Younger generation can’t think of a day,
without their smart phone as it has become an integral part of their life. But
the same is not the case with older generation especially our parents and
grandparents. Since operation of smart phone need little bit of learning, parents
are always reluctant to use it for themselves.
My mom was also no different from all other
people in her age group, she thought handling smart phone is a herculean task
and it is not her cup of coffee. Whenever I would bring the topic of purchasing
a smart phone, she will say “I am happy with my keypad phone”. But she also wanted to own smart phone, so that she can watch her serials on it.
This time when I was at home, fortunately her
phone went for a toss and she needed a new phone now. I somehow convinced her
to buy a new smart phone with little reluctance she agreed to buy it. Since I
know her well, I proposed, she take my phone and I will buy a new phone for
myself. Reason if she is not comfortable with the usage of a commodity, she
will either give it someone or won’t use it at all. I didn’t want latter to happen but my mom
insisted on buying a new phone for herself.
Next thing, I booked a phone for her through
Amazon along with the cover and tamperproof glass. When the phone arrived, she
was happy but its usage troubled her but with my presence around, she was
little chilled. I installed all the necessary apps in her phone and made it usable
for her use. I even transferred all her contacts from her previous phone to the
new one.
That afternoon, I sat with her and taught her
how to make and receive calls along with reading sms’s. I made her repeat each
activity multiple times in my presence, so that she was through with it.
Initially she was little furious and wanted to switch to her old phone or buy a
similar phone. So, I lied to her that, one you put a sim in smart phone we
can’t use in normal phones you need to get a new sim for it. She believed me
and things turned in my favor again.
For a week every day, I used to sit with her
and train her on the usage of smart phone. In a week’s time she was able to
receive call and make calls by herself, even delete messages too. Then I
introduced her to WhatsApp, the most happening app on her phone. Over period of
time, she learned to read message on WhatsApp and view video files. Till now she hasn’t learned to forward or
send messages in WhatsApp because she doesn’t want to learn it and I can’t push
her much.
One place where my efforts were minimal in
terms of training her on smart phone usage was, to watch her favorite serials
in Hotstar. I taught the entire process to her only twice and she grabbed it
instantly. Next day onwards she was on hotstar watching her shows with no
support from my end. It made wonder, how she learned it so soon, whereas for
other things I was struggling with her.
The same happened, when I introduced her to
YouTube and she learned it at a faster pace. She even asked me question about
how to search for videos and I showed her the process but she was not
interested to learn about it much. Due to artificial intelligence, YouTube
suggested her videos based on her previous searches.
Now she plays bhajans both in morning and
evening in YouTube and watches culinary videos. Early morning bhajans used to
hamper my beauty sleeps so sometimes I used to turn off her phone net. Since
she didn’t know about it, I told her network issue and she bought my statement.
Her ignorance was a bliss for me in this case.
Within a month’s time she was comfortable with
the phone and had mastered things which mattered to her the most, especially
hotstar and YouTube. Since I was around, she would reach out to me when she
goofed up things.
Now when I ask her “do you want to switch to
your keypad phone”? and she jokingly says YES, then I ask her, how will you watch
your serials then? Then she doesn’t say anything and brushes off the question
with a smile. I strongly feel the main reason for our parents to use to smart
phone is to watch serials. Because one of my cousin’s mom told her son, she
just wants a smart phone now when her old phone got damaged. When I asked the
purpose of smart phone to her, she told me “I want to watch serials without
anyone’s disturbance and at my pace”. Finally, her son bought her a smart phone
and now she is also a pro in watching serials on phone.
I had two selfish motives for getting a smart
phone for my mom, firstly I wanted my phone to be with me, as she wanted to see
her serials on my phone. Secondly, I wanted to do video calls with her anytime
when I want. Because in the absence of smart phone, we both had to rely on
others for video calls and it irritated me.
So, all you guys who are reading this, please
get a smart phone to your parents and also train them in its usage with utmost
care and patience. Their reluctance to the usage of smart phone is not because
they don’t like it but because they aren’t confident about its usage by
themselves. With us kids around I don’t think this should be a herculean task
for our parents.
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