RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,724
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
Aug 2, 2014 13:03:45 GMT
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Post by RedSquirrelUK on Jan 15, 2018 10:18:06 GMT
My dear mother! She's 83: sharp as a pin, but her eyesight and hearing aren't good, she has arthritis in her hands and she is NOT up on modern technology.
She just sent me a text saying just "R4". I rang her back, and she took ages to answer and she's got the radio or TV on in the background. So we had a few minutes of "who? who? wait a minute while I turn off the noise, hang on, no that's not the right button, oh bother it's not working, oh that's it - now who is it?" I said It's me, your daughter! Did you mean to text me? She said oh yes, there's a program on the radio that you ought to listen to. I said I can't right now, I'm going out shortly. She said Can't you listen to it again on your iPad, iPod, whatever?
I just started laughing. So did she. That was such a typical, confused, crazy conversation with my darling Mum.
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Post by pelirroja on Jan 15, 2018 10:23:40 GMT
My mom asked for physical directions on how to get to the app store. She wanted to know if it was local or required some travel and she was going to check mapquest.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Apr 19, 2024 21:36:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 10:32:27 GMT
My mom is always using her own made up terms when she calls me for help. Drives me batty trying to figure out what she means. RedSquirrelUK, what did your mom mean by "R4"?
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RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,724
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
Aug 2, 2014 13:03:45 GMT
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Post by RedSquirrelUK on Jan 15, 2018 10:54:05 GMT
Radio 4 I think! I wouldn't have worked that one out by myself.
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Post by gar on Jan 15, 2018 11:03:54 GMT
My Mum handed my sister a stack of paperbacks and asked her to put them on her Kindle for her. Bless her.
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Post by JoP on Jan 15, 2018 11:23:05 GMT
It was my BIL’s 65th birthday yesterday and my nearly 90 year old Mum asked me if I’d ‘sexted’ him to wish him Happy Birthday
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Post by gar on Jan 15, 2018 11:38:15 GMT
It was my BIL’s 65th birthday yesterday and my nearly 90 year old Mum asked me if I’d ‘sexted’ him to wish him Happy Birthday Well had you?
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Post by Really Red on Jan 15, 2018 12:21:25 GMT
Love these Mom stories!
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Post by JoP on Jan 15, 2018 12:32:19 GMT
It was my BIL’s 65th birthday yesterday and my nearly 90 year old Mum asked me if I’d ‘sexted’ him to wish him Happy Birthday Well had you? I’m pleading the fifth gar 🙊😊🙂😉
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Post by lisae on Jan 15, 2018 12:43:09 GMT
It's good to have a laugh at these stories. Your Mom is doing far better in the technology department if she knows how to text. Mother has trouble turning on her flip phone.
The other day she called because "she got her TV messed up." She gets in pay per view and can't get out. DH was telling her to type something like 1-5-0 to change to a certain channel. He heard 'bing, bing, bing' on the phone. "Not on the phone!" he said, "Press the 150 on the TV remote."
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Post by Merge on Jan 15, 2018 13:15:22 GMT
My parents didn't quite make it to the age of smartphones. Thanks for sharing your stories - I'm sure we would have had some laughs with them, too!
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peabrain
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,588
Jun 25, 2014 22:18:04 GMT
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Post by peabrain on Jan 15, 2018 13:37:43 GMT
My parents didn't quite make it to the age of smartphones. Thanks for sharing your stories - I'm sure we would have had some laughs with them, too! Hugs!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 15, 2018 14:25:33 GMT
My parents didn't quite make it to the age of smartphones. Thanks for sharing your stories - I'm sure we would have had some laughs with them, too! Heck, my mom couldn’t even work the remote on her basic tv in her last year. Then when we got to her house, we couldn’t even turn the tv off by pushing the button on the front because she somehow managed to shove the little rubber button all the way inside the tv with a paper clip or something.
