, still to this day I had to rename his chrome icon to USE THIS FOR INTERNET
I saved up and bought my parents the first Sharp Carousel Microwave oven….It sat there, on the kitchen counter, for months, untouched. My mother was so scared of it that she threw the equivalent of a tantrum. She would never walk in front of it, even when off and would always unplug it.It wasn’t until she gossiped to her friends that “my son got us this dreadful appliance” that they convinced her it was the best thing in the world for reheating food, and that it was harmless with numerous safety features. Several of them said the Sharp model was the best and safest out there! (oh she wouldn’t listen to her family of reason, but trust the ladies at the hair saloon–no question there!)From then on, we had leftovers all the time. Or microwave meals. RIP mom, you couldn’t cook to save your life, but you could at least make microwave meals in minutes!edit- typo-it should read “hair salon” but ya know what, who cares!
According to my Nan, it was teaching my great-great-grandmother how to use a toaster that you don’t need to turn the bread in
My father (born 1922) told me his grandfather refused to believe in radios, he figured someone was pulling his leg.
Microwaves. My dad bought my grandparents a microwave. First day grandpa puts a metal pot in it with tin foil on top and it fried it. Day 2 microwave 2, grandma puts her socks in to warm them up. Socks got burnt because she set it for 10 minutes, day 3 microwave 2, we gave them a lecture of how to use microwaves and how they work, grandma puts a sealed Tupperware in and it melts then explodes. Coating the inside with plastic and food. Total loss. Day 4 microwave 3, they say thank you and we appreciate it but it is too complicated for us. We kept the mic for ourselves and got them a new tv instead. They still got up to change the channel. The remote was too complicated for them.
My dad tried to turn my CDs over like records in the early 90s.
My grandparents received an email from a Nigerian prince and they had heard this was a scam. They called me terrified that they had been “hacked” and that he’d “stolen their money.” I asked them if they downloaded anything, responded to him at all, or sent him anything. They said no. I explained that they were fine and to just delete the email. They printed it out and went to every bank they did business with to make sure he hadn’t taken their money. I feel so bad for all those bankers. What an awkward conversation. “Mr banker, I want to make sure prince wazu has not taken any money from my account!”
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My grandfather had issues with the money machine. He used to get his children to go with him to withdraw cash because THOSE DAMN HOLES IN THE WALL!Not THOSE holes in the wall, Reddit.
When I first got a cellphone, neither of my parents could understand how to call me, they thought they would have to change the area code of my number depending on where I was and as they did not know where I was would not know my number.Even to this day my Father struggles with the whole concept, he has a Pre-Pay phone for ‘emergencies’ when he goes out, he seems fine with that apart from how to top up, every 3 to 6 months when the credit runs out he buys a new phone and gets a new number. I eventualy got sick of that and took him into a store, found a helpfull girl who topped it up for him. 6 months later he has got a new number because the girl from last time was not there so he just bought a new phone.
Teaching grandma to use the new-fangled remote control for the shiny new tv we bought her. the previous tv had a remote, but….lets just say it was old.so old it was the clicker type (yes, you pushed a mechanical switch that actually “clicked” to change the channel or turn it on/off). the sound of thunderstorms outside would occasionally change the tv channel. it was hilarious growing up.
Plugging in the 3 cords in the back of the tv
I grew up in the 50s and 60s and, although this is a great question. I honestly can’t think of an analogous situation. Things were so much simpler before computers entered the scene and the sense was always more of older people teaching younger.
Child-proof caps on medication in the early ’70s.None of the adults could figure that s**t out, so they’d hand they’re their bottles of meds to the kids for us to open. Everyone thought it was funny as hell.
Not a technology example. Late in life my mother started exercising. She asked me to show her how to do a jumping jack. She didn’t understand it was one continuous motion. Born in 1926, she never had PE classes.
Teaching my parents to use a computer, pre-internet. The big thing was to get them off a typewriter and onto a word processor/printer.
Not grandparents but parents, ANYTHING to do with their stereo.Dad bought a nice Marantz with Polk Audio speakers in the late 70’s (love to have it now). Four devices; Reciever, Tape Player, Record Player annnnnnd the Speakers. He was a Dentist, super smart guy… You’d have thought he was trying to fly a plane.Me: “What are you trying to do Dad? “Him: (working with it for awhile, clearly frustrated, getting worse) “Just play this g******d, Benny Goodman record for your mother and I…“Me: “See this switch? Gotta flip it from Tape to Phono.” (…sweet clarinet music playing now)Him: (obvious is realized) “thank you”
Programming the VCR.
Nothing really tech around that older folks did not understand until about the mid 80’s, when i was in my teens. Then, the classic one was showing them how to program the VCR to record their shows when they were not home.
Loading film into a 35mm camera
ITT: Stories about VCRs.
I grew up in the 80’s, that makes me ‘older,’ probably. Anything that had a remote control was a lot for them. If they couldn’t walk over and turn a k**b or press a tactile button it was confusing for them.There’s an old picture I’ve seen online where someone has covered all of the buttons on the remote with tape except power, volume, and channel - that’s real, I’ve done it.
“Hey office person over 50, that tray that slides out of your pc when you push the button, yeah that there with the big round hole in it, get your fr*#kin coffee cup out of it! For the 3rd time! How am I supposed to explain things to the purchasing folks? Again?”
I think a lot of people underestimate how long the internet one has been going on… Texting maybe? One of my friends actually blew up at me since my Mom had “taught” his Mom to txt and now he had to re-teach her daily.
Teaching them how to record the greeting on the answering machine. Or how to leave a message on one.
How to use a microwave oven. You have to admit that it’s kind of screwy that putting in “60” and “100” mean the same thing, and that “90” is way more than “100”.Also even before the Internet there were still computers. So just explaining how to use a computer. The idea of “windows” on this virtual “desktop” was just hard to explain sometimes (depended a lot on the individual though). Also older hands that never had to deal with something sensitive like a computer mouse had problems interacting with the computer at all. “Double click the mouse button, but don’t move the mouse in-between clicks. Also don’t take too long between clicks.” OY!
Teaching my grandma to use the VCR and call waiting.
VCRs man. My dad could never figure out how to program the VCR.F**k, I still need to fix his watch twice a year.
Not an equivalent, but one of my grandmothers never got the hang of tearing glad wrap (cling wrap) with the edge of the box.
Teaching your grandparents how to drive. Because they magically forget after 70.
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