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30 Examples Of “Teaching Your Grandparents To Use The Internet” From Previous Generations
If you are of a certain age, then you will be familiar with the experience of returning home, perhaps for the holidays, and immediately being forced into becoming the family IT person. There are always new devices to set up, routers to set up and strange questions about the internet to try and answer. However, the truth is that you are by no means the first to have this sort of trial at home.
Someone asked “Older people, what was the equivalent of teaching your grandparents to use the internet, when you were growing up?” and netizens gave their best answers. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the best examples and be sure to add your own thoughts to the comments below.
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#1
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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#2
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
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 11 months ago
My Poppy (grandfather) was fascinated with my [cheap dollar shop knockoff] Tamagotchi when they first came out in the 90s :) We babysat that thing like a chook on her nest waiting for baby chickens.
#3
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.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
That is a very astute observation. I'm also around your age, and what you wrote hit me between the eyes. Wow! So true!
Kelly Scott 11 months ago
I still think it's all in the head. My dad jumped right on the computer and used it to look up all his old buddies from the Korean war. My mom wouldn't even her about her learning to drive and didn't even want to look at a computer. I love computers and love to get into their innards and see what command makes them do what. Most people my age and older seem to be in one of two camps. Some of them can sit down and make a computer all but sing. The other kinds of people don't want anything to do with them. I think they're missing out big time, but what can you do?
S Bow 11 months ago
This is my parents exactly, except mom was the computer savvy one, dad used to brag that he didn't even know how to turn one on.
Load More Replies... Dawn Marie 11 months ago
I also agree. What really upsets me and I am 60 years of age is that technology come with no guides as you say. We are already suppose to know how to work the device and all the programs. I don't think so.
Peter Bear 11 months ago
Gen X onward are the generations that are so used to change that we expect it as a matter of course. The world moves far, far faster for us than it did for previous generations.
#4
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.
Mia Black 11 months ago
This is my grandma. She always thought there was no money because she was handed only as much as necessary cash to buy food. Everything else grandpa did. And now the son, because she is es to old now to understand
Messy Mushroom 10 months ago
The financial control is so strong it has passed down to the next generation 😞
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Blue Bunny of Happiness 11 months ago
I’m still trying to persuade my Mum (92) that you don’t need to swipe your contactless card across the machine to pay, she can just hold it up to the machine. I don’t expect to win….
#5
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!”
Deborah 11 months ago
My uncle would always start talking before the beep so we always had to ask him what he said and remind him when to start talking.
Load More Replies... Damned_Cat 11 months ago
I remember my aunt and uncle's answering machine message: "We're not home. Leave a message." "What now? This button? Did it work? F*****g thing!"
Khavrinen 11 months ago
Back in the late '80s there was a commercial for a voice mail service I loved, where two guys are reading the manual for an answering machine. "This button starts the recording. Don't touch it you'll break it. This button stops the recording. Don't touch it you'll break it. Hey, it's broken. Did you touch it?"
#6
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.
Tempest 11 months ago
100 years old and using FaceTime regularly! She’s doing great! My grandma never owned a mobile phone and reading these made me realise that smart phones must have been so alien to her. I remember giving her my phone to video chat with her family living abroad and getting annoyed at her never being able to hold the phone correctly to stay in frame of the video. Sometimes she would even just hold the phone to her ear despite it being a video call. Was so funny!
camomooey 11 months ago
My fourth grade teacher (in about 1965) brought us a magazine article that she had found, with drawings of table phones with screens so you could see the person you were talking to. I remember thinking that would never work because the person on the other end would have to have one too, and that would never happen. You would have to be rich to do that. And now look where we are. LOL
#7
Family legend has it that my farmer grandad (still with us, in his 90s now) tried to stop his first tractor by shouting 'whoa!' at it, like he would with his draft horse. The tractor, obviously, ignored him entirely, and grandad and the machine ended up in the canal.