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Post by Lexica on Jan 15, 2018 15:35:19 GMT
I gave my father a computer years ago when they were first coming out. At first, he didn't see the advantage to using that over his typewriter that had been a workhorse for him for years. We had a few instruction sessions and he was up and running. He would send me jokes he had found and recipes galore. He didn't have any problem emailing and became very proficient with the computer. My mom was afraid of it and could barely stay in the room when he went online. She eventually learned to use an iPad, although we had many conversations like the OP had with her mom. She played solitaire on her IPad every single day and would get so excited when she won a game. It was also really nice to put books on there for her to read because I could increase the font size for her. Mom had macular degeneration and her eyesight was diminished. She really struggled with seeing the numbers on her flip phone, so I bought her an iPhone and taught her to use Siri to make her calls. It took her a bit of effort, but she eventually was able to tell Siri who she wanted to talk to and successfully reach them. She would constantly forget that she had to either activate Siri on the phone via the button or say, "Hey Siri" to begin the call. And many times she would activate it by voice, then say something to me before finishing her call request and she would get upset that Siri didn't understand that she wasn't speaking to her. Watching her chastize Siri for not being patient with her was hysterical. And she had a hard time understanding that Siri lived in both her IPhone and IPad, yet telling the IPad Siri to dial a phone number didn't work. My dad had passed away before I bought Mom an IPad. He would have been very proud of her for learning the technology. Dad never got into texting and used email for all of his communication. Mainly because they were almost always at home where he could use his computer, but also because he had a bad early phone plan that charged per text and had very low minutes on the plan. He considered the cell phone for emergency use only and wouldn't let Mom talk on it. When I discovered this, I added a line to my plan and gave it to them so that I could talk to Mom as long as we wanted to without her getting in trouble over it. Mom was thrilled to have her own phone line to use whenever she wanted to. She hated talking on the landlines when she was living with my sisters because it was their landline and she didn't want to tie it up. She also didn't know how to accept a call coming in when she was already on the phone with someone else. She would freak out and just hang up on her call. She really did very well with it all other than not really understanding that the phone did some of the same things that the IPad did. If we were out somewhere and she wanted to send a message to one of my sisters, she would wait until we got home to send an email from her IPad rather than to use the phone to text. She never understood the concept of texting versus emailing. Other than that, I think she did really well to go from being really afraid of it all to really loving her IPad and using it all the time. She would often remark that technology was pretty amazing since she could read a book, watch a movie, or send emails all on that little thin device. She said many times that she wished my dad was still alive to see it all. He passed away before IPads came out. She said if she could just make phone calls from her IPad, she'd be in heaven. The two devices confused her and she didn't see the need for having both. She wanted me to write an email to Apple to tell them to make an IPad that made phone calls. I miss her so much.
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Post by donna on Jan 15, 2018 15:38:28 GMT
I thought my brother was going to have a stroke when he was trying to teach my Mom how to answer or make a call on her smart phone. She kept trying to use her fingernail instead of the pad of her finger. I wish I could teach her to text, but I think that skill is outside of her reach.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Apr 19, 2024 21:36:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 15:54:42 GMT
It was my BIL’s 65th birthday yesterday and my nearly 90 year old Mum asked me if I’d ‘sexted’ him to wish him Happy Birthday
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Post by destined2bmom on Jan 15, 2018 16:12:06 GMT
Oh Rosey, what a sweet story about your mum. I am glad that you both had a great laugh!
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Post by annaintx on Jan 15, 2018 16:23:17 GMT
My mom got a Nintendo DS for xmas so she can play Animal Crossing with her granddaughters. My dd and I spent time on FaceTime yesterday trying to help her do some things in the game. It's fantastic she plays with the girls, they all love it. DD says "I have the coolest Grammy ever!" Face Time has been invaluable for helping my mom with technology stuff--and she has helped me with some sewing projects, too.
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RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,724
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
Aug 2, 2014 13:03:45 GMT
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Post by RedSquirrelUK on Jan 15, 2018 22:00:27 GMT
It's good to have a laugh at these stories. Your Mom is doing far better in the technology department if she knows how to text. Mother has trouble turning on her flip phone. The other day she called because "she got her TV messed up." She gets in pay per view and can't get out. DH was telling her to type something like 1-5-0 to change to a certain channel. He heard 'bing, bing, bing' on the phone. "Not on the phone!" he said, "Press the 150 on the TV remote." Aw! These stories are delightful. Lisa, when we got Mum her mobile phone, I taught her to text at once. I then texted her every day for weeks, asking her questions that she had to answer properly. She understood that she had to be familiar enough with it to able to use it in an emergency, otherwise she would be frightened of it if she ever really needed it. She was very proud of being the only person in her art group who knew how to text. My brother and I also taught her the abbreviations, like what LOL and WTF meant so that she didn't make mistakes. She just rang me again to have another laugh at herself this morning.
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Post by jemmls4 on Jan 15, 2018 23:37:15 GMT
My MIL is pretty tech savvy for 84, but she did the classic LOL for lots of love. She was so embarrassed when she found out because she used it when replying to a friend that had lost her DH.
