Friday, March 14, 2008
What Is This Button For?
My grandmother makes me laugh. She is the most technology illiterate person I have ever met. It is not because she can not learn. It is because she refuses to learn. She gets flustered by it. It has taken me a year to teach her how to use the Dish remote. When Dish Man installed their unit he did not do it properly. He also scared my grandmother and grandfather out of even touching the remote. They are still scared of it. I spent at least four to five hours, at least, on the phone with Dish Network to to resolve the issues. Not consecutively it was spaced out over, probably, twenty phone calls. Surprisingly I was not crazy by the end of it. The problem was resolved. If you need any help hooking up your Dish or with any error messages call me! I went through everything! About three to four times a month I get a phone call for my grandparents asking me to fix the Dish. (They often press a button and not know what to do to correct it. Even though I have told them MANY times and every written out instructions MANY times. If something goes wrong with anything technological they call me. I am the repair person. It makes me laugh. My grandmother bought a digital camera a year and a half ago. She has taken three pictures with it. I have been borrowing it until I bought my own. Today I returned it to her. I showed her the basic functions of it and told her to take three pictures every day. I also told I would call her every day to make sure she has taken the three required pictures. :) I am going to teach her how to use the camera. Last week she said that she wanted to buy a computer! Oh! NO! No! NO! Oh! Gosh no! I asked her why she wanted a computer. She said she might like one. I suggested that she master the Dish and the camera first. (for long time she thought her satellite tv was the internet) I want her to be comfortable with using the remote and the camera. My grandparents also bought a DVD player. They have only use it when I am there. They like movies but are afraid of the DVD player. It is easier to use than the Dish or the camera! But she is still scared of it. I am working on it. It takes time.
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9 comments:
This is a topic I could rant on for a while. My mom has a new computer and now she has DSL, but does she do anything with her computer, no. She occasionally reads her email, but will not reply although we have gone over that several times. She reads my blog, but that is it. She does play games. She lost her cell phone and my brother gave her his old one because it was just like her old one and she did not want to learn anything new. She works the remote on her TV pretty well, but does not watch DVDs or videos because she does not know how to work those things - we sold all her movies in the garage sale. I have to give her credit, though. She has come a long way and she can be taught - if she wants it bad enough. The really scary part is that I am much like her.
Hey, I am really missing you!
Your grandparents seem simply sweet, I love simplicity!! If it was not for my technically minded elder son, we'd be like reverting back to the stone age:)
Oh my !!!! This reminds me so much of my grandmother, but she wouldn't even try anything new. I don't think hers was fear, she just didn't like change. Oh the stories this brings to mind. LOL!
My mom is 81. She has mastered turning dish network on and off and finding the channel she wants to watch. But anything out of the ordinary she sometimes has to ask for help. That hasn't happened in awhile though so either she is very careful about what buttons she is pushing, or she finally mastered the "cancel" button. I'm not sure if she has mastered the DVD, I see her watching them occasionally but it may be that my son has helped her with that. She does have a computer and can do basics on e-mail. Once in awhile she asks how to do something, like add an attachment. She doesn't do it often enough to remember how. Good post, everyone knows somebody who is somewhat technically challenged.
Lou: Your mom is funny. I am missing you too!
Dawn: Yes Kris has saved you. He would not let you guys be in the stone age.
Diva: Oh! I wanna hear the stories! You should post them.
Laurie: At least you mother tries.
Thank you.
I'd love to see the pictures your grandma takes. Would you consider posting some of them?
Becky: I will try to post them. If I can get the camera away from her. ;)
Last week she said that she wanted to buy a computer!
I was waiting for someone to ask "what good is a digital camera without a computer?" That's sorta like having a car without wheels, no? I know some digital cameras are sold as "no computer required." But I still don't get the point.
Technophobes sorta drive me nuts, until I remember I share some of their traits. Example: I have yet to send anyone a text message on my cell phone ( I have received a wrong-number "wazzup?" message, tho). I doubt I ever will. Phones are voice communication devices, to my way of thinking... and shall always remain so.
Buck: You are right about having a digital camera with no computer. But I don't know if I can teach her how to use a computer. I will just put the pics on mine and save myself a giant headache.
Technophobes drive me nuts too. I have only sent a few text messages. Phones are for talking for not "texting" you are right! The girls that text and flip their hear drive me CRAZY! They look like they have a twitch.
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