M O'Connell 11 months ago
There was a very short period of time in the early 20th century when rein-operated tractors existed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXXa03wf52k
Zaach 11 months ago
There were some tractors that had a hole in the engine where you could stick a lit cigarette to start the engine
Load More Replies... Kelly Scott 11 months ago
Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose, tells how when her father, Almanzo, first learned to drive, he used to pull back on the steering wheel and shout "Whoa". He also tried to use his foot for the brake like he would on a wagon and instead accelerated the car and had his first accident.
#8
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.
Nils Skirnir 11 months ago
Prior to the sixties in the US it was common for women to not drive and not vote.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
All the women in my family drove cars and voted as soon as they were able. They were mid-western Americans, and independent, and loved to travel. What part of the U.S. were you from? By the 60's, I don't remember a woman who wasn't able to drive. The problem was the families usually only had one car, and the man usually drove it to work. Mom wouldn't stand for it, and lucky for her, Dad drove a company truck. She drove like she was slaking her thirst.
Load More Replies... #9
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."
Featherytoad 11 months ago
That's pretty much me with the microwave. Water and the occasional frozen dinner and thawing chili. It's just a big expensive clock/timer.
Hobby Hopper 11 months ago
Queue the Brits asking why you don't have a kettle.
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#10
My grandmother - born 1888 - never learned to drive and always referred to my grandfather's car as "the machine".
Geoffrey Scott 11 months ago
She must have been very forward thinking, not the 'infernal machine' just the machine.
#11
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.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
The year I graduated from college, we had a guest speaker raving about how the world would change with computers. My family and friends called hand-held calculators "computers". I thought he was full of hot air and worked on a lesson the whole presentation. The following year the college got its first computers. I was such an idiot.
Pferdchen 11 months ago (edited)
If it's any consolation, when Al Gore made a presentation to our I.T. department about the Internet, my reaction was "So what's the big deal? I use FidoNet and CompuServe and Hyperties" already." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interactive_Encyclopedia_System
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Judy Reynolds 11 months ago
I took a data processing course in high school, using punch cards. We had to colour in the places that should be punched out, because the school had no computers.
Brian Droste 11 months ago
My school got there first computers the year after I graduated. Wish they got there first computers a year earlier.
booknerd 11 months ago
Computers came out around the time I was a senior in high school. I entered trade school when I left and asked my advisor to sign me up for computer classes. She disagreed, saying she believed offices still needed someone who could take dictation. This was 1985. Guess who failed dictation, then dropped out.
#12
This reminded me that my Grandma who was in her nineties and had email, thought that the email was “delivered” to her inbox by people. My mom would tell her she sent her something and my Grandma would say “Well, they probably haven’t delivered it yet” when most likely it was in spam. So cute, I miss her. She’s also the one that told me in her 80’s that she still feels the same as she did when she was 18. She meant in her head, not physically. She’s right, you do feel the same.
Senjo Krane 11 months ago
That's the sucky thing about getting old. Your mind thinks you're young but your body proves you wrong. Every. damn. day.
Brian Droste 11 months ago
I am 65. I want to do more physically but my body won't let me do that. Plus my mind is not it used to be.
#13
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.
Auntriarch 11 months ago
My great grandmother left plugs in the sockets because she was afraid that "the lective" would run out of the holes if they weren't blocked. Though I believe her motivation was expense rather than safety
BarfyCat 11 months ago (edited)
My father-in-law used to tell the story of electricity finally coming to the family farm. He was around 10. At night, after everyone had gone to bed, he went and pulled the string to turn the light on. Then he ran away from home because he didn't know how to turn it off and knew he was going to a a whooping! 😂 Don't worry, he came back home, got his whooping and learned his lesson!
#14
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.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
My mom pitched a fit when Comcast changed the style of their remote. She scheduled a tech to come over to explain what all those buttons meant. God love her, but man was she a menace with new technology.
