Your parents + tech = Comedy gold

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

My parents are over 60, but both are proficient with computers... Even things like when I told them about internet explored being rubbish, and that they should get Chrome instead, the next time I visited them they had both replaced their browsers!

My mum is also an Excel genius! She is seriously damn good! I phone her whenever I am trying to do something complicated on it...!

Came home once to find they had a new TV... not only that but it had surround sound, and internet capabilities (which had required an add on wi-fi dongle) and they had set it all up fully fuctioning, and worked out how to use it! Hell... I still get confused with theirs! :S (Probably because I have a smart TV, and all my stuff is Samsung, so it pretty much sorts itself out when I turn it on! )

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

My mum thought 'wireless system' meant no wires at all, not even a power adapter...she still complains about how the router is not really a wireless system.

The other day I was setting up BT Vision for her (Tv that works through the broadband) and she expected the Ethernet plugs (that allow communication through the power supply) to work without being plugged into either the router or the set top box.

I think she expects it to work by magic or something.

 

[Lady Lucky]

One time my mom said the printer wasn't working so I went downstairs and the printer was out of paper. Common enough, but then I looked at the print queue, and she had clicked print over 300 times!

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

My parents are both pretty good with computers, but only when it comes to programs and software. My mum worked as a secretary at one of the very first software firms and my dad was among the first people to start using e-mail seriously as a marketing tool (e-mailing supermarket deals to corporations)

But they suck with hardware. My dad loves iPods and iPads, but every time he gets one he asks me or my sister to set it up for him because he is entirely incapable of it. And apparently when I'm not at home the entire family doesn't watch DVDs, because they don't know how to change the SCART cable on the back of the tv from the freeview box to the DVD and back again. I haven't been home in 11 months fourteen days. Quite likely my parents will never watch DVDs again in their entire lives, simply because I'm not there to change the cable for them.

 

[surg3n]

My mom's funny. Imagine a fat old woman singing and dancing to ''I'm sexy and I know it'' in her car... reminded me a little of Apocalypse Lane, when the old tentacle lady listens to rap .

 

[MammothBlade]

My dad is a self-proclaimed technophobe when it comes to computers. He does not have a clue how to use them. He's hopeless. But I think it's partly because he's reluctant to go anywhere near one or experiment for himself. He just knows that the computer can do 3 basic things: read email, browse "websites", and print off documents - and he doesn't have a clue how to do it himself.

 

[an annoyed writer]

Funny stories about parents with computers huh? Well, I have a protip for you guys: If you want the family computer to be replaced by a vastly superior model, just let your mom get drunk and use the old computer while drunk. There's a good chance that the computer will suffer damage from said drunken operation(especially if it's a Compaq Presario... ugh) and will need replacement. Then, use your tech-savvyness to go and acquire a newer computer with better specs. They broke it, they replace it. Shitty computer problem solved. This happened my accident when it happened to me, but it doesn't mean someone can't use this strategy to replace their shitty 5-year-old computer.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Not my parents, but hopefully still admissible.

I work tech support, so I have the small book of crazy stories that comes with the job, but this one takes the cake: I have a regular caller. This man is a doctor. He honestly believes that his mouse is an actual, living mouse.

About once a month, he'll call me saying the mouse has "stopped working," and I'll remind him to take it to a certain nurse. She'll "feed it" (put new batteries in it) for him and give it back. Then everyone is happy again.

The man is smart. I hear he's a great doctor. He's just...Computer challenged.

 

[Padwolf]

My mum is terrible with technology. She can do basic stuff on the computer but the second anything goes seemingly wrong she'll yell for help. I was always running up and down the stairs whenever she was on it. It's only gotten worse since she got a smartphone, she doesn't know how to text with it. My dad is good with technology though.

 

[Odbarc]

Grandmother can't seem to print;
The printer-page says it's out of colored ink. I tell her it's out of colored ink.
She tells me it's not a color printer and that she just filled it up with black ink.
I tell her the black ink is full but the color ink is not.
She flips out screaming it's not a color printer.
Someone replaces the old ink tray with a new one and the graphic for the printers colored ink registered as full and beings to work and turn all the text red.
I asked her how she hacked her non-color printer to print in color and she blames it on a virus.

(Just for laughs, I check her virus scanner. It says it hasn't been updated in over 2000 days.)

 

[General Twinkletoes]

My dad is a programmer, and is generally pretty good but is sometimes just totally incompetent.
I was trying to teach him to do something, and after he screwed it up and I had to take over to fix it, I just heard him mumble "I don't know how to computer"
I don't think he even meant to say it out loud, but it was pretty hilarious.

 

[llubtoille]

Mum went to stay with my auntie for a few days, got this text
"I have lost the screen on (aunts) computer when checking my emails. Computer showing internet going. How do I turn internet conection"
I reply asking for more details, what's currently showing etc
"The screen has gone dark can't get desktop 2 show"
So I tell her to try turning on the monitor, check the computer's on etc, assuming she's bumped a power button or something
"How do I turn on the screen"
I tell her it's like a TV, etc etc
"Phoned (internet company) screen has reappeared, thanks"
still got no idea what she meant XD

 

[Korolev]

Don't laugh - this will happen to us one day, when we're 60 or 70 and they start bringing out "neural" computers and holograms or something else entirely.

The older you are, the harder it is to learn - it's not impossible to learn when you're old, of course, but it is harder.

 

[Uratoh]

I had to troubleshoot my grandmother's TV. She thought it needed replacing, it turns out it was...turned off.

I worry about her >_<

 

[Waaghpowa]

Parents? Regular people are hilariously bad with technology. There's just as much comedy coming from ordinary people. One of the things about working electronics retail, it will both infuriate you and be a source of entertainment.

That aside, my dad is technologically competent enough to do things on his own. He's good enough to use nothing but linux as his main OS, even refers to Windows as "Windblows"

My mom on the other hand is embarrassingly bad. She gets on my computer and says "Where's the internet". Once she figures out where the browser, she says "How do I get to X". Don't bother saying address bar, she wont get it. My mom is Chinese, so imagine all this being said with a Chinese accent.

 

[TehGingaNinja]

Well, there was this one time that my mam got a phone. She got a text while the phone was in her hand and she was looking at it. She screamed and threw her phone in the air, it was hilarious.