My mother was hopeless. Back in the 80s when I went away to college my mom would call me to ask how to program VCR. She was so excited when I came home for Xmas because she had recorded the Grinch who stole Xmas...yeah, 30 minutes of snow.
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Post by kels99 on Jan 15, 2018 23:49:17 GMT
My grandma (who passed away about a year ago), started using email when she was 90 and was a master at it! She had trouble hearing so couldn't talk on the phone and email was the perfect way to communicate with her. She was an avid reader and we got her a Nook. She LOVED that so much. She didn't know how to get the books onto it, but we'd all load it up whenever we were over there.
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Post by 950nancy on Jan 16, 2018 0:04:05 GMT
My son could post a story about me. I couldn't figure out why my ringtone and text sounds were not working. Checked them repeatedly. My phone just made a rather loud humming sound instead of its regular noises. I did all of the things I was supposed to do. Handed it to my son who turned the ringer ON. Honestly, that didn't even cross my mind because it was definitely NOT on silent. I could hear it from across the house when it was in my purse. He just walked out of my room with his head down.
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jayfab
Drama Llama
procastinating
Posts: 5,516
Jun 26, 2014 21:55:15 GMT
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Post by jayfab on Jan 16, 2018 0:15:34 GMT
My mom has been gone 20 years this past Friday and she would have loved an iPhone. Thanks for sharing these sweet stories.
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Post by librarylady on Jan 16, 2018 0:55:55 GMT
A l-o-n-g l-o-n-g time ago, we installed our first answering machine on the phone--and apparently it was the first experience my inlaws had with an answering machine. We came back from an outing and the recording was the voice of my inlaws. The conversation went something like this: "They say they are not at home, but it is Mary's voice. How can that be? What should we do?" FIL was in background saying ??
We had a laugh over their confusion.
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Post by annabella on Jan 16, 2018 1:08:59 GMT
That's too funny!
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Post by Lexica on Jan 16, 2018 1:29:23 GMT
A l-o-n-g l-o-n-g time ago, we installed our first answering machine on the phone--and apparently it was the first experience my inlaws had with an answering machine. We came back from an outing and the recording was the voice of my inlaws. The conversation went something like this: "They say they are not at home, but it is Mary's voice. How can that be? What should we do?" FIL was in background saying ?? We had a laugh over their confusion. That is so funny. I can absolutely picture this. Your story reminded me of my mom's special answering machine voice. She wasn't comfortable with being recorded on voicemail at all, and when she would leave me a message, it was in an odd singsong cadence instead of her normal speaking voice. If she was interrupted by my dad while she was leaving me a message, she would hang up and then call back and start all over again, sometimes leaving me 3 partial messages before I got to the final one. And every message started the same - "Hello, this is your mother" I told her she didn't have to do that because I would recognize her voice, but she said it felt rude to just start talking without greeting the machine first. One day I stayed home from work sick and Mom didn't know it. She called the house anticipating leaving a message for me. When I answered it live, she got all flustered and hung up on me! We had a great laugh over that one. And she would be so mad at me for telling these stories on her right now. SaveSave
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Post by jackietex on Jan 16, 2018 1:52:02 GMT
My parents AND my sister had a problem when answering machine went from being a tape recording to actually recorded by the phone, so I would always get messages of "Jackie, pick up the phone!" It took years, but I finally gave up trying to explain to them that I wasn't ignoring them, I could not hear them.
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Post by anniefb on Jan 16, 2018 2:33:48 GMT
My brother and I also taught her the abbreviations, like what LOL and WTF meant so that she didn't make mistakes. That's the story that sprang to my mind when I read your post - a family friend who signs off all her emails with LOL because she still thinks it means lots of love
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Post by georgiee on Jan 16, 2018 2:53:20 GMT
My mil calls her flip phone her long distance phone. She doesn’t carry it with her. No one can convince her to keep it in her purse when she goes out!
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Post by quinmm14 on Jan 16, 2018 3:05:52 GMT
Oh my gosh, some of your stories. My dad was staying with my sister for a few days after he'd been in the hospital, she got her cable bill in the mail the following month and had over $300 worth of charges for movies. She called thinking there was a mistake, they told her that a movie was purchased, watched for just a few minutes, then another was purchased and the same thing would happen. This was over a three day period. My dad was purchasing the movies unknowingly over and over. She was refunded, but we all hide our remotes from dad now... And my dad, in his late 80's now, has just started to text. I'll get a random text several times a day from him, he may tell me the gas price he just paid, or that he saw somebody at the post office, but the funniest is when he texts me and I answer him and he thought he was texting my sister.
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