Catmom 11 months ago (edited)
I'm pretty good with my PC, tablet, and phone, but I don't even know how to turn on our TV and I have no idea what any of those five remotes do. If my spouse goes first, I guess I'll watch everything on a computer.
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Sara Frazer 11 months ago
I don't know why but when I first read this I thought it said she was a gynecologist, I was like "what does that have to do with anything??" 😂🤦
#15
I'm 27 but my mom's favorite story about technology from her time was trying to introduce her grandmother to TVs.
She had refused to buy one since the day they came out because she didn't understand them and it scared her. When she got too old to live on her own, she had to move in with her daughter and granddaughters (my grandparents and mom/aunt's house) and it was the 1970s so they obviously had TVs.
She was basically immobile and sat in her favorite chair all day in a slip/nightgown kind of dress. They had to turn her chair around if they wanted to watch TV and she wasn't decent for company because she was 100% convinced that the people could see her. She thought that like, as they were watching the Brady Bunch on TV, they were doing the same thing but watching my mom's family. She was Irish catholic so modesty was a huge deal for her and she'd complain the whole time the TV was on about how uncouth it is for the young men and husbands in these TV shows to be watching ladies wearing bed clothes in their own homes. The only way she would watch TV with everyone was if someone helped her into a sunday dress and did her hair and makeup. And then she'd sit there poised in the chair like she was on a talk show smiling and occasionally waving at the people on TV.
*edit because a lot of people are getting confused, this was my great grandmother who was born in 1896 and this took place in the 1970s when she was in her 80s. It did not happen recently so you can stop calling my great grandmother dumb for not understanding how a TV works.
Geoffrey Scott 11 months ago
Laugh if you will, but who says satellite boxes only receive? I did not change what I did in my life, but.. We got tired of $90/mo bills and are OTA now, don't miss it.
Brian Droste 11 months ago
90 dollar bill. Wish my satellite bill was 90 a month. Mu bill right now is 130 a month.
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Petra Peitsch 11 months ago
Nowadays people think that 5G gives you cancer or Covid-vaccine ... so, yeah, that great-great grandma wasn't really dumb, because she at least saw some people in a box in her own living room.
#16
A record player. They have 3 speeds, 33 rpm for LPs, 45 rpm for singles and 78 rpm for the old timey records.
My grandparents had theirs set to 33. I was messing around with it and left it at 45. They called my parents ranting that I broken it. I told them how to fix by just moving the control that highly visible at the front.
The next time I visited they accused me again of breaking it. I had to change the setting and was told never to touch it again. The irony was completely lost on them.
Kevin Hickey 11 months ago
My friends and I once played "Night Moves" by Bob Seger at 45 instead of 33. Possibly the most we ever laughed in our lives. I remember my face hurt for days. Picture Alvin and the Chipmunks singing, "Ain't it funny how the night moves, when you just don't seem to haaaave as much to lose!"
Lee Gilliland 11 months ago
And different sizes so you could tell which was which.
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#17
Convincing a grandparent that he was not going to be able to replace his manual shift car with a newer car that was going to have the shift lever on the steering column like he was used to.
**EDIT:** Some of the comments indicate people are confused, I am not talking about the AUTOMATIC transmission lever on the steering column. That was there because the manual shift was on the column before automatic transmissions were a thing. Standard H-pattern MANUAL stick shift but located on the steering column, not on the floor. You need to step on the CLUTCH with your left foot to shift the gears. It was called "three on the tree".
Still confused: [Column shift '55 Ford](https://youtu.be/La1dkKcVyc0)
Bored Trash Panda 11 months ago
I've driven a 'three on the tree" before. So cool to drive but unfortunately my s****y knee won't allow me to drive manual anymore.
Brian Droste 11 months ago
My dad had a truck that had the shift lever on the column. Not standard but manual shift as OP mentioned. I new what OP meant also.
