Yesterday, my mom calls me in a state of panic and says, "Kellan, Kellan ... it's me, Mom (*panting*) (and ... I know it's her) ... how do you ... how do you, oh this darn thing ... how do you turn off the printer? It's just printing and spitting out papers (*more panting and grunting*). I've pushed all the buttons - how do you turn it off?"
And ... not long ago she says to me, after missing a call on her cell phone, "Someone just called and it went to my voicemail - I don't know how to get it outta' there."
I was at the nail salon on Monday and there was this woman my mother's age, getting a pedicure (I don't have the time for pedicures - only nails). She was on her cell phone and the call dropped and she said, "Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello," six times. When she reconnected with her party, she then got another call on call-waiting (I say to myself, "uh-oh.") and so she switched over and she said, "Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello," six times. I swear (it was funny)! I tried not to stare at her from across the room, but I couldn't help it. Her daughter needs to tell her to, "Stop doing that - you look ridiculous - it doesn't do any good saying it over and over again." I don't think she ever connected back to any of her calls (poor thing).
We all have dropped calls - we do - but my generation has definitely learned and embraced the concepts of the mobile phone and computer. We've diligently dedicated ourselves to learning all of their features - have pretty successfully moved from land-line phones to mobile phones - can load and unload our printer paper - rather easily. Not my mother and her friends.
Note to Mother: The voicemail is a pretty important feature on the mobile phone and ... it doesn't reconnect the call if you say, "Hello," six times - it doesn't work.
And, while I am capable of flashing over to a call-waiting call without losing both callers, able to retrieve my voice mail messages daily, able to set my alarm, use my phone calculator and take pictures ... I have to admit that I have yet to master texting (*sigh*).
One day recently, I was making the attempt to text a message to one of my daughters and there I was: (e,e,e,)=C, (e)=A, (eee)=L, (eee)=L, (e)=M, (ee)=E (CALL ME) - it took me 20 minutes to enter this one message (after all the mistakes, starting over erroneously, having difficulty with the sending of it ...). This is where I will be technologically left behind by my children's generation. It starts with the texting and will just go on from there (not that I have ever grasped the concepts of the telegraph, radio waves, microwaves, electricity, airplanes ...).
My brother lives in an older house and on the wall in his kitchen is a wall mounted, rotary dial phone. One of those we used to actually have to lease to have in our houses. Every so often, I intentionally use this phone to make outgoing calls - just so I can use that rotary dial. Those were the good ole' days - when the phone was always in the same place you left it, the mechanics of the thing were self explanatory and they came in colors to match your kitchen appliances.
My kids - they all ignore the rotary phone at my brother's house. I think they are confused by it. Scared of it. Can't quite figure out how to use it. I'm not sure what they think of this relic - but, I love it. It represents a simpler time (not that I want to go back).
On the upside ... my mother has me to help her with the gadgets she doesn't understand and my girls are thrilled that their daddy is fixing up his old 1969 Mustang for them. It won't have airbags, power steering, power breaks or power windows - but I'm sure he could paint it to match their cell phones or IPODS ... if they just want to text him and ask (cuz that's all they do ya know - text all day long - you can't a.c.t.u.a.l.l.y talk to these children!).