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Let’s be real - technology develops at such a blistering pace that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the change. This is especially true for older generations who didn’t grow up with things like the internet, social media, and smartphones.
One Instagram post asked an online community to share stories of their older relatives being so bad at tech that it was funny, and the comments section is pure comedy gold. Dive into this collection of moments that were too hilarious not to share.
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#1
My mum posted on a nightclub photo of me with my new friends after moving to a new town. "It's great to see your making new friends. I have sent you undies and socks so look out for them in the mail. Love you" THIS WAS ON THE ACTUAL NIGHTCLUBS FACEBOOK PAGE 🤦♂️
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#2
Whenever my father finds some video hilarious, instead of sending me the video link he will record the video with another phone and send that.
#3
My mom once told me she doesn’t want to use all her emojis she thought she’d run out of emojis
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago
Here! I'll give you some of mine! 🙂🙂😺😺🐺🐺
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Technology changes faster than you can say “Did you try turning it off and on again?” For older generations, the whole world of smartphones, social media, and those never-ending notifications feels like landing on an alien planet. What used to be a simple phone call now requires digital literacy, but it's not a bad thing.
Research shows that it can actually improve the health status of senior citizens by enabling them to get easy access to online public health services. What’s more, the leisure and entertainment options, like online social communication and online games, can reduce the psychological loneliness of the elderly and improve their sense of pleasure and attention, thus sidestepping cognitive decline.
#4
My mom’s friend sent me a handwritten thank you card in the mail after I made a fb post for her birthday. It was actually really sweet and I still have it somewhere
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago
We should all return to sending letters through the mail. I submit all my comments on this site via the post to Bored Panda rather than use internet.
#5
My mom only loosely understands the concept of storing things on the cloud, so she'll ask me "How do I send these pictures to heaven?" My wife and I think it's really sweet.
Marnie 1 month ago
Well, I used to also be confused and I'm a f*****g software developer. It's really a dumb and useless term. The "Cloud" is just storing your stuff or running your apps on someone else's computer. I guess I don't know a better name, but "Cloud" is awful and when it first started getting used, all the marketing hype and people talking about it without understanding it made it difficult to glean the actual reality of it.
#6
When my grandfather couldn’t reach me by phone he would simply post to his Facebook page ‘Heather I’m trying to reach you call me’ 🥺😂
Email, which once seemed like actual magic, has turned into another digital minefield, with parents often treating their inbox like a forgotten attic. Then there’s social media, the grand arena of modern confusion.
Older users often post status updates in the comment sections of completely unrelated photos. Grandma might write, “Dinner was lovely!” under a meme about cats in hats, while Dad tags himself in every post “just to make sure people see it.” It's endearing chaos at its finest.
And don't even get us started on autocorrect. This feature has single-handedly turned countless innocent texts into hilarious moments. A simple “I’m coming home” can morph into “I’m composting honey,” causing mild panic and laughter in equal measure. And heaven help the family group chat when emojis get involved, especially when someone accidentally sends the eggplant to their pastor.
#7
My aunt would comment "Not Interested" on people's posts because she thought Facebook was putting them on her feed and she needed to alert Facebook she didn't want to see those specific posts! When friends and family would comment back calling her out for her rude comment, she would double down with another not interested comment. I think my cousins ultimately changed her password to the site and she gave up.
#8
My dad's first time calling his own Uber, he set the destination to a street in Alexandria, Egypt. We live in Kenya 😂
#9
When I got engaged, my mom tried to share my engagement post on her FB but instead changed her status to being engaged to my now husband 🫠
Part of the struggle comes from how quickly technology evolves. Many older adults spent decades mastering one set of tools, like landlines, paper maps, and film cameras. Then, seemingly overnight, all of it got replaced with touchscreens and apps.
Scientists say the proportion of older populations using digital technology has increased exponentially, so it’s not an unwillingness to learn, but rather a lifelong game of catch-up in a world that updates faster than they can blink.
But here's what's actually endearing about the whole thing: watching a grandparent squint intensely at a touchscreen or accidentally talk into the TV remote thinking it's their phone reminds us that technology is only as smart as the people trying to figure it out. Their confusion makes us laugh, sure, but it also highlights just how much modern tech expects us to adapt instantly.
#10
My mom doesn’t remember her passwords and gets mad that I don’t know her passwords 😆
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 1 month ago
I use a random assortment of numbers and letters and so forth such as i10v3@N@1
#11
My mom wrote LOL on a post her friend had made about her husband dying..... my mom thought Lol meant lots of love 🤣
#12
My mom thought she got a virus from an email so she sent me the email, adding "click on the link and tell me if you got hacked too"
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago (edited)
My family owns a small business. I'm the only tech-savvy person in my family. I told my mother and sister over and over NEVER click on links in emails and NEVER download attachments. Well, one time my sister downloaded an email attachment on one of the computers at our office, and managed to download ransomware XD Luckily it wasn't our database/server and was just a "client" computer, so I wiped everything and reinstalled the OS to get rid of the ransomware. To my sister's credit, she actually seems to have learned a lesson - she texts me now with "Look at the top email in the business inbox - is it legitimate?"