ॐBoyGanesh 11 months ago (edited)
Three on the tree or four on the floor! I learned to drive in 1987 in a VW Bug & an old Ford truck (both manual) in San Francisco, up and down the steep street we lived on. My main learning route was up and down Divisadero in Pacific/Jackson Hgts. Still think balancing the clutch & gas is easier on the streets of SF than holding down the break with full force and quickly gassing it.
RajunCajun 11 months ago
they were not all that old, my dad had a truck from the 70's that had a column shift. And I believe one of my friends had an F150 from the 80's with one too.
#18
Taping the bit of cardboard over the remote so that only the power, channel, and volume buttons are showing.
A girl 11 months ago
Only by accident. My husband rolled over the remote one night and engaged closed captioning. Took a couple days to figure out how to turn it off.
Load More Replies... #19
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.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
My dad was scammed out of everything. I understand your trepidation.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
A friend's grandma was nearly taken in by the infamous Nigerian prince. Luckily friend's mom caught it in time.
Kelly Scott 11 months ago
I honestly had a hard time understanding the difference between a credit card and a debit card at first. Mainly because I grew up with credit cards and understood their concept.
Nicole Weymann 11 months ago
I'm in the other end of that spectrum: I only got my very first credit card half a year ago in my mid 40s, and only because/for online shopping. I've had a debit card for more than half my life.
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Lisa Russell 11 months ago
It helps to scaffold the learning process by comparing it to something already known: “It’s like an IOU grandpa, only you have to pay the money back within a month or you get charged a huge amount of interest every month and it keeps piling up until you pay all of it back”.
Don't listen to me 11 months ago (edited)
Well i don't understand. My father was in the RAF during the war too and he understood perfectly well what credit cards were & was very careful about his money. My mother was too, and even after he passed used her credit card over the phone to buy stuff from catalogues & kept perfectly good track of it.
Deborah 11 months ago
Some people grasp new ideas and technology faster than others.
Load More Replies... #20
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.
Irina Anirisi 11 months ago
So was there a third language you spoke at home? I cannot seem to put my finger on it.
#21
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.
RajunCajun 11 months ago
that might just have been an excuse to spend time with his son and still sound manly.
Helen Rohrlach 11 months ago
There are still a few 90 year old farmers around that have gone from horse drawn ploughs to auto steer.
#22
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 prompt
THAT'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
#23
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!
BookFanatic 11 months ago
Honestly, the idea of a "hair saloon" is making me giggle. Picture old-timey cowpokes bellying up to the bar with pink rollers.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
I won a Sharp Carousel convection/microwave in 1978. It was the easiest thing ever, and lasted over 30 years! I kept the stilt racks and use them all the time. Sure wish I still had it! All dials, no push pads.
Kevin Hickey 11 months ago
Some of the first microwaves came with a device that would light up if it was hit with microwaves. You could put it inside and it would light up. The point was that you could place it in front of the oven to "prove" that none of the waves were escaping.
Kelly Scott 11 months ago
My mom wouldn't touch a microwave until I showed her how I microwaved bacon in it. Her response? "Imagine that!"
#24
When I was around 12 my parents got my grandparents a cassette player. This was not new technology by any means, but my Nana and Grandad had only ever listened to the radio or records, so it was new to THEM. My parents gave them some tapes to listen to (I think I may even have made them a mix tape of some of their old favourites), but when they first plugged the cassette player in my grandparents just turned it on, pressed 'play' (with no tape inside) and watched the little wheels turn. It was like magic to them, they were so delighted by the whole thing.
Tempest 11 months ago (edited)
I can understand their fascination! Being a gen-z person cassettes were pretty much becoming archaic when I was a kid. My parents had one of those massive cassette players (a standalone inside a glass box that’s as tall as a person) and while they did teach us to use it, what we enjoyed the most was putting in cassettes to watch them turn inside and then taking them out to rewind (?) them manually. There were so many cassettes laying around so plenty to mess around with! Think we ruined some of their valued cassettes by doing so!
RajunCajun 11 months ago
I remember the first time I saw a CD spin and could not believe how fast it was going.
