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Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?

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Voyou_Charmant
12/29/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
Yeah well. Long story short: My dad, pop-up filled porn sites and an absolute refusal to use Firefox. Oddly enough I get a message or call stating "that damn computer you got me...". He refuses to accept that using Firefox will solve so many things.
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Gizmosmonster
12/28/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
Our parents and grandparents lived through the rise and fall of

radio

black and white tvs

rabbit ears

having to attach an ugly metal roof antenna for said tv

betamax

vhs

vinyl records

8-track

Electric typewriters

word processors

cassette tapes

walkmans

answering machines with little tapes

disc cameras

remote controls connected with a cord to the tv

tube tvs

cable tv

curly fax paper

upgrading to a 9900 baud modem connection

Windows 95

the interweb at work

DOS

Dot matrix paper with green stripes and holes to line

DVDs

operators turning into dial phones

Dial phones turning into push button,

Home phones turning into cell phones

Stopping at gas stations with misfolded maps turning into GPS units. (Our personal story- Grandma won't turn the onstar/direction system on in her new car.)

These folks have seen it all. And saw it all replaced with the next best thing. They are tired of learning everything again. And not sure it will really make anything better. Perhaps we are the cute silly ones, going on and on about how much better things are now that we have all of this technology.

Something to think about
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infmom
12/28/08

@Gizmosmonster: You're describing me, and now I feel old. :)
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motionmonk
12/28/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
God bless my wife, whilst intelligent, is not at all comfortable with technology. She bought me a digital picture frame for xmas, and I loaded up our pics from Kauai before she could even find the instruction sheet. It took 10 minutes to explain that the pics from the camera went into the computer, converted to JPG format, and then copied to the SD card I put into the frame. She didn't understand how they fit on the small SD card... as if they had a physical dimension, like paper photos.

Oh, and she still calls my CPU tower a 'motor' too : )
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infmom
12/28/08

@motionmonk: I remember showing my stepmother the Encyclopedia Britannia on DVD and being asked if someone had read the entire encyclopedia out loud onto the disk.
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infmom
12/28/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
I have had a home computer since about 1983 and have been online for about the same amount of time.

My mother would come to visit and get real snarky. "I didn't come all this way to see the back of your head. Tell your little friends goodbye now." "Are you on that damn computer again? I'm here to visit. Turn it off." Etc etc etc etc etc.

Till came the day when a friend of my brother's gave her a computer that had been removed from the high school computer lab and set it up for her so she could get AOL. (OK, well, people gotta start somewhere.) All of a sudden she has email to check, and the online version of the New York Times to read, and friends to keep up with all over the world.

Oh, the joy, when she came to visit the next time and asked if she could use my computer to check her email. "I didn't invite you all this way to look at the back of your head, Mom." Bwaaa haaaaa haaaaaaaa!

My dad was baffled by technology of all kinds. He just pounded away with two fingers on his 1960s model Adler office typewriter. But my stepmother bought a Mac and they invited me out to help them learn how to use it. I actually got my dad to the point where he typed something out with two fingers on the Mac keyboard and printed it. That was it. I don't think he ever touched it again.

The year before he retired from teaching at Indiana U, the school put a computer in his office and told him he was going to learn to use it to check departmental emails and that was that. He called me up and groused that it was blocking his bookshelves.

"Move the books, Dad," said I.
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Terp4Life
12/28/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
My in-laws still call me every weekend to help them transfer pictures from their digital camera to their computer. Even though I've shown them 100 times, and even though they have Post-Its with directions decorating their monitor ... they still don't get it. Even worse is the digital camcorder my wife and I bought them a few months back. Transferring hours of digital video and trying to explain how cut/splice the footage has nearly made me want to give up on technology gifts altogether.
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obelix
12/28/08

@Terp4Life: it's not that they don't get it, its much easier for them if you're the one to do it... grandparents/parents are sneaky that way
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infmom
12/28/08

@obelix: My dad never used his VCR to record anything, just to play back rented tapes. He lived in an area where there were frequent power outages. My brother got real tired of coming over and resetting the clock so it'd quit going 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00........ so he got some black tape and put it over the display. Problem solved.
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GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
12/27/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
Once, while playing with my cat, I shined a laser pointer on my Grandmothers hand. She had never seen one before. She actually jumped b/c she thought she was on fire. It was both upsetting and hilarious at the same time.
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resonanteye
12/28/08

@Wowwee, a Zeppelin! SteveDave: Sounds like my great-grandmother, who refused to leave anything plugged in, at all (even fridge!) because "electricity would leak out into the house".
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shorty63136
12/27/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
I've been setting up fucking iPods and Wiis and 360s all week.

I love them, but I hate them all right now. Demanding people that happen to be in my bloodline.

"What do you mean it has to be hooked up to a computer to get the songs?" Uh...how did you think they got on there?

"Well, download like 5 or 6 videos and movies and stuff." Seriously??? Do you know how long that'll take? In this small town that barely has DSL? Negative, folks. You'll take what I have.
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rcast1986
12/27/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
Hahahaha, bless their hearts.

I can't see myself being this way when I'm my parents age, but a part of me thinks it's fairly inevitable. Kinda like when I was growing up I'd always say "I'm not going to be nearly as strict as you guys were!" though now that I'm getting to that age I can totally see myself doing just that.
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infmom
12/28/08

@rcast1986: There comes a time, very early on in parenthood, when you're staggered by the realization that no matter what you thought when you were a kid, "Because I said so" IS a reason.
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Iggy
12/27/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
That's funny.
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Jesus Diaz
12/27/08

@Iggy: Yeah, I think it is. I actually had to look twice at the second image until I noticed the photo down.
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Sora57 is OK
12/27/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
Got my parents a nice resolution digital picture frame and loaded a nice selection of photos for them. They won't turn it on because "it's a waste of electricity."
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Robert Coles
12/28/08

@Sora57: I have exactly the same experience, should have predicted it of course, a year ago I got them a wireless router so they could go online from any room in the house, rather than just the pokey old "computer" room tucked upstairs, they insist on unplugging it when "not in use" to save electricity, so although they can use their laptop in any room, they still have to climb upstairs to turn it on first !
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Sora57 is OK
12/29/08

href="#c9695619">GadgetGhurl: Here's the thing...My parents have a digital camera, but they never look at the pictures they take. This was a way for them to take out the SD card, pop it in the frame, and see it on a nice big screen. Otherwise, they look a their photos on the camera itself and buy a new SD card when the card fills up. Baby steps...now I copy their photos to pc/disc for them and they know the SD cards are resusable.
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OldCrow
12/27/08

In reply to Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
At least your parents kinda embrace tech. My parents point to the VHS and look and me and say "Make movie go!"
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JazzyChrysaor
12/28/08

@OldCrow:

I actually laughed out loud at this one. Thanks man!
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IN THE FACE!
12/28/08

@JazzyChrysaor: Mine typically only point and grunt.

But to my surprise, they did seem to retain quite a bit from the impromptu HD symposium I held on xmas day.

I think they are going to test the HD waters slowly, they are currently planning on buying a 37" 720p set in the near future (unless they can find a 37" 1080p for about the same price)...

They have yet to upgrade to digital cable (no digital cable boxes in their house yet, though I fear they may already be paying for the service).
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