That said, older generations have a secret weapon that honestly puts the rest of us to shame: patience. When faced with a glitchy screen or buffering video, many simply shrug and say, “I’ll try again later.” While younger users spiral into rage at a slow Wi-Fi connection, Grandma just goes to water her plants. In her world, nothing is ever quite that urgent. She might be onto something, there.
Of course, not all tech mishaps are innocent. There’s always the relative who accidentally Venmos a stranger $500 or clicks on a “You’ve won a cruise!” email. Cybersecurity experts call it phishing, while older folks call it “just being polite.” Either way, it’s a reminder that trust, while beautiful, doesn’t belong on the internet.
#13
My mom went to Verizon store because she was stuck on a level on Candy Crush 🤦🏻♀️
#14
My mom won a jeep half way across the country by bidding on eBay & told the guy she was just learning , didn’t think about shipping costs & was “just observing “….. long story short we now own a piece of c**p jeep that we paid more shipping costs than a new dealership 🙄🙄🙄 never again
FreeTheUnicorn 1 month ago
Why wouldn't you just buy a plane ticket and drive it back? Or rent a car one way? Doesn't matter how big your country is, it won't cost more than a new dealship jeep!
#15
My grandpa will occasionally post what he's searching for into his Facebook 'what's on your mind' section instead. 😂
In the end, the generational tech gap isn’t just funny; it’s a part of the human experience. Every mistaken emoji and misspelled tweet is proof of effort, curiosity, and love. After all, they’re just trying to stay connected in a world that never stops changing. And honestly, we wouldn’t trade those accidental “ALL CAPS” WhatsApp messages for anything.
What do you think of the funny tech trouble stories in this list? Have you got one of your own? Upvote your favorites and don’t be shy to leave a comment if you can relate!
#16
My grandmother thought every comment or post on fb was a message to her and she replied to every single comment on someone’s birthday post saying it’s not her birthday but still thanked them
#17
My dad doesn’t know how to turn on his phones flashlight so he says “hey siri turn on my flashlight”
#18
I had a boss who would email me an attachment, and then ask me to email it back to her when I was done reading it because she still needed it. She thought attaching it to an email took it off her computer. She didn't believe me when I told her she still had it. "I checked. It's gone. I sent it to YOU."
UnclePanda 1 month ago
The CEO's admin assistant at a 4,000 employee business always included the line, "If you don't receive this email, please let me know."
#19
My grandma asked for a bigger phone cause her internet datas endet to fast, she thought bigger phone = more internet
#20
My grandparents posted my wedding photos and then told me the photos I posted are beautiful. They had no idea it was them who posted the photos 🤣
#21
My mom thinks every-time a fake account by a famous actor or musician ask to be her friend is real. She says “oh Brad Pitt asked to be my friend” …for real 🤣
#22
My mom once tried to turn up the volume on our tv. She clicked settings then language (language obvi bc she wanted the language to be louder), then when presented with all the language options she got so confused, started pushing all the remote buttons & ended up switching our tv to German
#23
My mom would finish sentences with "qm" or “ep" to signify a question mark or exclamation point because she couldn't find “the second keyboard with punctuation” on her phone.
#24
My mom changed her job on fb to teacher, idk why because home girl is retired but everyone commented congrats. She was confused why everyone was congratulating her.
#25
I set up Instacart for my mom to use. She ordered 25 pounds of sugar by mistake and that was the end of that. 🤦🏼♀️
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 month ago
My Dad lives in France and said that baking powder was hard to find (no idea why he thinks that) so he ordered what he thought was six sachets of baking powder to be delivered to my house. Turned out to be six 250g bottles of baking powder. He let me keep one, so that was nice.
#26
Every time my mom gets a new phone she creates a new facebook and email account because she doesn’t realize you just log into them.
#27
Typed her entire email to me in the title and then wondered why there was a character limit. Or while texting me, signed every message with love mom
#28
They FaceTime me when they have a problem, but I need the camera to face the screen, not their face. That is really hard for them to understand.
#29
I knew someone whose mom would print articles off the internet and mail them to her
Upstaged75 1 month ago
Yup. My mom has done this. One time my aunt printed out a picture (on paper) that I posted on Facebook and mailed it to me. It was my pic, taken with my phone. 😂 I still have no idea why she did that. 🤷♀️
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