#25
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
PFD 11 months ago
Early toasters had a heating element in the middle and racks on the outside for the bread. They only toasted one side at a time (like making toast under a grill/broiler). On some that I've seen, you pressed a button and the racks would physically flip around.
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T'Mar of Vulcan 11 months ago
I have a modern toaster and still have to turn the bread so it gets evenly toasted!
#26
My father (born 1922) told me his grandfather refused to believe in radios, he figured someone was pulling his leg.
#27
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.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
When we got our first microwave, my dad taught me how to use it properly. He came home and the microwave was utterly fried. Immediately accused me of not listening. After a lot of tears and a lot of nine-year-old screeching...Mom 'fessed up that she'd wrapped a potato in tinfoil and zapped it for 20 minutes. LoL
Brian Droste 11 months ago
Now days you wouldn't be able to change the tvs manually anymore because everything is remote control now. I wish they still would put manual buttons on tvs.
RajunCajun 11 months ago
the first tv in my house with a remote had a cord that plugged into the tv. I loved it because until then, I was the remote.
#28
My dad tried to turn my CDs over like records in the early 90s.
Brian Droste 11 months ago
To be truthful, when they first came out and I got one I wasn't sure myself if they were recoŕeded on one side or both. After looking at the disc I realized they were recored on one side due to the fact they had print on one side the music had to be on one side.
RajunCajun 11 months ago
to be fare, laser disks did need to be turned over, and my Dad was hot stuff when he got one that could play both sides and not need to be flipped.
#29
Teaching my parents how to hook up the Atari to the TV. My dad could hook up a VCR and use it, my mom couldn't, but neither could do the Atari. Plus, I was also small enough to fit behind the TV without them needing move anything...wait....
#30
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!”
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
I wish my dad had heard about scams. We had no idea he'd given everything to a Caribbean con artist, and even talked friends and family into loaning him more. The duns on his answering service were chilling, and sent to our state attorney general. He died totally wiped out. He could have lived a comfortable retirement. He also must have been brainwashed that his kids wanted his money, because he refused to tell us anything about his finances, yet he was considered perfectly sane. Take this as a warning, if your parents/grands get secretive and suspicious of you. Much more is known about scam methods these days, and physicians are able help too, if you need to step in to protect them.
M O'Connell 11 months ago
My mother is only 70 and still has 100% of her mental faculties (and frankly can be a better money manager than I can), but we've had this conversation. Someday she'll encounter a scam and not realize what it is, and that if she is going to spend more than $1000 she should probably run it past me first.
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#32
Somewhat pertaining to the thread:
I asked my grandpa (born ~1930s) what the "devil technology" was when he was growing up.
He said his parents refused to have a television in the house, because it'll ruin them. He and his friends had to run off to the barber shop anytime they wanted to watch TV.
Also, automatic windows in cars are evil. According to his dad, "If you're too lazy to roll up a window, you're too lazy to drive a car."
Geoffrey Scott 11 months ago
I'm with him on lane keep and adaptive cruise. Daughter, grandson and us drove to NC in her '18 Edge. "Hey Dad, wanna drive for a while?".."sure"---cars starts using these features.."turn them off, ALL of them"
Jan Rosier 11 months ago
same with automatic headlights, the kind that come on when it gets dark... result : daytime, light enough for the headlights to stay off, but rather foggy... result : bunch of dorks without headlights on the road
Load More Replies... #33
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.
#34
I’m not that old, but was raised by my great-grandparents. When my great grandfather passed away it came to light that my great grandmother did not and still to this day does not know how to pump gas. She refuses to learn.
beryl_m_green 11 months ago
I have to admit this one is still a thing. I live in a country where we still have attendants to do the pumping for us. On the one occasion I had the opportunity to visit a country where you have to pump your own, I found myself staring blankly at the machine. The friend I was visiting was a passanger & had to jump out and come and do it for me, even though she doesn't have her own car. And this was in 2017 and I was only 40. Long may our friendly, helpful and expert attendants continue.
#35
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.
Geoffrey Scott 11 months ago
Wife and I considered pre-pays. Too much of a ceremony, in our opinion. Ended up with Consumer Cellular. No home phone anymore so $60/mo works.
#36
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.
M O'Connell 11 months ago
In case anyone was curious, the old "clicker" style remote used a mechanical hammer to strike an ultrasonic tuning fork, producing sound at a specific frequency above the human range of hearing. A microphone in the TV would 'hear' this, amplify the signal and logic circuitry would perform the desired action. How many functions the remote had depended on how much you were willing to pay.
#37
My mom is in her 70s now and everything about technology confounds her.
As a kid, I showed her how to turn on the TV with the remote and how to use the VCR. (She would still get confused which remote was for which.)
As a teenager, I showed her how to type on the word processor. (But she couldn’t get it and asked me to type things for her.)
In my 20s, it was how to go online and use the World Wide Web. (She thought it was a fad and a waste to learn about it.)
In my life 30s, it was social media. (She reacted like Kathy Bates in Waterboy.)
My dad constantly buys my mom the latest technology —- she has an iPhone 11, a Fitbit, and an Apple Watch —- and she has no clue how to use any of it.
I wish my dad would stop buying her tech.
#38
VCRs. They were all slightly different and getting them to record TV programs at specific times was somehow guaranteed to fail.
And if it went awry you could be pretty sure that episode of the X-files or whatever would not be broadcast again for a year or two.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
My high school insisted on using Betamax, even when they were being supplanted by VHS. It was an expensive goof.
M O'Connell 11 months ago
It's always surprised me that people continued to complain about VCRs well into the 90s and 2000s after they started using a graphical programming interface. I can completely understand the confusion back when you had to physically set timer dials and pre-tune the intended station.
#40
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.
#41
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.
#42
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.
Geoffrey Scott 11 months ago
No, she stayed in shape running from the sabre toothed tigers LOL
#43
A few things my grandmother can't do (she's 92):
1) Pump gas
2) Drive with one foot: she uses one foot for gas and the other for braking (yes her brakes need to be replaced regularly)
3) Get money out of an ATM
4) Operate a remote for TV, so she just keeps it on CBC, and she doesn't like the HD channel, so it's fuzzy.
5) Use a phone for local/long distance. Apparently there were fewer numbers back in the day. (No, not fewer numbers on the phone itself - still ten, but apparently you only had to dial 7 numbers instead of 10 because no area code).
6) Set the time on her microwave and oven.
7) She has internet and doesn't use it for anything, because she can't send/access emails.
And no this is not age related, she has always been unable to do these things. Also, it is impressive she's still driving, but probably not for much longer.
Love you grandma
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
My husband was taught to drive by his mother, who braked with her left foot. He was never able to learn to drive a shift, which was a problem back when I had my pickup trucks, as automatics were hard to come by. Good thing for him I have arthritis.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
I remember 5. When it went into effect I used to get so angry that I couldn't dial my friends (because who knows their area codes when they're a kid?). Mom had to write out the complete numbers for everyone.
Papa 11 months ago
I can well remember only needing to dial five digits for local calls. For example, my local exchange was 825, so you'd dial the 5, and then the last four digits.
Load More Replies... Geoffrey Scott 11 months ago
Quite common for olders to drive with 2 feet. When we moved north in '74 from Lansing Mich after GM got their pound of flesh out of Dad, you called using the last 4 numbers. BTW party lines aren't nearly as fun as they sound.
#44
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.
#45
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"
#47
Of all the possible things: zucchini
They weren't a common vegetable at the time, not to speak of cultivating them. When I plopped a few seeds in the cucumber plot my grandmother was *horrified* by the devil's weed. It was a good year, the leaves were as big as an umbrella, understandably a bit startling. Once curiosity won over suspicion of new things zucchini became a staple in the village.
Sadly. I don't *like* zucchini, only wanted to grow some random seeds for the fun of it. Soup, bread, salad, even CAKE, everything was suddenly made with them. Hork.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
I let my first zucchini grow into giants. They were awful. Then I realized they were to be eaten when small. Now I'm not that fond of them either.
#48
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.
#51
Ok Mom, one more time. Turn on the TV, turn on the VCR. Press input on the remote. Put the tape in the machine and press play.
Shaggy 11 months ago
I am 55, a tech guy for the last 25 years and that is too much for me... LOL.. we must have been rich as 1 button would do everything besides put the tape in for you. Heck, My last one automatically changed the input once a tape was inserted. I think all my DVD players did that. Still remember the TV/VCR or game switches on the back of the tv. Streaming, has unfortunately, brought back the input conundrum...
#52
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.
#53
"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?"
#54
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.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
My mom never had her own cell phone (her choice, I offered several times to get her one), but she was fascinated with mine. She'd eagerly ask me who she could text whenever I came over. God bless my best friend, who was usually the target of Mom's weirdly formatted and misspelled text missive.
#55
Teaching them how to record the greeting on the answering machine. Or how to leave a message on one.
#56
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!
beryl_m_green 11 months ago
I had almost the opposite problem with my parents and mouse clicks. My Dad was keen on innovation, so we got a computer early, and the double-click came naturally when it started. Then, many years later, it was no longer needed & stopped being a thing. My Dad never could learn NOT to double-click. I spent many hours undoing the confusion created by all those extra clicks that happened randomly somewhere on the screen with who knows what program activated.
PFD 11 months ago
I have no clue what that bit with the numbers means. Guess I don't know how to use a microwave either.
Robin 11 months ago
If you enter 1-0-0 on a microwave it will cook for 1 minute, if you enter 6-0 on a microwave it will cook for 60 seconds (1 minute), if you enter 9-0 it will cook for 90 seconds (1 minute 30 seconds).
Load More Replies... #58
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.
#59
Not an equivalent, but one of my grandmothers never got the hang of tearing glad wrap (cling wrap) with the edge of the box.
What do you think ?
Little Bit 11 months ago
Slightly off topic but my mum was born in the 1940s before washing machines were co commonplace in homes. To do the washing by hand involved dolly tubs, poshers, mangles and many buckets of hot water. Fast forward to the 1980s when most people had automatic washing machines. Not my mum. She had this godawful thing called a twin tub which was basically an electronic version of the old dolly tub etc. It took up most of the kitchen, it was noisy and it didn't save any time at all because she was constantly having to put each individual item of clothing into the tub, then the spinner, then something else. I kept well out of her way on washing day because she was always in a bad mood and complaining about how it took all day. I tried to persuade her many times to get an automatic machine but she insisted that her way was the right and only way to do it. She finally got one in 1996 and then she raved about how fantastic it was and how it saved her so much time and energy.
T'Mar of Vulcan 11 months ago
My mother totally believed that twin tubs got your clothes cleaner than automatics. She refused to get one. We (brother and I, who inherited the house) only got an automatic after she died.
Load More Replies... Little Bit 11 months ago
My dad was hopeless with technology. He could manage the VCR and always drove the most basic of cars. I just don't think it interested him. He was, however, a carpenter and could make beautiful things with wood. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
Public librarian here. A couple times a week I have to explain that librarians don't automatically know how every device in the world works. We also don't know your email passwords. And the mouse will probably work better if you turn it around (he'd flipped it so the buttons were under the heel of his hand and he was tapping the mouse's butt). Also, just because you zoom in on the screen doesn't mean the printer will print it that size.
Grazina Strolia 11 months ago
Our father's mother, on spending her first night in a home with electricity, tried to blow out the light and when it didn't go out, spent the rest of the night sitting up and reading because she didn't know what else to do.
Lee Gilliland 11 months ago
This one is REALLY odd. When I was a kid, my grandpa would tie my ponytail with a string ( and was good at it!) because when his kids were growing up in the 1920s and 1930s rubber bands hadn't been invented!
Auntriarch 11 months ago
My mother absolutely hates learning new tech, she's not stupid at all, just got a bee in her bonnet about it. But my word she picked up texting pretty fast during lockdown when she had to in order to keep in touch with the grandkids. She wrangles that smart phone like an expert now
T'Mar of Vulcan 11 months ago
When DVD players first came out, bro and I showed our dad (born in 1928) how to put in the DVD, navigate the menu, etc. At this stage you could buy DVDs at flea markets, and some were not the 'real' DVDS (if you know what I mean). So one day bro asks Dad if he enjoyed the latest movie we got him (some kung fu movie about alternate realities). Dad goes, "It was fine, but there were people talking over it the whole time and it was hard to hear the dialogue." It turned out that audio track 1 on the DVD was the commentary track!!!
Hell'n Damnation 11 months ago
My mother couldn't (wouldn't!) use the volume control on the radio - she'd just put it a bit off the station. Drove me mad.
Little Bit 11 months ago
Slightly off topic but my mum was born in the 1940s before washing machines were co commonplace in homes. To do the washing by hand involved dolly tubs, poshers, mangles and many buckets of hot water. Fast forward to the 1980s when most people had automatic washing machines. Not my mum. She had this godawful thing called a twin tub which was basically an electronic version of the old dolly tub etc. It took up most of the kitchen, it was noisy and it didn't save any time at all because she was constantly having to put each individual item of clothing into the tub, then the spinner, then something else. I kept well out of her way on washing day because she was always in a bad mood and complaining about how it took all day. I tried to persuade her many times to get an automatic machine but she insisted that her way was the right and only way to do it. She finally got one in 1996 and then she raved about how fantastic it was and how it saved her so much time and energy.
T'Mar of Vulcan 11 months ago
My mother totally believed that twin tubs got your clothes cleaner than automatics. She refused to get one. We (brother and I, who inherited the house) only got an automatic after she died.
Load More Replies... Little Bit 11 months ago
My dad was hopeless with technology. He could manage the VCR and always drove the most basic of cars. I just don't think it interested him. He was, however, a carpenter and could make beautiful things with wood. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
BookFanatic 11 months ago
Public librarian here. A couple times a week I have to explain that librarians don't automatically know how every device in the world works. We also don't know your email passwords. And the mouse will probably work better if you turn it around (he'd flipped it so the buttons were under the heel of his hand and he was tapping the mouse's butt). Also, just because you zoom in on the screen doesn't mean the printer will print it that size.
Grazina Strolia 11 months ago
Our father's mother, on spending her first night in a home with electricity, tried to blow out the light and when it didn't go out, spent the rest of the night sitting up and reading because she didn't know what else to do.
Lee Gilliland 11 months ago
This one is REALLY odd. When I was a kid, my grandpa would tie my ponytail with a string ( and was good at it!) because when his kids were growing up in the 1920s and 1930s rubber bands hadn't been invented!
Auntriarch 11 months ago
My mother absolutely hates learning new tech, she's not stupid at all, just got a bee in her bonnet about it. But my word she picked up texting pretty fast during lockdown when she had to in order to keep in touch with the grandkids. She wrangles that smart phone like an expert now
T'Mar of Vulcan 11 months ago
When DVD players first came out, bro and I showed our dad (born in 1928) how to put in the DVD, navigate the menu, etc. At this stage you could buy DVDs at flea markets, and some were not the 'real' DVDS (if you know what I mean). So one day bro asks Dad if he enjoyed the latest movie we got him (some kung fu movie about alternate realities). Dad goes, "It was fine, but there were people talking over it the whole time and it was hard to hear the dialogue." It turned out that audio track 1 on the DVD was the commentary track!!!
Hell'n Damnation 11 months ago
My mother couldn't (wouldn't!) use the volume control on the radio - she'd just put it a bit off the station. Drove me mad.
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